Taking Red Letter Days to court....

trevorhackett

It's come to litigation(!)

I missed a deadline to 'register' a Red Letter Days voucher (registration date printed on the reverse of a small card in a large box full of paperwork) and have been told point blank that RLD would not consider honouring the experience voucher, or accept a 'top up' fee to recompense them for any reasonable business expenses incurred by my delay to then allow the voucher to be activated.

I believe this position is contrary to the 'Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999', in that it causes a significant imbalance in the parties’ rights and obligations arising under the contract, to the detriment of the consumer. I wonder what percentage of RLD's revenue comes from people missing these deadlines, and effectively giving then money in exchange for - nothing. The refusal to accept a 'top up' to compensate them for reasonable expenses arising from delayed registration is to my mind a bit of a giveaway...

The chose to use their standard policy statement as their defence (ignoring the question as to whether their Ts & Cs were covered by the 1999 regulations or within the bounds of 'fair'), so Northampton County Court it is....

Trevor.

brettcta

cool story

why should they accept a top-up fee? if they have played by their terms & conditions, then you're in for a bit of a battle.

no doubt they do make a few quid from people missing the expiry date, but in this instance, they appear to have done nothing wrong.


how long from purchase was the expiry date?

trevorhackett

Well,

The key point would be one of fairness - Ts & Cs should not unfairly penalise a consumer to the benefit of a service provider, and if they do they are unenforceable through the 1999 regulations. The 'top up fee' proposal was to ensure they were not financially disadvantaged (the voucher is still sold, the 'window' in which the experience could be taken was still open).

If RLD effectively state that the value of the voucher is zero, we are talking RLD actively extracting further profit from the situation to the detriment of the consumer. It didn't help that the expiry date was written on the back of a small card buried amongst paperwork in a large box.

No comments about sausages from the wider community here please - I'm very much aware of the difference between the expiry of a perishable vs. an expiry date set on an experience voucher....

Basil1234

yes but you still not answered the question how long have you had the voucher for ??? as i would like to know what they deem a reasonable time for a person to use.

trevorhackett

It was about 11 months post the registration deadline, happy to help.

Basil1234

so let me get this right you wanted to use this 11months after the registration deadline and if correct how long did you have it before the deadline in other words how long did you have it in total?

trevorhackett

It came with a 9 month registration window from purchase described on a small card in a large box full of paperwork, easily missed / forgotten about. The experience could be booked any time up to the end of the following year, i.e. up until the end of this year. I called 11 months post the registration point, i.e. 20 months after purchase.

If it is fair and reasonable that the experience voucher is completely worthless and this reflects the expense incurred to RLD, then fine. We'll see.

Gavin83

I've bought quite a few red letter day experiences in the past and I feel the expiry date is fairly obvious, the card isn't exactly hidden away and there isn't tonnes of paperwork, you get a few sheets at the most. To be honest I think it's a bit of a null point anyway because let's be honest here, it was nothing to do with the contents of the package, you simply threw it in a cupboard and forgot it was there.

I would actually like you to be successful, a longer expiry date would be beneficial but I really don't think you will be. Good luck though.

BargainGalore

What sort of value are we looking at here? I would also examine the web sites terms and conditions. if you pursue this to small claims court there will of course be a fee which varies depending on the amount you are claiming. If you win you may get some of that costs back.

I think you have a very slim chance of wining the terms are pretty clear


http://www.redletterdays.co.uk/Terms
Validity

Experience vouchers are valid for at least ten months from date of purchase, unless the terms of a particular offer specifically mention a shorter validity period. The exact expiry date will be printed on the voucher or advised upon successful activation. You must either redeem the voucher or, where applicable, bank its value to your Red Letter Days account as credit before this date, or the voucher will cease to be valid. Unless otherwise stated for a particular offer, the participation date for an experience can be any available date up until 31 December of the calendar year following the original year of purchase. Credit can also be used until this date and is non-refundable.

BargainGalore

another thread I found on google

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1894225

and ops letter from them

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=27068489&postcount=77

Azari

BargainGalore wrote: »

another thread I found on google

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1894225

and ops letter from them

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=27068489&postcount=77

Excellent letter.

I think some people here have a downright weird attitude to companies that pull this kind of stunt.

A sort of "whatever they say in the T&C's is automatically valid and reasonable and it's entirely your own fault if you didn't realise" attitude.

Fortunately, the law is not so unforgiving so if any of those people try and run a business on those terms they may be in for a rude awakening.