Always complaining...

It's great when you beat the bastards...

Good News - The Post Office called me this afternoon to tell us that their Head Office have agreed to return my money in full at the rate we bought at and without their usual handling charge of 3%. No apology but you can't have everything. Didn't take long and no argument, makes me wonder why. Who says it's pointless trying to stand up to these people - always complain when you are being ripped off.

Of course I shall never trust the PO again or buy any of their products if there is a reasonable alternative. I wonder how many millions they make with this very sharp practice?

Here's the story I put up on Facebook.

If you are going on holiday DO NOT PURCHASE a POST OFFICE MONEY CARD as we did. We had money left on return and the Post Office are trying to rip us off to a tune of over £150. Read below and share to warn your friends on Facebook. Here's my email to them titled - YOU ROBBED US.

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Hello Post Office,

As you can see by the title of this mail I am a very unhappy customer.

My wife and I purchased 2 travel money cards at Oldfield Brow Post Office, Altrincham on the recommendation of the lady behind the counter. We put £750 on each, purchased some cash in US and Barbadian dollars, and a couple of days later went away on holiday. We were told if we did not spend the money that we could get it back

My wife did not use hers so had $1,125 on return and I returned with a balance of $453.

We went back to the post office a few days after we got back to get our money and were told that we needed to ring customer services. We did this today and spoke to David who dealt with this for us and told me that I would be emailed a bar code and told my my wife that she would be sent a cheque. When my wife came off the phone she realised that the sum David quoted was over £100 pounds below what she put on the card. She rang David back to check and he told her that was the exchange rate.

My wife was told that she would be sent a cheque for £639.20 - THAT IS OUTRAGEOUS. You have basically sold her a service she did not use and then charged her £110.80 for the privilege and a bit of plastic.

My wife's name is Gaynor Height, our postcode is ---- --- and the last 4 digits of her card are ----.

I had no idea what was on my card when I spoke to David, but it turns out my balance is $453.44 and I am sure that the same criminal exchange rate will apply.

My name is Andrew Height, our postcode is ---- --- and the last 4 digits of my card are ----.

So here's the thing:

- We were never told that you would charge a ridiculous percentage at the post office when we purchased the cards and while we expected a small charge for the transaction were not expecting to be totally ripped off.

- We are not happy with the amount of money you will be returning and what you are keeping without our prior consent

- I will be taking this as far as I need to to make sure that people who buy these cards know what they are getting into including making a complaint at the post office that we bought them from.

I expect you to get back to me to apologise and with a much better figure concerning the money you will be returning. I really can't believe that The Post Office considers this reasonable and acceptable business practice. I foolishly trusted your organisation to treat my wife and I fairly as I stupidly still think of you as a British institution to be admired. If we had not been sold the cards I would have taken cash and chanced being robbed. It seems that you have robbed me anyway whilst pretending that your card was a 'safer' option which it turns out it isn't. It's a rip off.

I am furious and disgusted. Please sort this out quickly.

A.K. Height