is this real? £500 gift certificate from UK World gift catalogue

shazndaz

I got an order from Yves Rocher today and there was some marketing material from other companies with it. One was an award (yes I know awards usually cost money when given so freely) of a £500 gift certificate to spend in the UK World gift catalogue. I just have to pay £1 to get the catalogue (I also have to phone a 0870 for it) and pay for p&p. It says I get "£500 worth of merchandise from the uk world gift catalogue without and product charges whatsoever". Anyone had this before? I can't find any catch but it looks too good to be true.

JasonW_2

Will this involve opening an account with them and having a credit check done? Do you mind if they do a credit check?

I cant say if its legit or not, as Ive never heard of them before, but I very wary about anything that comes as junk marketing bumf in orders! Im sure anything would be addressed to you personally, and I think you are right to be asking questions about it.

JW

sergeant121

shazndaz wrote:

I got an order from Yves Rocher today and there was some marketing material from other companies with it. One was an award (yes I know awards usually cost money when given so freely) of a £500 gift certificate to spend in the UK World gift catalogue. I just have to pay £1 to get the catalogue (I also have to phone a 0870 for it) and pay for p&p. It says I get "£500 worth of merchandise from the uk world gift catalogue without and product charges whatsoever". Anyone had this before? I can't find any catch but it looks too good to be true.

So, they want you to make a phone call to an 0870 number (8p per minute or so) and pay £1 plus p&p for their catalogue and they'll give you £500.

Do you know, I think you may be on to something with your last 7 words!

BFG_2

I imagine it will be along the lines of 'free, all you pay is the shipping and handling' - so you can get a lovely Sany Camera or Pinisonic sound system, and what a surprise it's cheap plastic tat and the S&H costs are more than the product is worth.

My suggestion is go for it!! (if you like giving money away)

tonyivb

Yep, it is definately 'real'... insofar as it is made of paper!

Some joker has been trying to sell a similar 'voucher' with a £1000 value on eBay for £50 for some time with no takers... if this actually allowed you to get £1000 worth of quality goods then nobody would sell it for 5% of its value, and it would have been snapped up by now!

Have a look at the exact wording on the voucher... 'This certifies that the holder of this certificate is entitled to order one thousand pounds worth of merchandise from the UK world gift catalogue - without any product charges* whatsoever'.

The 'entitled to order' bit sounds a bit iffy, but the last five words are the giveaway... why are they after a hyphen, and most importantly check the small print to find the note/clarification denoted by the asterix.

I imagine that they have some ridiculous definition of a 'product charge' or that this clause will only apply to certain goods (which will be massively overpriced).

Things like this are usually very cleverly worded and formatted to make you think that you are getting a bargain, but you should ask yourself, how plausable is it that a company would give away £500/£1000 worth of goods with every £1 catalogue.

I'd chuck it in the recycling or hang it on a nail in the privvy!

It would be good if you could tell us what the small print says... I'd like a good laugh!

shazndaz

Thanks for your input guys. The small print (the bit denoted by the asterisk) just says "only a small processing & delivery fee is necessary". I know I know - just thought it was worth asking to see if anyone had had a positive experience from this. Oh well in the bin it goes. :rolleyes:

stevem1

shazndaz wrote:

Thanks for your input guys. The small print (the bit denoted by the asterisk) just says "only a small processing & delivery fee is necessary". I know I know - just thought it was worth asking to see if anyone had had a positive experience from this. Oh well in the bin it goes. :rolleyes:

Hi shazndaz: Did you have any luck with this. I suspect it is a scam but my girlfriend had the same offer with Elle magazine. Her English isn't too good so I sent the voucher off for her. I didn't receive the catalogue withing 30 days and so I sent a slightly shirty letter - still haven't received the catalogue. This seems a bit weird cos if it was a scam you would think they would want to take my money!
I am considering contacting the Magazine to complain and if that doesn't work, then the Press standards agency.
Steve

magoogy

i think this is a scam, but, people are sooo gullible - there are loads of these on ebay at the moment and yes, people are now bidding on them.......anyone had any luck then?

shazndaz

I put it in the bin like a good girl but please keep us informed steve.

pinkvixen

shazndaz wrote:

I got an order from Yves Rocher today and there was some marketing material from other companies with it. One was an award (yes I know awards usually cost money when given so freely) of a £500 gift certificate to spend in the UK World gift catalogue. I just have to pay £1 to get the catalogue (I also have to phone a 0870 for it) and pay for p&p. It says I get "£500 worth of merchandise from the uk world gift catalogue without and product charges whatsoever". Anyone had this before? I can't find any catch but it looks too good to be true.

Usually with this kind of offer - '£500 WORTH' of merchandise, you tend to get a book of vouchers to use, i.e, £100 off an item if you spend more than....

There are sometimes conditions in offers like this (maybe not in this case but,) say, its a holiday voucher, you have to choose 3 or 4 booking dates throughout the year and within a certain time span, have to book at least 8 weeks in advance of the first date, travel with a certain company, have to use their insurance, pay taxes, pay upgrade costs etc., etc. By the time you've finished, you get a holiday at a time that doesn't really suit you and end up paying more for it that you would if you went to a travel agent or found a cheap last minute booking online.

I've fallen for too many of these in the past, paid the 'small' admin fee and ended up not using the voucher.

I'd say forget it - like sergeant121 says, heed your last 7 words

Tony_H_3

Checking where and to whom the website is registered too doesn't yield promosing results. Without divulging all of the details it appears to be registered to an individual residing in Paolo, which is typical of the supposed "419 Scams".

If this were an official company it would be registered at companies house and it certainly wouldn't choose a name whose domain name was not available.