Bluewater gift vouchers

Louisajane
Louisajane Posts: 1 Newbie
in Praise, vent & warnings
These vouchers have a limited time within which they can be spent, and can only be used at Bluewater Shopping Centre (Kent) at participating stores. If you run out of time, tough, you lose the money. I know a number of people who have fallen foul of this time limit. Is BW within its rights to impose such a strict limit?

Comments

  • andyrules
    andyrules Posts: 3,558 Forumite
    I guess they can impose whatever terms they like - we don't have to purchase them!

    Personally, after having had one from another shopping centre - I would never touch one again. As you say, time limit, restricted to certain stores, and, watch out for this - some stores don't know how to process them (the new 'debit card' type as against paper vouchers), so embarrassing delays, fuss at checkouts.

    Enjoy! (and use it quickly) :D
  • grayme-m
    grayme-m Posts: 1,484 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Post
    As Jasper Carrott said similar, how good are gift vouchers? :cool:

    Hmmm, a gift voucher from a single store / shopping centre or a crappy £10 note that you can only spend in any shop in the country? :D
    Toyota - 'Always a better way', avoid buying Toyota.
  • chuckley
    chuckley Posts: 4,405 Forumite
    First Anniversary
    the vouchers clearly have the expiry dates stamped on them (usually a year for shopping centres).
  • C_Ronaldo
    C_Ronaldo Posts: 4,732 Forumite
    Combo Breaker First Post
    i dont see how its a rip off, the vouchers from a shopping do tend to be only used in that specific centre where the vouchers were bought, and the expiry date is clearly stated on the back is it not
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  • vikingaero
    vikingaero Posts: 10,920 Forumite
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    I think someone on MSE previously posted about expired Bluey vouchers and got them to replace them as a gesture of goodwill. So if you do have some ask at the Concierge Desks or send them an email.
    The man without a signature.
  • bluewaterripoff
    bluewaterripoff Posts: 1 Newbie
    Louisajane wrote: »
    These vouchers have a limited time within which they can be spent, and can only be used at Bluewater Shopping Centre (Kent) at participating stores. If you run out of time, tough, you lose the money. I know a number of people who have fallen foul of this time limit. Is BW within its rights to impose such a strict limit?
    andyrules wrote: »
    I guess they can impose whatever terms they like - we don't have to purchase them!

    Personally, after having had one from another shopping centre - I would never touch one again. As you say, time limit, restricted to certain stores, and, watch out for this - some stores don't know how to process them (the new 'debit card' type as against paper vouchers), so embarrassing delays, fuss at checkouts.

    Enjoy! (and use it quickly) :D

    I have £325 worth of BW vouchers which I was given by well wishers (aka mugs) when I got married. I was going to use them for carpets, curtains etc. as I am doing up my house and I put them away. I found the vouchers again
    a few days ago and discovered that they were 4 DAYS OUT OF DATE!!!. LEND LEASE the huge Australian Property Company who issue these vouchers point blank refuse to revalidate them.
    PLEASE FOLKS [EMAIL="DON@T"]DON'T[/EMAIL] BUY THESE VOUCHERS. They are not discounted when they are purchased so they should be as good as CASH!! It may not look as pretty when you give people cash but pound notes don't date and you can spend them anywhere. We've contacted Trading Standards and they dont care about the money people lose in this way.
  • MinniMe_2
    MinniMe_2 Posts: 1,611 Forumite
    Sorry OP and Bluewaterrip off but at the end of the day you were aware of how long you had to spend them and you didn't. BW vouchers are valid for a year, so you had time. Oh and BWripoff - they don't sell carpets at bluewater!
    New surname New start!
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  • vikingaero
    vikingaero Posts: 10,920 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    You can get carpets from John Lewis at Bluewater who will accept the vouchers. Whenever I've queued near the voucher sales point outside M&S the staff make everyone aware of the validity.
    The man without a signature.
  • heretolearn_2
    heretolearn_2 Posts: 3,565 Forumite
    It's improved a bit, their deadline is now a year.

    I was given some a few years ago and the deadline was only 6 months, and they ran out of date without me realising, so that money was lost.

    I don't know why they are so inflexible - they've had the money for goodness sake, surely they can't just keep it without letting you spend it! I can understand needing some closing date, but 6 months disgusted me!
    Cash not ash from January 2nd 2011: £2565.:j

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  • nomoneytoday
    nomoneytoday Posts: 4,866 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    heretolearn wrote: »
    I don't know why they are so inflexible - they've had the money for goodness sake, surely they can't just keep it without letting you spend it!


    Because accounting for open dated items is a nightmare. With a fixed end date your liability is easier to calculate - it's simply the open vouchers issued in the last x months :)

    AFAIK Bluewater now have a prepaid credit card offering instead.
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