Card security flaws, currency glitches and holidaymakers left out of pocket – Covering news at MoneySavingExpert (Sep - Nov)
Since going freelance in Spring 2017 I’ve worked regularly with the folks at MoneySavingExpert.com, and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.
In early September I was drafted onto the news desk to help the team with reporting duties for a couple of months.
Thomas Cook coverage
No sooner had I sat down at MSE Towers than Thomas Cook announced it had gone into administration. The news team worked tirelessly in its coverage to produce updates and news stories to help out of pocket customers to deal with every eventuality.
Our coverage culminated in a comprehensive guide to the situation; a living document which kept expanding to help readers navigate their options while keeping on top of everything coming out from the Civil Aviation Authority. The news team, led by assistant news & features editor Megan, did a fantastic job.
TC’s collapse into administration after 178 years was massive - so it was great being able to help at least some of those affected to find out what was going.
New loyalty scheme uncovered
Elsewhere, I spent a week trying to forensically piece together how Sainsbury’s relaunch of its Nectar loyalty scheme was going to work, prior to its launch at the start of October. You can read the results of that work here.
‘Go West With Mickey’ customers left out of pocket
Thomas Cook wasn’t the only sad travel-related story we looked into last month.
A great number of families were left out of pocket after a travel firm, which did a great deal of its marketing and sales via Facebook and its Messenger app.
Go West With Mickey offered inducements to persuade customers to pay at least some of the costs of Disneyland Paris holiday package via bank transfer - a highly unusual move.
Then, the firm’s website and social media presence disappeared.
Families who booked their trips with Go West With Mickey told me that they grew concerned after trying to get information from the firm about their bookings and received no response, in some cases since as far back as the beginning of September.
Some reported contacting their hotels at the Disneyland Paris resort after seeing negative reviews, only to be told that there was no record of their booking.
This story involved a great deal of digging and speaking to affected customers. Hopefully things will be resolved for them soon. MSE founder Martin Lewis tweeted the story out (see above)
Currency glitch left commuters charged for their journey in Euros
A fun one - We discovered that some passengers were charged in euros for train journeys between Essex and London due to a bizarre glitch with the train operator's ticket system.
The glitch, which affected some customers buying tickets to travel on c2c trains, resulted in passengers being charged in euros rather than sterling.
While in this case the exchange rate meant that some passengers were getting cheaper travel because of the pound’s weakness against the euro, if currency values change this may in future mean that a similar glitch could end up costing a passenger more.