Pre paid euro cards

[enaid]

My son and his GF are in Tenerife on holiday and as on their last 2 holidays they get a pre pay and add to it each month.
Early hours of this morning they were robbed the thief took handbag and kindle as GF woke up he escaped over balcony from whence he came.
So her purse with said card in had gone plus her phone too as they were in the handbag.
She immediately barred phone and had the card blocked as you are advised to do.
So said card is an Easy Jet card as on link below, but when having to deal with anything about the card you have to deal with Fairfx .
So fast forward the handbag is found in the bushes and purse minus cash still has card in it. So they rang Fairx and asked could it be reenstated, no way that is impossible so fair enough can the cash left on it be transferred to their bank. Well yes indeedy it costs 50 euro and takes 3 to 5 working days, so that would be just about when they are due home.
Am gutted for them as they have no money and thought the card was covered as they were told if it went missing or stolen a courier would take out a new card for a cost of 50 euros which is steep but at least some kind of guarantee. That is not the case and a new card would only be sent to your home address so that would be great while they were on holiday.
Anyway just a warning about these cards they may not be a useful as one might think when things go tits up.

https://prepaidcard.easyjet.com/

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Pre paid euro cards

I took out one of them Easyjet cards when I went to Greece last year, although the card got emptied out, it was my frequent use that caused it rather than theft. :o

I find it's always wise to have more than one card when you are away and keep them separate, i.e. leave one in the safe and take another one with you, or even hide one in a locked suitcase if no safe is available and keep another one in your bag. I also take a couple of hundred Euros in travellers cheques for an emergency. They are a bit outdated now in the age of prepaid cards but I think you can still obtain them, mine are from 2011 and I don't think they expire. From previous experience in the 90s, Amex did replace lost travellers cheques on the same day and the idea is to keep them separate from your cards to avoid finding yourself without any money abroad.

[enaid]

Re: Pre paid euro cards

Lad had 950euros on card when it was blocked they are returning £650 to bank account this is to take 3 - 5 working days as said.
In their T&Cs it says monies paid back at a charge of £10 (minimum £10)

This is how they work it out

• c)Funds will be returned in the state of the originating load currency. We can return the funds to the loading source such as Your bank account. When redeeming a balance in the Denominated Currency, your bank or building society may apply their own exchange rate to convert the funds into Sterling unless you have an account in the Denominated Currency. Before We do so, We will need to verify Your identity in order to satisfy anti money laundering obligations. We have the right to withhold funds where We are concerned about fraud or other security issues.

So that means in will be returned in £s I get that, does it also mean the bank it is going to can decide what rate you get?

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Pre paid euro cards

Lad had 950euros on card when it was blocked they are returning £650 to bank account this is to take 3 - 5 working days as said.
In their T&Cs it says monies paid back at a charge of £10 (minimum £10)

This is how they work it out

• c)Funds will be returned in the state of the originating load currency. We can return the funds to the loading source such as Your bank account. When redeeming a balance in the Denominated Currency, your bank or building society may apply their own exchange rate to convert the funds into Sterling unless you have an account in the Denominated Currency. Before We do so, We will need to verify Your identity in order to satisfy anti money laundering obligations. We have the right to withhold funds where We are concerned about fraud or other security issues.

So that means in will be returned in £s I get that, does it also mean the bank it is going to can decide what rate you get?

That's what it says, the rate will be whatever rate the bank the money came from is using to buy Euros at the time the transaction takes place.

It's been most informative to read all this because I must confess when you are off on holiday you don't really bother reading all the terms. When I bought the card I wasn't aware that if it was lost, the money would be refunded to the originating account in GPB, I'd have expected a replacement Euro card loaded with the same amount of money that was left on the card minus the admin charge. This way they are losing out on the spread twice, just like buying Euros and then selling them to convert them back to GBP. :rant: :rant: :rant:

[enaid]

Re: Pre paid euro cards

They were only having the money put back in their account so they could access it via a code number from the bank. They were told initially the money would go in the bank the same day, then they were told it would be 3 - 5 working days so they would have had no money at all for the rest of their holiday. The card being lost would have been renewed but only sent to their home address which was also no use to them. They didn't have enough money in their account to pay for the rest of the holiday as they had saved up on this card all year in order to have enough spending money. I told them next time to open a basic account and shove the money in there instead of loading it onto one of these cards.
It ruined yesterday completely for them and today they off back to the police station to sign the statemnets etc.
I also told them to take pics of the security cameras and note the security guards rounds to put as proof for their insurance their was security in place.
On that note the manageress of the complex says she believes the thief turned off the security cameras before the thief entered their room. I think that is to cover their backs personally as the cameras may not have been loaded I told him to tell the police that too.