Red Letter Days Voucher Expired -- Lost all money!!

Rockporkchop

I have noticed that when RLD and lastminute.com have sales on spa days and such like, the vouchers are always for 7 months and clearly state this. On full priced experiences they are usually valid for 12 months. I would assume that the OP's DH bought the spa day at a reduced price but forgot to tell the OP that it was only valid for a shorter time.

It's such a shame and a criminal waste of money but unfortunately nothing you can do about it.

Wardy

I bought a RLD for my boyfriend for Xmas and he only had 7 months to book it. Don't think that it's shortened for a cheaper deal - maybe they've just shortened all of the timescales

Rockporkchop

That's strange - 7 months is such a random length for a full priced gift voucher.

Caroline73_2

seven months is not a short expiry date too BOOK your experience. If the OP had booked within seven months she could have had 12 months to use it.

z1985m

We had a red letter day voucher for something like £100 - £200 can't remember but when we went on to the website to see what we could get with it there was nowhere near up here that we could use it on! We ended up just ordering a hamper... which, to be honest was full of the kind of foods you never consider eating and it was no where near worth the same amount as the voucher.
I would never ever buy anyone a red letter day voucher, totally put me off.

Edit

I've just been on the website just now... looks like they have added alot more gifts to it now, wasn't like that when we had ours, all they had was the choice of two food hampers or a piece of jewelery

avinabacca

ceivegz wrote: »

In the case of Red Letter Days, they are dependent on people forgetting to use vouchers as a key source of revenue.....

That's a strong allegation, that. Have you taken it to Watchdog?

Now, do you know this for a fact - or are you trying to make yourself (and your hubby) feel better about it expiring after you've not been bothered to do owt with it the past eight months?

barvid

ceivegz wrote: »

Yes, but terms can be found to be "unfair" in court as was the case with a retailer called RedSave who a took to court a while back and as has been found with banks' excessive/disproportionate charges. What's more, in this case the consumer and the person agreeing to the terms are not normally the same. I think it's fundamentally unfair. If you have a gift voucher for Boots or Argos, they're typically good as cash in those companies and have no expiry date. In the case of Red Letter Days, they are dependent on people forgetting to use vouchers as a key source of revenue -- that is fundamentally unfair. My issue is that £150 has been paid in exchange for nothing....not even a bottle of off milk!:mad:

Well, *you* might think it's fundamentally unfair. But will a court? Have a read of the Unfair Contract Terms Act if you want to know more about what "unfair" means.

BlueAngelCV

It's really irritating but it's not unfair and it's not anyone's fault but your own.

ceivegz

avinabacca wrote: »

That's a strong allegation, that. Have you taken it to Watchdog?

Now, do you know this for a fact - or are you trying to make yourself (and your hubby) feel better about it expiring after you've not been bothered to do owt with it the past eight months?

YES, YES, YES -- I've worked in Retail Analysis before so know the principle is the same as for gift vouchers.

Retailers benefit from them in two ways:

1. Customers forget to use them or lose them and the retailer is quids in 99.5% of the value of vouchers is converted to profit (this happens with around 5-10% of all vouchers, probably nearer 5% now that it's easier to ofload unwanted vouchers on ebay, etc)

2. Customers round up their spending; i.e., someone with a £5 gift voucher, uses the fact they've got this voucher as an excuse to buy something that actually costs £20 in the same shop...

There is a third way which is in my opinion unfair (and also in that of legal professionals), that is: The customer hasn't forgotton s/he has a voucher and still intends to use it, but as a [sometimes short] expiry date has passed has lost all of its value. Expiry dates on vouchers (unless an alternative offer is made on their expiration) are generally a means of increasing profit by method number 1 above.

The only valid reasons for an expiry date is to encourage early use; and to enable a retailer/issuer to measure the level of exposure to vouchers still in circulation (i.e., how much stock has been paid for but has not actually left their stores yet) -- in either case, not extending the validity of a voucher that has only recently expired has little or no justification.

ALL of Red Letter Days gifts have an expiration date (relatively short at 7 months); they are for products that the recepient will often not be enthusiatic about taking up; and they require a certain amount of organisation to use relative to simply spending a £10 voucher in M&S -- all factors that imply that RLD must generate a sizeable portion of it's profits (probably an amount that makes the difference between it being successful and going bankrupt again).

A business model that is therefore based on generating revenue from as many customers as possible without incurring any resulting costs is FUNDAMENTALLY UNFAIR

montyrebel

after reading all of the above post i still think it is your own fault