Travelex

I can finally say that I am now done with all the Travelex drama. I ordered Polish Zlotys from them after I booked by trip to Poland. Getting the Zlotys was the first hassle. I was given a confirmation e-mail with the date they would arrive by either FedEx or UPS and that I would have to be home to sign for, but the afternoon of the day before they were supposed to arrive I still hadn't received an e-mail saying they had even shipped (even though my money had already cleared my bank and gone to Travelex.) I decided to call Travelex and see what was going on. I was sent to a Customer Service Department in the UK. The first guy I spoke with I could barely understand (his accent) and on top of that he admitted he had no clue what was going on and didn't offer to transfer me to someone who could find out. I made him transfer me rather than continuing with him. The second person took a long time (with me on hold) to figure out that everything was still on schedule and I asked him to send me that information via e-mail - which he did. I believe my order "fell through the cracks" and if I hadn't called the day before I would have been home waiting to sign for a package that wouldn't arrive.  There were no issues the next day when the money came. I signed for it and counted everything and it was fine. 

A month later I had something come up and so had to cancel my trip to Poland and so didn't need the Zlotys. When the Zlotys came there was a form to sell the unused currency bills back to Travelex and since there is no place anywhere near me to sell foreign currency I decided to use the form and send the Zlotys back to Travelex and get a check from them in US Dollars. I took the package with the currency to the Post Office and mailed t to Travelex with both a signature needed by them as well as me receiving a form that they had gotten the currency. A few days later I received the confirmation back from the Post Office that everything was delivered.

I waited a few weeks and after not hearing anything from Travelex (by mail, e-mail or telephone) I decided to e-mail Travelex myself and see what was going on. I got a response back that they had no idea what I was talking about  - that they had no record of receiving anything from me. I sent them a reply with all the tracking and confirmation numbers as well as the name of the Travelex person who signed for it. Of course with that proof they could no longer blame me, but now it was on them to fix it. A week later I received an e-mail saying they "found" my package and that I would receive a check.

I did receive a check from Travelex, but they used my first name once and my last name twice. I called my bank (not in my state) to make sure it would be fine to deposit a check for that amount in my account. They didn't want to accept the check at first but I stuck with them. The check had my name spelt correctly (just my last name added twice) and also had my home address written on it which is the same address on my bank account. I found out today that the check had cleared my bank.

Finally, after over a month of going back and forth with Travelex and my bank the drama was over. I have used Travelex several times in the past to have foreign currency mailed to my house before an international trip and this was the first time that I had an issue getting the money. Because of that record I will probably continue to use Travelex to get foreign currency mailed to me (or maybe I'll wait until I get to an airport and change my money there.) I do not think I will ever use Travelex's Buy-Back Program ever again. There are just too many things that could (and have) gone wrong.