Post Office Travel Money Card

Advantages: Straightforward to buy, some excellent "helpline" staff
Disadvantages: Failure to activate, absence of 24 hour qualified support, no back up

...Foreign Exchange branches of the Post Office and, after loading up initially with £250+ worth of currency (sterling, euros or US dollars) should be able to be used at Visa Electron outlets worldwide for cash, purchases and services. A further attraction is that it can, theoretically at least, be topped up with £50 at a time via the phone* or at a branch - potentially by family or friends if necessary. This was probably it's main recommendation from ...
...of computer problems at the Post Office where it was bought and he was stuck in Belize, a fairly remote destination, with no money. When things do go wrong the Post Office are frighteningly unable to cope. The "24 hour helpline"staff, while generally willing and sympathetic, can only actually attempt to resolve problems when the financial team are available i.e. not at weekends, evenings or bank holidays, and, in the event of computer failure, can ... Read review

Advantages: Could have been good! If they had done their quality assurance checks.
Disadvantages: No help given when they have problems - left without money.

...operating this card for The Post Office appears to be the same one operating LLoyds Travel Money Card (I have the LLoyds version and the Manager wrongly introduced himself as Post Office earlier today!!!). My son has been stranded in Moscow for a week with no money because their systems have failed and the ATMs in many countries in the world cannot communicate with theirs in the UK. So much for a safe, reliable alternative to cash or travellers cheques ...
...up to date with changes in the international ATM systems and their software cannot cope. What makes it worse is their attempt to cover up what was going on even though they knew my son was stranded without funds. They offered no help to get him money and will not compensate me for a mercy flight with cash. I still have hundreds of pounds on useless cards - their systems have not worked for in excess of 10 days. DON'T TOUCH THEM WITH A BARGEPOLE!!!! ... Read review

I purchased a travel card in US$ and experienced a wide range of problems: 1) it was not widely accepted in the States. 2) the last five transactions are not immediately updated on their 24 hour helpline 3) when calling from abroad, the alleged "24 hour helpline" is an automated one, there is no chance of speaking to a human 4) we had a problem where a transaction for a substantial amount was deducted twice. Due to points 2) and 3) above we tried to sort this out after our return from holiday. However, we were informed that unlinke credit cards (where you have an automatic protection) the post office doesn't offer anything and we need to take it up ourselves. (nice one) I would not recommend the product!

I FEEL REALLY SORRY FOR THE POST OFFICE,YOU ONLY EVER HEAR ABOUT WHEN THINGS GO WRONG,NEVER ABOUT HOW GOOD THEY ARE!! I HAVE A TRAVEL MONEY CARD AND I THINK ITS FANTASTIC,IT IS ACCEPTED EVERYWHERE THERE IS A VISA ELECTON SIGN,ITS EVEN BEEN USED IN MOROCCO. GIVEN THIS DAY AND AGE WITH IDENTITY FRAUD ,A CARD THATS NOT LINKED TO MY BANK ACCOUNT IS AN ABSOLUTE MUST. I NEVER GO AWAY WITHOUT ONE AND HAVE USED THEM FOR 2 YEARS. TRAVEL MONEY CARDS ARE ACTUALLY OWNED BY THE BANK OF IRELAND NOTHING TO DO WITH LLOYDS TSB!!