Redeeming Debenhams gift cards & Terrible customer service!

Jess222 wrote: »

I received a £30 Debenhams gift card for my birthday. On the reverse of the card it says that you can redeem online. So I went online and bought some items to the value of the card. I typed in the PIN into the website during the checkout stage and submitted my order. I thought it odd at the time that the gift card didn't show as registered on the site as the balance still came out as £30, so I double checked it - sure enough it had been regsitered but my payment card has been debited and the gift card has still got £30 on it.

Frustrating.

I asked for my card to be refunded with the £30 and for the gift card to be used instead, they didn't do this.

I have been relaying emails with various customer service agents for days now and not one of them are saying the same as the other as to why this gift card didn't work. They simply tell me what I should do to redeem my card. Their website, says something else to what they are saying.

In addition to this, they take 3 days to respond to you - very slow!

I wonder if anyone else has had any issues with Debenham's gift cards & trying to redeem on the Debenhams website?

This happened to me just now! Had just been charged on my credit card and the amount on my gift card remains untouched. It was unclear how to redeem it. Like you, I put the PIN at the check out stage and submitted the order hoping it would be as simple as that ( it usually is with other shops I've redeemed a voucher from)

I looked for an email address to write to and report the problem, but I can only see a phone number. Had the gut feeling it might be hard to get my money back and googled to check if others had the same problem. Found your story and Im very grateful to have found it! It saved me from wasting anymore of my time and money.

The website dont give any details on how to use the gift card online even though it clearly says at the back of the card that you can use it online. So to anyone out there with a Debenhams gift card (sadly anyone reading this now is probably reading it too late), dont use it online. It won't work. Luckily my husband offered to give me the money and use the gift card himself to buy his Xmas presents. I was too annoyed to even think of going to Debenhams to shop!

Its frustrating to see Debenhams haven't dealt with the problem when they have received complaints about it in the past. I suppose its a good way for them to make double the money. When you think about it, our friend spent £30 for the gift card and I have now spend another £30 when I wouldnt have done if it wasnt for the gift card. Thats a rip off! Xmas is approaching and I feel sorry for anyone who's going to receive a gift card from Debenhams...they'll be in for a nasty surprise.

This is a very old thread, but having had trouble with Debenhams gift cards and Googled it I thought I'd point out the problem is yet to be resolved.

The Debenhams web site is hopelessly inadequate! After finally sussing out how to actually use a gift card online, I discovered you are only able to use one at a time (I had two separate cards...). I telephoned customer services whose only advice was to go into a Debenhams store and have them transferred onto a single gift card - she didn't seem to grasp that if it was convenient to visit a Debenhams store I wouldn't need to have them transferred as I'd simply used them in store...

I tried emailing customer services to see what other options were available but couldn't find an address, so Googled the CEO and found his instead - pretty crappy customer service. I got a swift response from customer services offering to post me a new card with the full balance on, which I accepted. Unfortunately, what I didn't realise was that you can't even use their gift cards as part payment!!! I'm trying to spend more money than the vouchers I have and Debenhams' antiquated web site won't allow me!!! It's no wonder their Clapham Junction branch is like stepping back into 1985 - they don't appear to want to make any money.

So, I would stongly advise against anybody considering giving Debenhams gift cards as a present - they're useless!