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Consumer rights-Money for nothing!Help?
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Fanny_2
Posts: 5 Forumite
I am writing because I have just had a bad experience with a gift card that was given to me on a special occasion. It had £100 pounds on it to start with and was from a big shopping centre in Glasgow city centre (Buchanan Galleries) you can use the gift card in all the shops in the mall.
The first day I had it I went and spend £10 on a book in the shopping centre and then I forgot about it for about two months. When I went back a shop assistant told me that I only had £47 pounds left on the card! Shocked I went to the help desk to ask what was going on and they told me that all gift cards from the shopping centre 'Depreciate' meaning that if I didn't spend the money straight away a certain amount would be taken off the total on the card each month I had it! And to go from £90 to £47 in two months is just disgraceful. He then told me that no matter how much was on the card within 6 months it would have expired and all the money would have been lost.
I am utterly appalled that they can take money from customers with out the customer actually buying anything and I am really at a loss to understand the motive ( this card can only be used in this particular shopping centre anyway!)
The reason I am contacting you is because I have been talking to several other people who have had similar experiences and I am wondering if this is a scheme by certain shops/companies that might need looking in to. Also I would like to know where the consumer stands on this point, is it legal for shops to take money from something designated as a 'gift card' and is there any way to get this lost money back?
I hope you can look in to this as I would hate for someone else to loose so much money without even knowing it! I have never seen a single piece of literature outlining any of the information I was told at the helpdesk) Also the person who gave me this gift was totally mortified and seriously annoyed she had not been made aware of these conditions before putting money on the card.
Fanny
The first day I had it I went and spend £10 on a book in the shopping centre and then I forgot about it for about two months. When I went back a shop assistant told me that I only had £47 pounds left on the card! Shocked I went to the help desk to ask what was going on and they told me that all gift cards from the shopping centre 'Depreciate' meaning that if I didn't spend the money straight away a certain amount would be taken off the total on the card each month I had it! And to go from £90 to £47 in two months is just disgraceful. He then told me that no matter how much was on the card within 6 months it would have expired and all the money would have been lost.
I am utterly appalled that they can take money from customers with out the customer actually buying anything and I am really at a loss to understand the motive ( this card can only be used in this particular shopping centre anyway!)
The reason I am contacting you is because I have been talking to several other people who have had similar experiences and I am wondering if this is a scheme by certain shops/companies that might need looking in to. Also I would like to know where the consumer stands on this point, is it legal for shops to take money from something designated as a 'gift card' and is there any way to get this lost money back?
I hope you can look in to this as I would hate for someone else to loose so much money without even knowing it! I have never seen a single piece of literature outlining any of the information I was told at the helpdesk) Also the person who gave me this gift was totally mortified and seriously annoyed she had not been made aware of these conditions before putting money on the card.
Fanny
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