Travelex rip off sydney airside 27/11

[JohnK]

Why? They charge a price which people are willing to pay. They offer a service which is incredibly convinient for international travellers, they have a right to charge for that priviledge.

They are rip-off merchants. What they offer could not be called a service. Think loan shark.

If you do not like to price, be organised enough to arrange your currency elsewhere.

Fortunately I am organised well enough to never need to use Travelex in Australia. I had a look at their buy/sell spread again at SYD airport yesterday morning. It is an absolute joke....

[Lucky_man]

Why? They charge a price which people are willing to pay. They offer a service which is incredibly convinient for international travellers, they have a right to charge for that priviledge.

If you do not like to price, be organised enough to arrange your currency elsewhere.

The problem here is that in my experience they lie about 'the price'. They are not up front about the deal. I and many others have had trouble to get the points. I was told I would get the points by the operator. I chased Travelex when they did not arrive and they said no points for a similar reason to original poster). I got the points - but only after getting Qantas involved - I just happenned to mention it in passing when dealing with something else. I suspect that Qantas may have just given me the points to keep a customer happy.

[serfty]

... I suspect that Qantas may have just given me the points to keep a customer happy.

I generally have more success chasing points up with QFF rather than the partner.

I conject the main reason being is that the partner has to pay QFF for the points so may be somewhat reticent. Conversely, QFF would be paid by the partner for your points credit and hence are far more pro-active.

[ChrisBNE]

The problem here is that in my experience they lie about 'the price'. They are not up front about the deal. I and many others have had trouble to get the points. I was told I would get the points by the operator. I chased Travelex when they did not arrive and they said no points for a similar reason to original poster). I got the points - but only after getting Qantas involved - I just happenned to mention it in passing when dealing with something else. I suspect that Qantas may have just given me the points to keep a customer happy.

Understandable - that's very dodgy, however my comment was more in line with the premium charged by FX outlets at airports.

[stryker]

They are rip-off merchants. What they offer could not be called a service. Think loan shark.


Fortunately I am organised well enough to never need to use Travelex in Australia. I had a look at their buy/sell spread again at SYD airport yesterday morning. It is an absolute joke....

Spot on, John.

I've never used them either.

Good planning and an ANZ gold visa (no ATM fees o/s).

Travelex is just a ripoff.

[sdalcorn]

Yeah, I agree!

Travelex got me around this time last year when I flew out to Hong Kong, and it looks as though they have got me a second time! Last week I left OOL for NRT and after I cleared security (twice) and then Immigration realised that there was NO Forex Kiosk!

I am travelling in Japan with my 15yo daughter and I just did not want to land in Narita without any cash at all. Stupidly, I convinced immigration to let me back through into the domestic terminal to go to the ONE and ONLY foreign exchange kiosk. I got an effective rate of 74.666 and I immediately thought it sounded a little low. I later checked the official rate on the day and it was somewhere above 85

Today, just 4 days later I went to a CitiBank ATM (my cards are HSBC) and I got an effective rate of 84.9545 (inc. a 2% non HSBC fee) and today's official rate is 86.655

The way see it, it cost me about AUD$200 - just goes to show what happens when you panic. I am never going to use them again!

Cheers,

Sean

[TravelJimmy]

The Travelex rates are the WORST you can find anywhere - and they have the cheek to charge a commission as well as ripping you off with the rate. They seem to have a monopoly on the airports round Australia, but you are best to exchange money elsewhere. I was in New Caledonia recently and even hotels were offering rates costing 25% of the Travelex costs. Best to just use a local ATM.