"valid until" legal question

halibut2209

In January, I bought my wife a gift voucher for a pampering session. I was told that the voucher was valid for 6 months, and the voucher says valid until June 2009

But the parlour is claiming that this means it's valid until the end of May, not the end of June, which would mean she only gets 5 months, not 6.

Annoying I don't have a proof of purchase, and funnily enough they can't find a record of it either. But it was a birthday present for her and her birthday is mid January, and I know I bought it after christmas.

But my question is, if something is labelled as valid until June 2009, does that legally mean it is valid in June? I have an Alton Towers season pass which says valid until 27th May, and I was allowed to use it on that date.

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yorksrabbit

Valid until generally means until that condition which is specified in the phrase occurs to end the period of validity.

In this phrase, the month of June is specified.

So the phrase can be read to mean: "until the month of June occurs, the holder of this voucher is entitled to use it."

On which basis, the voucher's validity ends at midnight on May 31st.

Where things sometimes go wrong, of course, is in ambiguity of interpretation, and a belief that validity expires when something has occurred, rather than when something does occur -- a fine point, it may seem, but it's the difference here between the month of June running to completion ("has occurred") and the month of June simply beginning ("does occur".)

That ambiguity might well be an opportunity to argue the toss, but sadly, don't count on winning the argument, because it's likely to be rejected on the grounds of the old "bus and bus stop" argument, viz:

The arrival time of a bus at the bus stop is what matters, not how long it stays at that stop.

halibut2209

Sounds like it's worth appealing to their sense of customer service then.

yorksrabbit

halibut2209 wrote: »

Sounds like it's worth appealing to their sense of customer service then.

Definitely.

Good luck!

artbaron

Grammatically, and likely legally, it can be taken to be e/o May. However, in my experience if a voucher states a date, e.g. valid to 30th June, it's always inclusive of that date. You'd expect it to be the same if a month or year were stated. It's very disengenuous to state June when the voucher expires in May so I'd tell them to stick their voucher and try and find a place that either has a modicum of goodwill or, preferably, doesn't try and con the customer.

halibut2209

That's what I was wondering. I thought there might be a consumer law which states whether or not expiry dates should be inclusive or not.

Tozer

If there is an ambiguity, then it is likely to be construed in your favour.

The_Pedant

Have to agree with folks about decisions on ambiguity coming down in the favour of the customer.

If something states 'valid until 31st Decmber', it does not mean valid until 23:59 on 30th December, it means until the end of the 31st, i.e. inclusive.

By the same measure I would argure that valid until 'June' could very well be interpreted to mean 'inclusive', or to include all of June.

On those grounds, I would appeal over their interpretation.

brightonman123

point out they have had use of your money for a few moths, too.. even if earning 0.000001% at the mo!

williham

Well best before dates always include the month they state. So bbe june 2009 would mean 30th June.
I think it's not really fair for them to say you can't use it.

yorksrabbit

williham wrote: »

Well best before dates always include the month they state. So bbe june 2009 would mean 30th June.
I think it's not really fair for them to say you can't use it.

Unless a day of the month is given, then something that's "best before" a month is "best before" the start of that month, not the end.

As the courts demonstrated long ago the duration of a conditional event is irrelevant.

If an airport check-in desk is open until 10am, arriving at 10.59am means you'll likely not be allowed on the flight, and arguing that the tenth hour was still extant, though in its final minute, won't make a scrap of difference. You're 59 minutes too late.

(Substitute the above for a hypothetical case of being told that the check-in is open until June. Arriving on the 30th day of that month means it's still June. But it also means you're 30 days too late.)

You're right about the OP's treatment but as others have said, a savvy business in a case like this will always shrug its shoulders over an error of interpretation because losing a customer's patronage and a customer's recommendations is longterm more costly than appearing to be generous of heart.

The problem is if the OP is dealing with a bunch of morons -- but if he is, giving them any longterm custom is a no-no because they're just not worth it anyway.