Tesco's travel money
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Last week Tesco announced record annual profits of £3billion, an increase of ten per cent. Not bad going in a recession. Maybe one of the reasons its sales are so high is its aggressive marketing. It doesn't miss a trick when it comes to knocking its rivals.
On its website, on the page about buying travel money, it says: "We won't be beaten on price by M&S, Post Office or Sainsbury's". But is it true?
We checked out how many euros we'd get per pound on Tesco's website. When we compared it to its supermarket rivals - Sainsbury's, Tesco's promise did stand up as its rate was marginally better. But that didn't last long, as we found that M&S was slightly cheaper and things went from bad to worse for Tesco when we checked on the Post Office, who was cheaper still.
At the prices we saw, if we'd bought 500 euros at Tesco, we'd have to pay nearly £2 more than if we'd bought at the Post office. This might be small change, but as it says, "every little helps".
We monitored the euro rate of all these companies over a week and whenever we checked, despite its promise, Tesco was never the cheapest. We even called them up to see if it'd match their rivals' rates, but it refused.
Tesco's response
"This is a genuine mistake and thanks for bringing it to our attention. We have taken the claim down from our website immediately and apologise if we have inadvertently misled any customers. We have checked our processes and are confident that this won't happen again.
"The fact is that we won't be beaten on price by M&S, Post Office or Sainsbury's for euro's and US Dollars from our Travel Money bureaux in-store. We price check High Street prices daily.
Any online customers affected should contact Tesco Travel Money on 0845 600 66 67 and we will refund the difference."
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Don't knock Tesco too much - they are pretty cheap along with the other main supermarkets - they provide a lot of 'value' products which are phenomenal value. I think we should give supermarkets a bit of praise for their offers.
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I have just watched the piece regarding Tesco Travel Money, not only
did it say they wouldn't be beaten on price on their website, I can
confirm it also says it on the leaflet that you get from the in store
bureaux.
I went last week to buy some Euros for a business trip to France, but
missed the in store bureaux shutting by five minutes, so opted to go
to the post office the next day, where I got a cheaper rate.
They may have taken the line down off the website, but how many
leaflets have been printed and distributed around the country!!
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I have always used the Post Office for travel money who have always given best value and service.
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What offers? Tesco is not the cheapest for everything.
Most supermarkets appear to be increasing costs on everything above inflation.
Chicken pieces were six pounds for four meals worth but now seven.
Whiskas pouches have increased from 2.98 via 3.28 to 3.60+ in the past two years.
These pouches were 3.79 in one tesco's I visited last month, good job I stock up when on offer!!!
These behemoths only serve the top bosses and shareholders by increasing their money in and stuff joe public during these hard times!
Diggers
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both Tesco and Sainsbury's Travel Money are joint ventures with the same company Travelex - so surprising that there are differences between the two on rates. I have used all 4 companies in the past for foriegn exchange through their instore bureaux. Over the last year or so I've found both the Post Office and M&S rates are less competitive than they used to be and now favour the supermarkets.
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