Advantages: Beautiful architecture and excellent performances
Disadvantages: None

...The Royal Exchange, located in St Ann’s Square, Manchester, is the home to the Royal Exchange Theatre Company which was formed in 1968 by a group of successful theatre practitioners who were determined to give Manchester a theatre producing work of national standards. In 1976, the Company managed to secure a 25 year lease on the Great Hall in Manchester's Victorian Cotton Exchange, whereon Amber Hisott’s striking decorate glass design was added to the ceiling panels and deep blue stained glass was fitted to the halls’ already magnificent domes which showers stunning shafts of blue light thought the Great Hal and turned the Victorian Cotton Exchange into the Royal Exchange Company’s award-winning glass and steel theatre-in-the-round. The centre of the Exchange hall is build as a "module", with 360 degree seating... Read review

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Advantages: experiences learning, making friends
Disadvantages: If you get home sick or you aren't very confident

...This year i went on the german exchange. It was very good to watch and learn the different ways of another nationality. At first I was very nervous and a bit frightened and found it hard to communicate. But as the week went on I started to relax and settle in. I was surprised how long the people of germany have been learning english. When my exchange partner told me how long he had been learning english I realized how lazy most english people are, because if the german people can spend most of their lifes learning english we could at least learn the basic words such as "thank you" "please" "how are you?" "no" or "yes" and other basic words like that. I know as your reading this letter you will be thinking that you would never be apart of the german exchange, but once you have been you will enjoy it and want to go again. I am... Read review

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Advantages: A cheap way of moving.
Disadvantages: Any structural defects will need to be rectified at your own expense.

...Two years ago, I made an important decision to move house due to work commitments. As I am in council property, I went for the so-called council part exchange. My opinion of this is "at your peril". You do not know what lies below the tip of the iceberg. As one of its criteria is that you take the property "as is", months later you may discover defects to the property that you would not have been able to detect when you went to see the property initially. If I had to do it again, I would have insisted on being accompanied by a surveyor. In my opinion part exchange would work better if council tenants had this protection as well.... Read review

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Advantages: Good scheme
Disadvantages: They are ripping you off on this one!

...Don't exchange your earnings for ipoints. They are ripping you off! For 10p you get 1 ipoint. So, for £5.00 you get 50 ipoints. But it costs 70ipoints to get a £5 shopping voucher! That means, somewhere along the line someone is pocketing your £2! If you really want those shopping vouchers get your cash and take it to the store and exchange them there, you won't lose your 2 quid then. Don't throw away your hard earnt money! Ipoints is a brilliant scheme but i must admit that this exchange rate for ipoints from money is bad! Beaware, it's cheaper to get the money! I learnt about Ciao intially from ipoints and then again, a friend pushed me into joining up. I have been a member of ipoints for about a year and it is quite easy to collect points. There is usually a good exchange rate too and when it's all for free it's not to bad... Read review

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Advantages: No commission charges.
Disadvantages: The bank does not take coins or small notes.

...I have a gold account with LloydsTSB and this allows you to exchange sterling for foreign currency and travellers cheques free of charge. This service has saved me alot of money in the past and I can get my foreign currency cheaply and quickly. Branches which do not have exchange bureau can get the money and cheque in for the next day. The exchange rate is reasonable too. Remember to use your change at the airport when leaving foreign parts rather than larger notes, as many banks do exchange coins or small note in the UK. Best of all is the fact that after you holiday, you can change forgien currency back to sterling, again free of charge. My advise is check with you bank to see if they provide a simular service. You maybe able to save youself pounds, and have a little more spending money for that icecream on holiday!... Read review

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Advantages: Go and laugh at these mad traders
Disadvantages: You won't come away any more aware of what these people are doing

...Go to Wall Street and you can get a guided tour of the New York Stock Exchange, including looking at the floor from a viewing gallery above. This can be a somewhat humorous experience - bear in mind that many stock exchanges have now been computerised, and the image of people running around looking at prices, checking dockets, nattering on their mobile phone and screaming ‘Sell sell sell’ is rather anachronistic. Nevertheless, it is a really interesting experience - though I for one did not come away with any more comprehension of the bizarre goings-on, or how it all works.... Read review

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Advantages: Good effective exchange policy/method.
Disadvantages: Inconvenience of having a broken PS2.

...and this would happen by an exchange by courier at my front door in 2 days time. The only issue I had with this was that they could not specify a time, it would just be between 9 -5. Not a problem for me as I'm off sick from work, but for others this could cause a problem for others who cannot be as flexible. Wednesday arrived and the courier came about 11.00, the PS2 was exchanged along with the controller (Coke had been spilt over it by either my daughter or my Nephew). The leads were not exchanged as they were attached to various parts of my Surround Sound system. Well there we have it. The Sony exchange policy certainly works, although there should have been no reason to exchange the PS2 in the first place, if it hadn't have broken.... Read review

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Advantages: HMV stores are everywhere
Disadvantages: EXTREMELY OVERPRICED WITH AWFUL RETURNS POLICY

...I recently stepped into an HMV store in London and saw that they conveniently had a few products that I had been thinking of buying. I thought the products were a bargain as they were Buy 1 Get 1 Free. But after the purchase I discovered that all of the items were cheaper elsewhere, even compared to the HMV offer. One of the items which was 39.99 in HMV was only 14.97 on Amazon, and 19.99 in Tower Records, another was 37.99 in HMV and only 20.49 on CDWOW! So I thought I would return the items as purchased in error. Warning! HMV do not allow this!! If the items are not defective, you can only exchange items you cannot get cash back and it is up to the manager of the store whether you can exchange the item for gift vouchers. So I thought I would exchange the items for gift vouchers that I could give as gifts. But HMV gave me a Gift Card... Read review

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Advantages: Good replacement car, Speedy service
Disadvantages: Bit cloak and dagger - dont really explain how they get your details

...Around about 6 months ago I had a car accident with a van driver and it was not my fault. My Focus had quite extensive damage to the offside of my vehicle and it was undrivable. Accident Exchange rang me about 3 hours after the accident and took some details down - I didn't really expect anything of it and didn't really know who the company were. The next morning I had somebody turn up with a brand new focus for me and I was told that I wouldn't have to pay a penny. Result! Accident Exchange went about establishing liability for me as my insurance company were truly useless. The other guy disputed liability in the incident which made me very angry but Accident Exchange persisted for me and I was found not to be at fault by the other drivers insurance. The whole thing took about 3 weeks but I had a courtesy car from Accident Exchange... Read review

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Advantages: Can't think of any
Disadvantages: Lose out on rate and could end up with no money as not widely accepted

...I am very well travelled and have a vast knowledge of foreign exchange (this review is aimed more for the euro). There is no better way to obtain your holiday money than to take the sterling and change it at your destination. No matter what you are told, no commission etc you will not get as much for your money anywhere in the UK as you will get when you reach your destination. If you are travelling to Spain, the Canary Islands or any other Spanish Island, you will get a higher rate at a local exchange than you will ever get here in the UK or at the airports. Even if you go to the post office and get your commission free euros, you will receive a much lower rate than you will in your local resort. Also, don't get collared for euro cheques either. Firstly, there is a charge to exchange them in Spain and you lose out if you bring any... Read review

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