Expired Gift Voucher - Customer Bites Back!

L

Leper

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I was presented with a prepaid €20.00 gift voucher to spend in a Cork Shopping Centre three years ago. I forgot about it until I found it in my man drawer and when I went to use it I was informed all the money went to "administration" of the card and the amount was now forfeit.. I contacted the Shopping Centre by email asking for reissue of the gift card and after eight weeks they failed to reply.

It just so happens that we use that Shopping Centre a lot. Mrs Lep got up on her high horse with the loss of €20.00. Her nail technician (from the Shopping Centre) rang her before Christmas regarding what services she needed. Mrs Lep refused to make an appointment and explained the situation regarding the expired prepaid card. Two days later a voucher from the Nail Bar (not its real title) arrived by post for €20.00 for a future visit. Mrs Lep's hairdresser (from the same Shopping Centre) also rang regarding a hair appointment and gave a spiel regarding loss of business due to Covid etc. Mrs Lep spun her the same story and another voucher for €20.00 to be spent on hairdressing arrived. Suddenly, we were €40.00 better off and all because Mrs Lep opened her mouth.

Mrs Lep used her two new vouchers almost immediately. The shop owners were not impressed with their Shopping Centre landlord and advised that when their rent was due for renewal they would be using (a) Expired Vouchers Situation and (b) Bad Shopping Centre Customer Service in not replying to me as a point, for rent reduction.

The Customer doesn't always win and the Customer might not always be right; but it's the Customer who always pays the wages.
 
I would take it up the card issuer not the individual businesses who accept the card? I'm almost sure if you call it will be refunded.
 
Gordon Gekko said:
Was it not a bit disingenuous to accept and spend the second voucher?
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It was, and I hope I can be more disingenuous.
misemoi said:
I would take it up the card issuer not the individual businesses who accept the card? I'm almost sure if you call it will be refunded.
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I did and even after eight weeks they have not replied to my email.

If anybody feels I put money over principle they would be right; Mrs Lep puts principle over money, a dreadful shortcoming.
 
Most cards work this way. Our company frequently give cards/vouchers to staff. Most (if not all) of these cards deduct a certain amount after a year and then I think each month afterwards. We were always told to use it or activate it by a certain time or money would be deducted.
 
Worth noting that under the Consumer Protection (Gift Voucher) act of 2019, most gift vouchers bought after Dec 2nd 2019 must have no expiry date or be valid for 5 years after the date they were bought.
 
Peanuts20 said:
Worth noting that under the Consumer Protection (Gift Voucher) act of 2019, most gift vouchers bought after Dec 2nd 2019 must have no expiry date or be valid for 5 years after the date they were bought.
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But the new scam is to whittle them away to zero with periodic 'administration' fees which are not for any actual service or genuine administration costs.
 
Peanuts20 said:
Worth noting that under the Consumer Protection (Gift Voucher) act of 2019, most gift vouchers bought after Dec 2nd 2019 must have no expiry date or be valid for 5 years after the date they were bought.
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It's not clear from the original post if the original voucher was purchased at all or if it was a gratuity from the shopping centre.
 
ClubMan said:
It's not clear from the original post if the original voucher was purchased at all or if it was a gratuity from the shopping centre.
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It was purchased from the Shopping Centre main information desk and given to me as a present.
 
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Leo said:
Yey, two struggling small businesses forfeit some potential income due to no fault of their own. Well worth celebrating. :rolleyes:
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Just to confirm these small businesses sent vouchers to Mrs Lep. She didn't ask for the vouchers; she merely explained why she wasn't visiting the Shopping Centre. I think both businesses were happy to have Mrs Lep continue to use their services. Nobody celebrated anything.
 
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Well I think fair play to Mrs Lep for opening her mouth and also fair play to the two businesses who decided independently and off their own bat to
do a nice gesture to one of their (I presume) regular customers
 
ClubMan said:
One 4 All have been doing that for as long as I can remember. Plus charging the purchaser a fee to buy them in the first place.
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A friend used a one4all card at a retailer recently, and was charged a fee for using it - not something I'd heard of before.
 
gipimann said:
A friend used a one4all card at a retailer recently, and was charged a fee for using it - not something I'd heard of before.
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A very timely thread. I happen to overhear live line yesterday which discussed one for all. In short it's hugely profitable. They charge the purchaser for the please, the voucher value depreciates after year one - nothing new here.

But the bit I didn't realise was that when you use the card one or all charge the retailer something like 10% of the transaction for the pleasure. Compare this to a 1-2% charge taken by credit card companies and you can see why some firms may charge extra for the use of these cards.
 
Used to see it all the time when I worked for a local bike shop, it was normal when a person was buying a bike that you could offer a 10% discount
except when they were paying with BTW vouchers and one4all then there were no discounts allowed due to charges with these payments
 
Why not name and shame the shopping centre in question, they seem to be getting away with what they've done?

If someone does you wrong, you give them hell (within the law, obviously), you take legal action where its appropriate, and you spread the word far and wide, so their reputation suffers as a result of their actions, while hopefully also hitting them in the pocket.

Allowing others to pay the price, while yourself and the Mrs continue to use the shopping centre makes zero sense to me. In fact, I think its just wrong.
 
MrEarl said:
Why not name and shame the shopping centre in question, they seem to be getting away with what they've done?

If someone does you wrong, you give them hell (within the law, obviously), you take legal action where its appropriate, and you spread the word far and wide, so their reputation suffers as a result of their actions, while hopefully also hitting them in the pocket.

Allowing others to pay the price, while yourself and the Mrs continue to use the shopping centre makes zero sense to me. In fact, I think its just wrong.
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Some interesting points there Mr Earl. You're right the use of the prepaid card was only for use within the shopping centre. It was my fault that unintentionally I let it expire. Furthermore, we have a policy of first buying to support local shops and secondly buying Irish made products. (it's a Cork thing since the 1950's - proposed by a Cork's famous Bishop Lucey). I wouldn't get involved in naming the centre as I'm not that sort of person.

There are several other shopping centres nearer and more accessible to where we live. The shopping centre in question fell down on the job of not even replying to my email - they've only had eight weeks so far and still not a word, but only twenty quid was involved. Consequently, legal action was never going to be a runner and just mentioning the fact that two outlets there gave us €40 worth of vouchers though none was requested. Imagine, earning €40 worth to-date from zilch. Good professional stock brokers couldn't do that says the guy who lost on Eircom and AIB shares.

Above Misemoi said:- "I would take it up the card issuer not the individual businesses who accept the card? I'm almost sure if you call it will be refunded." I did and nil result occurred. But, I'll personally call to the shopping centre information desk today and see if I can reverse that.

I should point out hat I am not a complainer. If we go to a restaurant and the food is below par, we just eat what we can, pay up and not complain, smile and leave a tip. Life is too short and we put it down to the chef having an off day and all of us can have an off day.
 
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Peanuts20 said:
Worth noting that under the Consumer Protection (Gift Voucher) act of 2019, most gift vouchers bought after Dec 2nd 2019 must have no expiry date or be valid for 5 years after the date they were bought.
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That is correct and these cards are valid for 5 years, however there is nothing to stop an admin fee being deducted.
In fairness there is a cost associated with the card number and the holding of the funds - but not €1.45-€3 a month.

Some shopping centre cards are effectively MasterCard and can be used everywhere.

I give staff the me2you cards as they are accepted in Applegreen for fuel and also accepted in Tesco
 
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