Change Office under ex ICR offices

[jnesbitt]

Just a bit of a heads up on this guy, while we were in resort 2nd To 16th September we decided to change a little more cash. As we were passing we went in, rate seemed good, alls going great, untill my son challenged him about the amount of lira. the guy said is correct because there is 4% charge on all tranactions!!. Now I had changed some earlier that morning at office next to Hob Nobs, no charge there.Any way we didint pick the lira from the counter,and told him that we wanted our English back, he said he couldnt do it, and was extremely rude, eventually after threatening him with the police, he promptly gave us our money back by throwing it all over the floor!!!!! my son did very well and told him there was no need for this kind of thing. We walked over the road and changed it next to Hob Nobs, the man said yes there is a sign up which says there is a charge but he doesn't, and also gave us a card for a prefered rate if we went back. As we were walking past Tandoori, we were speaking to JT and Hakan,telling them what had happened, they were also appalled by this mans attitude, and said they recommend him, to their customers ! Its coming up to the end of summer, but I will be giving this change office a wide berth next year. Thanks to JT and Hakan, for listening to us blowing off about this guys attitude. Janine

[Chris221273]

We went there to change up money before booking our ICR Turkish bath.
He wanted 3% then. When I asked what the 3% was for he said it was a government tax. So went to the little supermarket next door and got a much better rate and 0% commission!

Chris & Anita

[Bigdaddydawg]

I use that place very regularly for changing Sterling to Lira, can I ask was it the regular guy with the thick black moustache who served you or was it another "older man" without a moustache.?
The reason i'm asking is i've always found the regular guy to be very helpful and accommodating, always giving a good rate and never charging commission. I have also encountered the "older guy" who was rude and offered a lower rate. I took my money back from him and went elsewhere.

[jnesbitt]

Hi bigdaddydawg, the guy did'nt have a tash, but i would'nt say he was "older" he might have been in his 30s maybe younger, sat down he looked quite tall and not skinny but "well fed" janine

[jnesbitt]

We went there to change up money before booking our ICR Turkish bath.
He wanted 3% then. When I asked what the 3% was for he said it was a government tax. So went to the little supermarket next door and got a much better rate and 0% commission!

Chris & Anita

Glad to hear you did'nt get your money thrown back at you. apparantly the sign for the tax is in all change offices, but probably located where you can't see it very well.

[john G]

Best not using change offices - supermarkets/restaurants are better with no commission

[Chocoholic]

I always use supermarkets, they give a much better rate and no commision. Some give a better rate than others. The supermarket under ICR offices as someone mentioned gives a great rate, also the ones opposite Prestij and Deja Vue if you are in that area always both give a good rate. Havn't been to a change office since the first time I went to Icmeler years ago.

[ajgaj]

The one opposite Romance can be bad Got 2.66 when others were giving 2.80 - conned once but will never go back

[Dave49]

We always use the little supermarket under the ICR offices,
friendly staff, good exchange rate and there usully well stocked
up with bottles of Irn Bru.

[ajgaj]

Thats the one we usually use but we stayed at the Kapmar and were going to Romance and assumed wrongly it would be similiar

[Vikki]

Agree with you there dave we always use the supermarket under ICR ,never had any probs and yes can always get my Irn Bru from there too ....love it with my vodka

[smc4761]

Before I hand any money over I always ask how many lira for £100 that way there is no mis understanding

I remember seeing a sign outside the change offices this year which basically advised that changing money at places other than official change offices, ie supermarkets was illegal. Not sure if it is and what anyone would do about it if you were caught

Stewart

[stevew]

Hi Stewart,
I saw that sign as well, I think it was the change office round the corner from the Set, but as you say what would they do if you are caught as it's also illegal to smoke in restaurants, but hay ho, lets see if anything happens.
Steve

[dragon]

My OH made the mistake of going to the Change Office by the Set. He only went there because the rate happened to be higher there than with any of the supermarkets at that time. He asked if there were any charges, tax or any other deductions and he was told no and so thought everything would be above board. When he got back to the apartments he realised that money had been deducted. We went back there and were told that there were charges and even though we said that he had been told that there were no charges, and the person that had said it was sat there, he just said that there were charges. He was aggressive and two other men joined in as well and they weren't pleasant either. As we couldn't prove that they had lied there was nothing we could do except avoid them in the future. I mentioned to another couple as they were coming in that they'd be better off going to a supermarket because of the charges. At this stage he blew a gasket and started ranting and even threatened us with the police and said that it was illegal to use the supermarkets. I queried as to why if it was illegal, that the exchange rate they offered was advertised in the supermarkets. He said that the supermarkets were being fined but were continuing as the fines weren't high. There was no point prolonging the conversation as obviously if the fines were low then it isn't considered to be the serious crime that he was making it out to be.

We were also told that even though the rate changes loads of times during the day the sign outside is only changed a few times a day so the rate outside won't be the rate that they use but the one that is on their screen in the office. So having the sign outside is misleading. As we were leaving he had the gall to give us a 'priority card' so we wouldn't have any charges the next time we went there. Don't know which planet he came from but how he thought that a tourist would return there after being treated like that I can't imagine.

This is the first time that we've ever used a Change Office and the last and we will only ever use the supermarkets in the future even if the rate is lower as no way would I ever give them any business whatsoever. I agree with 'smc4761' that the question asked shouldn't be 'are there any charges?' but 'how many lira will we get for £x?' as obviously in our case we were lied to even though they were asked if there were any charges, tax or deductions which actually covered all the deductions that could have been made.

So AVOID THE CHANGE OFFICE BY THE SET STEAKHOUSE LIKE THE PLAGUE as the man that we spoke to was a nasty piece of work and the others weren't much better.

Sorry this post is so long, just realised it's longer than some reviews, but I think a warning is needed.