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Original poster

Money left in safe!!

164 replies

glindathegoodbitch · 12/06/2018 08:00

Dear all,

My elderly parents recently holidayed in Montenegro.
Upon completing their 4 hour journey to the airport to catch their flight home, my mother realised she had left her purse containing £600 in English cash in the safe.

The hotel have been brilliant and have the purse, but we cannot work out how to get it home to England.

DHL won't carry it as they do not ship money. The standard post is liable to get stopped at customs/ stolen.

Can the hotel put the money I an English bank?

I don't know much about Montenegro, but my father says it's about 20 years behind the rest of Europe??

Any advice would be gratefully received

X

(I have also posted in Travel, my father is desperate and rings me every three hours to see if I've got the purse back yet!!)

OP posts:
somewhereovertherain · 12/06/2018 08:05

No main carrier will take it. Though DHL do ship money but there call centres won’t know that. Like the ship unsigned credit cards but say they don’t won’t - I worked for them for 5 years working closely with the banking sector.

Only way would be to just declare it as a purse and not mention the cash. Or maybe a western union type transfer service. Or a long shot would be speaking to the airline but guessing post 2001 this maybe more difficult than in the past.

What ever way you ship it you risk it going missing.

dancingthroughthedark · 12/06/2018 08:09

Did you book through a travel agent? Could one of their reps collect it for you?

Original poster
glindathegoodbitch · 12/06/2018 08:09

This is what I'm thinking. My dad can be a difficult sod when he wants to be and if it goes missing I will be held responsible (and probably have to pay him back) even though it really is nothing to do with me!!

Western Union makes me think of scammers asking for money in return for 'much loving'.

Is it a viable option? I know nothing about it

OP posts:
Fadingmemory · 12/06/2018 08:15

No experience but can the hotel pay the money into its bank account, then make a transfer to the appropriate bank here (there would of course be charges). The purse can then be sent in the post, declared as an 'empty purse/wallet'. Why on earth it should be your responsibility to pay back the money I don't know.

ForgivenessIsDivine · 12/06/2018 08:18

Are there any other British holiday makers in the hotel who might take it back fit them.

Your Dad sounds like a peach....

greendale17 · 12/06/2018 08:22

Are there any other British holiday makers in the hotel who might take it back fit them.

^Er I certainly wouldn’t trust some random British holidaymaker to bring £600 cash back for me.

Original poster
glindathegoodbitch · 12/06/2018 08:28

Ha, honestly, my dad drives me insane.
He is obsessed with money. He is quite literally the tightest man I know and has not spoken to my mother since she realised she'd left the purse behind.

I think she's quite enjoying the peace.

They booked independently, so no travel agency etc.

I wouldn't feel comfortable as another traveller bringing someone else's purse containing money home- there are just too many scams etc.

So, western money transfer??

Would the hotel be able to pay cash in? They don't want it running through their bank. It's a tiny independent family run hotel.

It's all a bit of a mystery to me. I'm third party, Dad is dealing with the hotel (no doubt in case I try and wangle a fiver out of it) and has the computer skills of a turnip, so watching him struggle to write an email is amusing me greatly.

OP posts:
ScreenQueen · 12/06/2018 08:31

The easiest way is for the hotel to take it and issue a credit for future stays (minus GBP to EUR Forex conversion fees) for your parents.

Hotel should not put it through their business bank account unless there is a corresponding invoice (although they could theoretically create one, then issue a "refund"). Or they can ask hotel to post it with zero liability on hotel's side (not recommended). If hotel does agree to a bank transfer unless they have a GBP account, Forex fees to euros will be applies then unless your parents have a euro account, they will be reapplied back to GBP at the UK end (typically 10% total both ways on this amount). Plus circa £25 chaps international transfer fees and possibly double if a correspondent bank is used for euro clearance.

Given your DFs attitude regarding this I'd be rinsing my hands an leaving them to sort it out.

NapQueen · 12/06/2018 08:36

Did your mum and dad pay for their hotel bill on a credit card? If so could the hotel refund the transaction up to the amount of the cash and then pay off the balance with the cash

LoveProsecco · 12/06/2018 08:38

Your Dad sounds very ungrateful. I would be wary of getting involved as it's not your job to refund him!

Do they have travel insurance? I wouldn't expect the insurer to refund them but they may have a suggestion. It does sound to me like posting in as undeclared cash maybe the only option. Sounds very risky though incase it is intercepted

Original poster
glindathegoodbitch · 12/06/2018 08:50

I should know by now never to answer the phone to my father for at least three days after they come back from holiday...

