Gift Vouchers

eileenfromplaistow

Used a£5 voucher from my daughter's book of student discounts on a £55 spend today. The cashier got a supervisor to OK giving ME another £5 voucher, and as she handed me the receipt made the sarky comment "you've done well out of this"!
By the way, I think the poster said today was the last day of the offer

RightRevBod

Johntea wrote:

Took back a scanner today (Scratches all over the lid) and interestingly the cashier refused to refund me the full amount, only the amount with the £5 taken off. Thought this would be a bit strange in the context that if an item went faulty 6 months on they probably wouldn't ask for the voucher back so I checked the T&C's when I got in.

13. If all or some of the products are returned under the Argos 16-day money back guarantee, thereby reducing the
value of the original transaction to a) less than £50 (in respect of transactions between £50-£99.99) or b) less
than £100 (in respect of transactions over £100), the voucher must be returned. If the voucher is not returned,
the voucher amount will be deducted from the money refunded. Vouchers cannot be sold or transferred.

The product was worth £79.99 so the cashier was wrong it seems to deduct the voucher value?

Might be worth a complaint, although then again I will probably use the voucher

Return the whole lot, the purchase the rest of the stuff again, and get a new voucher. :-)

The cashier was obviously wrong. Go back into the shop (when it is busy) and complan LOUDLY.

beautifulgorgeous_2

sa gave me a £10 voucher on £99.99 so I must have been lucky and i used a £5 from my first purchase.

linzz_2

Got my Nintendo DS bundle today, used £10 voucher from a previous purchase and got another £10 voucher for this one!

That's all my Christmas shopping done, except for a few bits and bobs, yippee!!

paul_h

darbooka wrote:

zoe, the till person was misinformed. I've frequently used the voucher as part of the payment and got new vouchers just as if I would have paid without vouchers. I've always asked before handing over the money and voucher, whether paying with a voucher would still entitle me to get the promotional voucher due; but was always told that I certainly would.
Morover, you can print out the terms and conditions of the voucher promotion from Argos website and see/show that there is no mention of any prohibition of payment with vouchers to earn vouchers back.

I think you may have been lucky.

When my OH tried to pay for something with Argos gift vouchers when the offer was on, they informed her that she would not receive the 'free' voucher as she was paying with vouchers. The vouchers were actually gift vouchers that had been bought with cash, not free ones either - but the shop would not treat them as cash as you would expect. They said that if a voucher was used for payment or part payment, then it excludes you from the offer.

They would not budge, and she ended up paying by other means to get the free voucher back.

I contacted Argos customer services about this, they confirmed that the shop was right, and that paying by Argos gift vouchers excludes you from the offer. I pointed out that nowhere on the offer t&c on the website does it state that this is the case, they replied that these terms & conditions on the website only apply to internet sales - as you cannot pay with vouchers on the website, the exclusion is not there.

I asked them what was the point of buying someone vouchers as a gift if it excluded them from certain offers, I'd be better off giving them cash.

Basically, they said 'that's the rules, tough'. :mad:

darbooka

paul_h wrote:

I think you may have been lucky.:

Luck is a one-off; in contrast, my experience has been consistent and recurring.

paul_h wrote:

I contacted Argos customer services about this, they confirmed that the shop was right, and that paying by Argos gift vouchers excludes you from the offer. I pointed out that nowhere on the offer t&c on the website does it state that this is the case, they replied that these terms & conditions on the website only apply to internet sales - as you cannot pay with vouchers on the website, the exclusion is not there.
:

Did you ask if they could point to any variation of the T&C's either on the vouchers or in the retail store? As far as I'm aware none exists. The stores that I successfully and routinely paid partly in vouchers and received more vouchers were in close proximity to Argos head office.

paul_h

darbooka wrote:

Luck is a one-off; in contrast, my experience has been consistent and recurring.

You were lucky to have a store/s that did not apply the policy. Ours certainly did last Easter...

darbooka wrote:

Did you ask if they could point to any variation of the T&C's either on the vouchers or in the retail store? As far as I'm aware none exists. The stores that I successfully and routinely paid partly in vouchers and received more vouchers were in close proximity to Argos head office.

Not sure if the stores proximity to head office would have any bearing?

The OH had paid for the goods by another method and did not challenge the store staff to explain. I'm not sure about any differences in the t&c, but I certainly don't recall ever seeing anything posted in the store regarding this, and there's nothing on the vouchers as they predated the offer.

I did not return to the store as it's a 20 mile round trip from here, instead I took it up with Argos customer services by email. I received written confirmation from them that this is indeed their in store policy, and that 'free' vouchers should not be issued if any part of the transaction was paid for with gift vouchers. My point was that vouchers bought with cash should be treated as cash upon redemption, but they insisted that the store was correct in applying the exclusion.

All I have to go on is the reply I received from Argos CS - surely they would know what their own policy was?

I'll look to see if I still have the reply from Argos, and post a copy of it for you...

Zoetoes

I can't understand how they refused to give me the voucher, yes I used a 'free' £10 voucher towards what I was buying but I was still paying over £50 in cash aswell.

paul_h

zoeleigh wrote:

I can't understand how they refused to give me the voucher, yes I used a 'free' £10 voucher towards what I was buying but I was still paying over £50 in cash aswell.

It seems that some stores apply the policy and some don't.

I was told by Argos that the 'free' voucher would not be issues if any part of the transaction was paid for with vouchers. As the vouchers my OH wanted to use were 'paid for' vouchers, and not free ones, I really couldn't believe it.

Here's the reply from Argos explaining why they do not allow gift vouchers to be used as payment in conjuction with the offer and why the website t&c are different to the in-store t&c :

Dear ***********,

Thank you for your email...

I have looked into your enquiry and advise you that as customers are unable to use Argos vouchers on line, we have not stated that Gift vouchers are not to be used in conjunction with the offer as you can not pay with Argos Gift vouchers on line. As the Gift vouchers are available for purchase and use in store this is stated in store on leaflets, posters and at point of purchase by a cashier. I apologise for the confusion and I hope that that this is of use to you.

Should you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact us at ***************

Regards,

Carina S*****
Argos Direct E-Commerce Customer Service Team.

(Names/contact details removed)

This was subsequently confirmed by telephone. Incidentally, there was this interesting exclusion in the website t&c ;

This offer does not apply if any part of the transaction is paid for using High Street, Provident, Choice vouchers or Bonus Bonds.

darbooka

The lesson from Paul's story is:
a. Always ask at the till before paying, whether using vouchers toward the payment will still entitle you to get vouchers for passing the 50/100 -spend minimum;
b. Look at the voucher terms and conditions on the website (usually the website clearly indicates and where relevant differentiate between online and store puchass) and print out a copy or make a screenshot for future reference;
c. If you absolutely aren't able to get new vouchers when you wish to use vouchers in a payment then look on eBay to see if you might want to sell them there - argos vouchers often sell for remarkably close to their face value on eBay and in some cases a few pence more (probably to people wanting to give them as gifts and save the fuel expense on travelling to the store).