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WARNING - WHSmiths gift vouchers rip off

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Comments

  • torizia
    torizia Posts: 189 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    To be fair, the new Argos gift cards also expire BUT they do have the expiry date printed on the back of every card, and I make a point of telling customers that they have 3 years to spend the money. I think retailers should have to warn customers of any expiry date if they have chosen to invest in gift vouchers.
    xXx
    :A
  • nobblyned wrote: »
    Good article on the topic, if a little old:

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2006/apr/29/consumernews.moneysupplement

    Would appear that a number of consumer experts agree with the OP, on the basis of an unfair contract term, unless the expiry is spelt out clearly at the time of purchase.

    They go on to wonder why no one has taken a retailer to small claims court. My guess would be that it happens but the retailers settle outside court so as to avoid setting a precedent.

    OP, that looks like the route if you want to make a nuisance of yourself with WHS.

    Hmmm, small claims court.. That could be fun.. But I have already written it off to bad experience..

    I disagree with the electronic storage another poster commented on, and the two year expiry. I am in IT (Databases) and today they can handle this sort of thing stood on their head for at least the (as I understand it) legal 7 year period for maintainance of accounting records.

    I certainly never delete my company's financial and accounting records.
  • chuckley wrote: »
    doesnt matter what u think. their have a giftcard policy, which the card/vouchers stated.

    2 years and u didnt find time to spend?! how about magazines on a weekly?! magazine subscription?! dvds/games/cd's, back to school stationary?! xmas pressies... bd pressies...

    ur life must be a hella busy if u couldnt find time to use them in TWO years...


    Well, thanks for asking.. It was a rather busy period.. I went through going bust, losing my house, home and job, getting divorced, getting a new job, moving house, building a new life without my ex, several deaths and funerals, two births of grandchildren, getting remarried (last Friday),and a whole plethora of other events.

    SO I didnt really have a lot of time to myself, let alone time to read.
  • LittleVoice
    LittleVoice Posts: 8,974 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    . . . I offer 30 day vouchers at various times of the year for my business to encourage a through flow of work. If I made these with no expiry date, I would be not be able to control when some vouchers are redeemed

    Hi

    Just wondered what sort of vouchers these are. That is, are they vouchers which people buy for their face value or are they vouchers which you issue as an incentive and the voucher holder then either has received them for "free" or at a discounted rate? If the latter then a 30-day expiry period is not unreasonable but I certainly wouldn't be paying good money for a voucher with such a short life span.
  • Just make sure you cash in any woolworths vouchers hanging around.
    I'd rather be an Optimist and be proved wrong than a Pessimist and be proved right.
  • luxor4t
    luxor4t Posts: 11,125 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    A timely warning!

    Have just made DS check his wallet. Lo and behold,an elderly, tatty £5 WHS voucher from birthday 2007.

    Shall be sending him off to WHS asap as we have no idea when it was actually purchased as it was a gift & did not come with a receipt etc.
    I can cook and sew, make flowers grow.
  • Lip_Stick
    Lip_Stick Posts: 2,415 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Just make sure you cash in any woolworths vouchers hanging around.

    Woolworths could have got themselves out of the hole they were in if only they'd issued vouchers with minute small print saying 'Expires one week after purchase.'. ;)
    There's a storm coming, Mr Johnson. You and your friends better batten down the hatches, because when it hits, you're all gonna wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us.
  • edgex
    edgex Posts: 4,212 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    dmg24 wrote: »
    They expire for accounting reasons. The retailer cannot be expected to carry over your credit each year.

    wrong
    credits & debits are carried over to the new financial year at year end

    commercially:
    its something like 6 years before you can write-off a credit on an account, & thats the period of time after an account has either been closed or become in-active
    most businesses will also issue statements to their customers every year, & also have to issue one when requested
    suppliers will also request statements to reconcile to their records


    One of the biggest problems with WHSmith vouchers is that most of what they sell is so far below the voucher value, that people end up not using them.
  • chuckley
    chuckley Posts: 4,405 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture
    BBurkill wrote: »
    Well, thanks for asking.. It was a rather busy period.. I went through going bust, losing my house, home and job, getting divorced, getting a new job, moving house, building a new life without my ex, several deaths and funerals, two births of grandchildren, getting remarried (last Friday),and a whole plethora of other events.

    SO I didnt really have a lot of time to myself, let alone time to read.
    precisely what i said... presents...
  • chuckley wrote: »
    precisely what i said... presents...
    Not everyone's life works likes yours does,because what you are saying is what you would have done...people are in different circumstances and different (thank god) lives.
    Not everyone has to be like you because it makes sense to just you.
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