Can you help me find a way to complain about this Travel Money Exchange companY?

[DuckbilledSplatterPuff]

Just tapping into the mighty info resource of Mumsnet as I've been searching for ages to find more info on how to proceed next.
I think they just fleeced my son.
He had $180 US dollars and ended up with Euro 110... Can't be right surely. this is without even fees.
Looking at other websites, he's lost about £40? This seems excessive, even with less than brilliant rates. I've tried their website, they have loads of recommendation "badges" but no way to do more than leave a 1 line of "feedback."
I just want to check that they actually went by the book and I want find out if they applied the right rates as when I phoned and asked for an explaination they gave me completely different rates to the ones he had on his receipt.

USD 180 is around EUR 158 at the current interbank rate.

What company did he use to buy his Euros from? I don’t think all of them are regulated.

A lot of places won’t change USD directly for EURO they’ll buy back the USD into sterling which will generally be a poor rate then change the sterling to EURO - is this what happened?

Yes English Girl, that is what happend.. they didn't explain it to him and he thought this was standard he was catching a train to Gatwick at the time.
This company has many UK branches and a MUCH better exchange rate on its website. It has apparently "good" ratings etc. I cant find anywhere on their website to leave more than 1 line of feed back.. and I've been trawling Martins Moneysaving expert website too to find a way forward. He would have been better off changing the money in France.
They started quoting me a much better rate when I rang their number on the receipt. I think they were doing something a bit underhand. He's about £45 down. I know its not much in the scheme of things, but that was all he had for his trip and he's a student. Its also the principle of the thing. But I guess its a lesson learned for next time.

I don’t think you’ll get anywhere unfortunately it’s standard practice to convert to sterling first and an exchange will always offer the lowest rate they can - most have better online rates. I’ve worked somewhere that sold currency and most places only compete with their local area not online so rates can vary hugely in the same company. It’s not good for the consumer you have to be savvy and ask for the best rates otherwise you get the base rate. It’s a hard lesson to learn but it is common practice unfortunately

Thank you English girl, that does make sense... I guess once bitten twice shy

It’s so easy to be stung by it to be honest, you just assume you’d get the same rate really.