A British holidaymaker claims a Thomas Cook employee attempted to ‘short change’ him when he tried to exchange pounds for euros before a trip to the continent.
Paul Connolly, from Huddersfield, has accused the tour operator of offering an uncompetitive rate and then ‘bumping it up’ when he rejected it.
The dad of four said if he had accepted the first offer he would have lost about £35 or €50.
Paul Connolly has accused Thomas Cook of ‘bumping up’ an uncompetitive rate after he rejected it
Mr Connolly, a 44-year-old electrical engineer, said: ‘I can’t believe that a big company could do this. I feel like they were defrauding me.’
Mr Connolly, 44, was referred to Thomas Cook’s Huddersfield bureau by a customer at a different exchange bureau, and wanted to change £400 into euros before his holiday in Majorca with his 42-year-old wife, Deborah, and four children – Lewis, 9, Calum, 7, Harrison, 6, and two-year-old Lily.
He said an employee offered him an amount euros but didn’t mention the exchange rate, so he questioned the amount and asked what the rate was.
He was told the rate was around €1.24 to the pound, below the current €1.40 standard rate.
Mr Connolly said: ‘What happened next shocked me. The assistant then said because I had challenged the amount she was now able to review it.
‘She suddenly upped the rate and offered me about €50 more. You trust a household name like Thomas Cook to offer you their best deal but they only did so after I said no.
‘The assistant said that she offered the figure advised by head office but I just wonder how many others have been stung like this?
‘If my 83-year-old mother had gone in she would have just accepted what they offered. Who pockets this extra €50? That goes quite a long way on holiday.’
Holidaymaker Paul Connolly said if he had accepted the first offer he would have lost about £35 or €50
Unhappy with the situation, Paul asked for his money back and used a different exchange bureau.
A spokesman for Thomas Cook told MailOnline Travel: ‘Thomas Cook has long been a popular outlet for customers looking for foreign currency before travelling on their holiday, and has become synonymous with offering the very best value on the high street.
‘To ensure we give our customers some of the very best rates around, our foreign exchange bureaux in our stores offer “local” rates so that they can compete with other high street currency providers.
‘These rates are updated daily to ensure we remain competitive, and can be adjusted further by our sales consultants, who have the freedom and autonomy to price match should a customer advise that they have found a better rate elsewhere or question the rate provided.
‘Thomas Cook and Co-operative Travel continue to pride themselves on offering customers the very best experiences and most competitively priced holidays and foreign exchange service in the market.’
[“source – dailymail.co.uk”]
