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

Lifeisbutadream

ceivegz wrote: »

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

OOps thanksed you by mistake.

If you worked in Retail Analysis why didnt you analyse what they were trying to do and use your voucher within a shorter timescale?

avinabacca

ceivegz wrote: »

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

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

And someone who's worked in the business, knows the potential issue here with time-sensitivity regarding expiry dates, yet still leaves the voucher for eight months to let it run out is fundamentally silly.

If the business model is so "unfair", why did you not make sure you claimed within the time limit?

It's your own fault. Deal with it.

timberflake

I'm siding with everyone else. 7 months was plenty of time to book an experience, especially if you have a lot of knowledge about the retail sector.

If you believe its legally shaky and stand a chance of winning, why not just take them to court?

Gavin83

ceivegz wrote: »

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

It's all guesswork though, you have no actual evidence of how the profits are made up and are therefore going off of your own current emotionally charged opinion.

I've now personally booked 4 experiences through RLD and Buy a gift and had a few bought for me, and havent' had a problem with any of them. However, I was well aware of the expiry date and therefore booked my experiences on time.

It's a harsh situation to be in and I can understand your frustrations but you were aware of the expiry date and it's your fault you didn't book before this ran out. Why I can accept it's a short period of time, your partner chose to enter into the contact buy buying the voucher in the first place, if it was a problem then he shouldn't have bought it.

pinkshoes

I'm half with the OP on this one.

Yes, it was indeed the OPs fault for not checking the expiry date...

...but 7 months is an odd time limit, and I bet that the company did some research and noted that most people that didn't use their voucher straight away would take 8 months before using it, thus deriving the 7 month shelf life.

Voucher bought at Christmas, then end of summer they realise they still need to use it while weather is vaguely nice (!), and oh dear, it's expired.

I would say the 7 month expirey is no doubt very well thought out by the company.

OP, I would send them a recorded delivery letter, perhaps even with a sob story on why you haven't had chance to use it to book something, and see if they'll honour it.

RadoJo

ceivegz wrote: »

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

This seems to be at odds with what you're saying - on the one hand you're desperate to use your expired voucher, but on the other hand you're saying that you aren't that enthusiastic about using the voucher.

I would imagine that most people book their experiences pretty quickly if it's something they really want, and if there are extenuating circumstances that mean you are unable to use the voucher within the expiry date, all you need to do is call them and explain and I'm sure they would allow some leeway if the voucher is still valid.

I don't think you can criticise their business model as 'unfair' just because you have failed to uphold your obligations as the holder of the voucher - the very nature of business is to charge more to the consumer than it costs the business.

I can understand why you're frustrated, but I think blaming the company for abiding by their published Ts and Cs is probably just a way of offsetting your annoyance with yourself. Have you tried writing to them and maybe offering to pay an admin fee to extend the voucher? I know some companies allow you to extend for around £10 - £15.

pinkshoes

RadoJo wrote: »

I would imagine that most people book their experiences pretty quickly if it's something they really want, and if there are extenuating circumstances that mean you are unable to use the voucher within the expiry date, all you need to do is call them and explain and I'm sure they would allow some leeway if the voucher is still valid.

Actually, I think you'll find it's more the case that people buy the Red Letter vouchers as a gift as they can't think of anything else, then the receipient thinks "ohhh, that's nice, look at all these things I can do with it", then forgets all about it for a while... no doubt 8 months!

blacknosugar

Hi

I'm in the same boat as the OP; I had thought that I had until the end of the year to use my voucher, and just discovered that my booking period has expired.
I'm absolutely gutted!

I just came across this article on the Times website:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/consumer_affairs/article6726263.ece

With a bit of leverage from a Times consumer affairs journalist they extended the deadline by three months as a gesture of goodwill. Maybe there's hope...

geordieracer

Ive got some vouchers for an experience with me - they have no time limit if you want yoru hubby to buy one for this christmas..

NovaBlack_2

ceivegz wrote: »

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.

Um.. so your saying you DIDNT forget... you knew full well of the expiry date.. but just voluntarily chose NOT to use it by the expiry date... then complain that your suprised the voucher wont't be honored now it has expired....

umm... o..k..

You know there is a solution to these expiry dates. Dont buy the voucher in the first place. The expiry dates are all there in the T&Cs BEFORE you buy. If you think they are unfair.. then dont buy. Problem solved.