currency offer

[redsandy]

I have the same reservations as others on here about using them, as previously stated you part with your money up front and wait until your due date before you see anything. That said I used them last year with no problems and have just received this years money from them, but like katys grandad I used them on a short term basis after they emailed me with some offer from cancelled contracts which was 1.6 to the pound. I still worried about the company going bust as you don't have any protection but they have been going for a number of years so must be doing something right. Or they might be a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. My dad always says if something is too good to be true then its not..............
But I'm happy this year as I have my quota. The lure of the better rate reels you in.

[gpullan]

Crown currency in Administration as of 4th October 2010!!!

Hope no one is affected by it. [msnsad]

[SDJ]

It looks like the OP will certainly be affected![msncry]

Sandra

[Big_Momma]

This is so bad- My heart goes out to those affected, hope they get their money back,Jo

[Robert5988]

Has anyone contacted FSA to find out the latest position?

[Albert the Frog]

This is awful-just a shame the owners won't be adequately punished and will probably be trading again soon.

I lifted this from the This is Money website;

"If you have paid by credit card for your currency, get in contact with your bank to organise a Section 75 refund.

If you have paid by other means, get in touch with the administrators or await contact from them. You can e-mail queries to MCR: crowncurrencyexchange@mcr.uk.com "

[Margaret]

I have e-mailed tonight to find out what the position is, it looks like CCE were not members of them though so am not expecting much. Guess I will have to wait for the administrators to get back to me.[msnsad] What a horrible day this has been[msncry] Margaret

[SDJ]

I don't think CC accepted credit cards for payment, so no refunds there.

There are forms to be completed by anyone who has ordered money from CC. It was on the BBC News today. I just watched it on another forum.

Good luck everyone.

[Robert5988]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:I lifted this from the This is Money website;

"If you have paid by credit card for your currency, get in contact with your bank to organise a Section 75 refund. [/quote]

I understand they never took payments by plastic.


<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:The administrator has confirmed Crown only took payment by cash, cheque or bank transfer, so those affected will not have the same rights as consumers who pay on plastic. [/quote]

This article was in the Investor's Cronicle four weeks ago!

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Hayle in Cornwall, with a population of 9,000, might seem an unlikely base for a burgeoning retail foreign exchange operation, but the entrepreneurial spirit and the wired world make all things possible.

In this case, the entrepreneurs are Peter Benstead and his wife Susan. According to The Sunday Times Fast Track league, the turnover of their main company grew from £8m in 2005 to £264m in 2008.
The Bensteads have three companies in the forex business: Tor Currency Exchange Ltd (featured in Fast Track), Crown Currency Exchange Limited and Crown Holdings (London) Ltd. They have persuaded some household name companies to appoint them as foreign exchange "partners", notably Manchester United Football Club and the airline, Flybe.

There is no knowing how many of Flybe's seven million passengers or Manchester United's countless fans use the travel money services bearing their brands (for instance at www.manchesterunitedtravelmoney.com), but it seems fair to say that some might be discouraged if they knew the full profile of the companies they were dealing with.(my bold)

According to the most recent balance sheet of Crown Currency Exchange, which is for the year to November 2007 and was filed only three weeks ago (apparently many months late), the company had negative net worth of £334,000 and its near term debts exceeded liquid assets by £413,000. Moreover, since its previous balance sheet, Crown Currency had lost £142,000. Crown Currency's next balance sheet is due to be filed by the end of this month. Let's hope it shows an improvement.

The situation at Crown Holdings (London), which is the company running the websites liveried up in Flybe and Manchester United colours and logos, is not dissimilar. As of November 2007, this had share capital of just £100 and accumulated losses of £44,000, although in this case, the accounts did show a profit of £14,000. These accounts noted that Crown Holdings (London) "is dependent on the continued support of those companies which are under common control". However, that does not include Tor Currency Exchange, which maintains that its directors have not given any such undertakings to Crown.