There was the time he took someone else's luggage to the airport and left his at the hotel (I ended up getting a flight to majorca to bring it home)
The time he went to a hotel in Lanzarote on my recommendation- didn't like it and I spent an entire day trying to book them into somewhere else in an incredibly busy resort and not spend any of his money... (I don't recommend anything anymore... ever)
There was the time I had to drive to Heathrow (I live in the deepest darkest West Country) because he had put his passport into a postbox.....

aaaaaaagh.

ok. I think the only option is the uk to euro, euro to uk transfer. Is western money the best? It just makes me a bot nervous given the amount of emails i've received asking to transfer money via western union so that I can be someone's hot hot baby.... as long as I can buy them a ticket.

OP posts:
Original poster
glindathegoodbitch · 12/06/2018 08:57

I asked dad about hotel credit for a future visit (I thought this was a rather good idea!!)

He said he won't be returning because the taxi's were very expensive....

I would honestly kill for a holiday abroad!! There's just no pleasing some grumpy old people

OP posts:
BIWI · 12/06/2018 08:59

Surely this can't be the only time it's happened? Doesn't the hotel have a solution?

Oh, and stop enabling your dad! It's ridiculous the lengths that you've gone to him! Grin

EspressoButler · 12/06/2018 09:02

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ScreenQueen · 12/06/2018 09:05

OP there is another option I think. Get a PayPal transfer to you from the hotel. Fees will automatically be applied (and shitty Forex rate) but your DF has a record of fees on statement so hopefully no discussion. Just need a kind soul at hotel to be ok using their PayPal account having deposited cash their end.

ScreenQueen · 12/06/2018 09:06

EspressoButler has the best advice by far Grin

Haberpop · 12/06/2018 09:07

There's just no pleasing some grumpy old people

Time to step back and leave him to his Victor Meldrew attitude? It sounds like nothing you suggest will ever be right or good enough.

Original poster
glindathegoodbitch · 12/06/2018 09:07

BIWI.... tip of a rather narcissistic iceberg....

No, hotel has no idea what to do! very limited english too so making this all rather hard.

If i set up a western money account, can they pay into that, or do they need to set one up too (unlikely to happen).

OP posts:
Original poster
glindathegoodbitch · 12/06/2018 09:18

oooooh paypal!!!!

I need to get much much better at this sort of thing!!

how I would love to bugger off to Montenegro!!!! Spend my dad's money on cold cocktails and hot waiters... but alas I'm married with three young children and a job that I'm supposed to be doing now and my Dad would disown me (possibly not a bad thing!)

I have the address of the hotel so will contact them over my dad's head... I cannot watch him single tap at the keyboard whilst trying to work out why everything keeps disappearing (Stop leaning on the keyboard you utter tool) ....

I now cannot stop thinking about how my toes would feel in the sand....

OP posts:
Coldhandscoldheart · 12/06/2018 09:20

I’m afraid I have no advice, although wishing you lots of luck, but your account of your DF’s previous escapades has made me laugh in the middle of a rather trying morning. Thanks. Posted His passport fgs!

GahWhatever · 12/06/2018 09:21

They should bank it and issue a partial refud on the booking. It's the simplest way.
Alternatively put the purse in a jiffy bag. Label it 'gift' and post it, but then you are at risk of the vagaries of the postal service without insurance.

Original poster
glindathegoodbitch · 12/06/2018 09:43

I've emailed the hotel to ask about paypal.

I rang my dad to ask about the cost of the hotel, he paid 412 euros, so I suggested that they refund that to his bank and he let the hotel keep the rest of the money and treat the staff to a few drinks.............

Pretty sure I heard the vein in his forehead actually burst over the phone.

OP posts:
Original poster
glindathegoodbitch · 12/06/2018 09:43

I have no idea why I'm so involved in this!!!

OP posts:
Monday55 · 12/06/2018 09:53

I would do the PayPal thing aswell or bank transfer. Because the money you lose in exchange rate fees will be similar to the cost of posting the purse anyways..at least the paypal or bank transfer route the money is 100% guaranteed to arrive.

bowtieandheels · 12/06/2018 09:53

Yes find out if anyone has PayPal and would be willing to transfer it. Other than that Weston Union or Money Gram are both perfectly safe and easy to use....there's a fee of course but all they need is your personal details and they can send it via an agent and send you the transaction number then you go to an agent your end with ID and pick up the cash.