Since the Crown companies offer a service whereby customers pay now for foreign exchange which will be delivered up to six or more months ahead, and jointly conduct gross transactions (according to the phone salesman I spoke to) of "several million pounds a week", the financial underpinnings leave something to be desired. When I asked the dealer whether customer moneys were held in a segregated client account, the answer was very clear: "No, they are held in our account."
It's good to be clear about that kind of thing.

For the record, the balance sheet of Tor (whose website states that its client monies are held in segregated account) was considerably healthier, with shareholders' funds of £353,000 including a profit of £120,000. However, when I asked Tor's finance director about the Crown companies, he said they were run on an entirely standalone basis in different offices from Tor.

Susan Benstead and a relation hold 75 per cent of the capital of Tor and 78 per cent of Crown Currency. Peter Benstead holds 78 pe

[Andrena]

Bad news for those who have not yet got their currency as they are in administration with large debts.

Andrena

See this which was posted by a friend on another forum today. Not sure if it is of any consolation or help.

Dear Readers
PROTECTION OF CUSTOMERS OUR JOINT RESPONSIBILITY


Crown Currency Exchange has been trading for over five years and has become one of the UK’s leading suppliers of holiday money.

In the following statement we outline the current facts and as we see it shortcomings in Barclays Corporate’s duty of care to both Crown Currency Exchange and it’s customers.


The bank has only made 3 or 4 visits to CCE in the last 5 years.
Clive Sharky has stated that it is over 18 months since his last ‘short’ visit to CCE.
We have banked with Barclays for 5 years and only in the last 6 months have they asked for management accounts
These facts can be confirmed from Barclays internal documents.
Barclays Corporate have informed us that they are monitoring the CCE accounts, it is astonishing that the bank have not warned us that we are exposed at anyone time to the extent of up to £7.5 million.
Taking points 1,2,3 and 5 these would appear to be no understanding of Crown Currency Exchange business practice as no individual issued a warning to CCE.
By Barclays Corporate own admission CCE’s rivals were complaining to the bank about the level of rates on offer. Again no one at Barclays Corporate raised this issue with CCE or thought to investigate.
It has been stated by Barclays Corporate when the account was first opened that CCE did not require to segregate clients money.
Due to Barclays Corporate lack of duty of care to Crown Currency Exchange and ergo it’s customers we are facing a shortfall of some £18. million in order to fulfil the 12,944 orders outstanding. (average £1390.00 order value)


In a nutshell we feel the bank should have taken a more positive roll and acted on warning indicators prompted from within Barclays corporate to bring stricter controls into force at Crown currency exchange. By ignoring the warnings we now find ourselves in a precarious position and one in which Barclays Corporate must take responsibility.

Following our meeting with Barclays Bank last week we have been prevented from making a public statement due to pressure from the banks Solicitors Simmons and Simmons. However despite this considerable pressure we feel we need to make our position known.



My next course of action can only be the following.

In view of the present situation I propose to send the following email to all Crown Currency Exchange and Travel Money services customers to explain the situation. In this email I will ask customers to write to John Varley and his successor Bob Diamond to request a payment. Furthermore I will advise them to ask Barclays Corporate as to why Crown Currency Exchange was allowed to continue to trade despite the reservations it had for so long and only now are being expressed.


‘’Dear Crown Currency Exchange Customer

We have today had a meeting with our bank to discuss the difficulties we are experiencing in fulfilling the currency orders we have. Your order is included in this number.

We feel that Barclays Bank have a duty of care to yourselves and should agree to pay all outstanding contracts currently held by Crown Currency Exchange. Barclays slogan which can be seen on their branches is ‘’Protect what is precious to you’’ after all.

Over the last 5 years Barclays have never requested segregated accounts for customers money. Only since the summer of 2010 did they raise this issue. Further more following our meeting with the bank last week we have been pressurised by Barclays banks solicitors, Simmons and Simmons, not to reveal to the public in any of the circumstances surrounding the current state of affairs. As we have been prevented by Barclays who are exerting considerable pressure, via their lawyers we felt unable, until this point, to make our position known.

We believe that Barclays should shoulder some of the responsib