Am I entitled to refund?

mitt

This is a complicated and irritating one. While I'm fortunate not to have been conned out of lots of money like some on this site, I still need help

I bought membership to the V&A earlier this year so that myself, partner, and his parents could go and see the sold out Bowie exhibition. It's a well known fact that they release a small number of tickets to popular exhibitions so that people will buy the more pricey membership for the year.

I was 26 at the time, so purchased the under 26 membership (presuming that their shopping cart would have stopped me if it was invalid as there was no help to be found on the site).

My partner is younger so his under 26 membership wasn't an issue.

So, we've since been to the exhibition - him with his membership card and me with a temporary one that they issued on the day after checking my details, as it had not been posted out yet. This was just over a month ago. At the time of visiting I had just turned 27, but nobody stopped me once checking my ID against my temporary card or anything like that.

Today I received a phonecall from them asking me to upgrade to full membership as I'm now over 26. Admittedly, I had presumed (never presume!) that the membership would cover me for a year, as did my 16-25 railcard that I purchased the day before I turned 26. I also presumed that the successful order, confirmation email, issuing of temporary membership card, and entrance to the exhibition all supported that fact, as they could have stopped me at any time or sent T&C with the receipt or whatever. Now they're asking for more money.

So, I can't afford a £65+ membership to a museum I won't visit again, and I emailed back politely explaining why the above reasons led me to believe all was above board, and that I'm not able to purchase the full card, hoping that they would offer me a refund, even if it's minus what the cost of the Bowie exhibit entrance would be. They've since got back to me with a fairly snooty email stating that "under 26" means literally 25 or younger, unlike every other under 26 offer or discount card I can find on the internet. So they said I was in the wrong from the start, and that it's not their fault because they operate on a system of trust.

I have a sneaking feeling that they've just pulled this one out of their behinds here - they could have just said that their t&c means you have to be 26 the whole year, but this seems really odd. If I could, I would get a refund on both the memberships, because my partner is never going to go there without me (if we ever go again), and in total it still cost us over £50, before this whole fiasco.

I've screen capped their website guidelines, and I'm trying to dig out an email I sent a while back asking specifically if I was still eligible for the card, to which they only sent an automated FAQ reply (no info on the under 26 issue to be found).

Do I have a leg to stand on in getting a refund? They've clearly mislead me, but I don't know how much of this I can legitimately claim against them, or whether they can basically do whatever they want, take the original money I spent, and leave me with nothing. I'm completely fine with paying for what we've experienced - the equivalent of the Bowie tickets - but without some sort of back up they're clearly not going to offer that as an option either now that they already have £50 of my money. I contemplated asking a friend to get in touch and pose as a 26 year old and ask about eligibility, but I doubt they get enough enquiries for it not to be obvious it was me leading it.

It's made even more frustrating by how rude their staff were to me on the day, but that's another story!

Any help or advice is massively appreciated.

SHIRAZ

can I just clarify that you knowingly ordered an UNDER 26 (ie 25 years old or under) membership when you were already 26 about to be 27?

meer53

SHIRAZ wrote: »

can I just clarify that you knowingly ordered an UNDER 26 (ie 25 years old or under) membership when you were already 26 about to be 27?

Just about sums it up i would say

They haven't misled the OP, the OP has misled them ! What a cheek asking for a refund !

Just found this :

V&A Membership offers you a wealth of benefits, including free entry to exhibitions (with valid membership card and proof of ID such as a bank card or driving licence), previews, exciting events and the V&A Members’ Room. In addition, you will be supporting the vital work of the V&A. You can join as a Standard, Concessionary, Under-26 or Contributing Member. Corporate Membership offers companies an exclusive relationship with the V&A with an exciting package of benefits to engage clients and staff.

You joined when you were 26, this states "under 26"

MamaMoo_2

Quick life lesson.
26 is 26.
From the day you are born to aged 25years and 364 days (365 if you turn 25 in a leap year) is under 26.
The clue is in the word UNDER.
If you told someone that shop A had a product for £19.99, an you asked shop B if they could sell you the same product for under that amount, you wouldn't expect them to say "yeah, sure. We can do it for under £19.99! We'll do it for just £19.99!"

peachyprice

mitt wrote: »

I was 26 at the time, so purchased the under 26 membership (presuming that their shopping cart would have stopped me if it was invalid as there was no help to be found on the site).


I had presumed (never presume!) that the membership would cover me for a year, as did my 16-25 railcard that I purchased the day before I turned 26.

They've since got back to me with a fairly snooty email stating that "under 26" means literally 25 or younger, unlike every other under 26 offer or discount card I can find on the internet. So they said I was in the wrong from the start, and that it's not their fault because they operate on a system of trust.

Do I have a leg to stand on in getting a refund? They've clearly mislead me,

They haven't misled you, you've misled them. You weren't 25 coming up to 26 at the time you purchased the pass, you were 26 coming up 27.

Are you seriously saying that you could buy a 16-25 railcard if you were 26 and that would be OK? I don't think it would, you could buy it while you were 25 and continue using it for a whole year but you couldn't buy it after your 26th birthday, a bit like the V&A pass.

Rather than being entitled to a refund I think V&A are entitled to charge you for the full price pass you should have bought.

somethingcorporate

Turn the language around and it will really show you how ludicrous it is.

"are you over 25, mate?"
"yes, I'm 24"

wealdroam

I really feel the need to quote the original post...

mitt wrote: »

This is a complicated and irritating one. While I'm fortunate not to have been conned out of lots of money like some on this site, I still need help

I bought membership to the V&A earlier this year so that myself, partner, and his parents could go and see the sold out Bowie exhibition. It's a well known fact that they release a small number of tickets to popular exhibitions so that people will buy the more pricey membership for the year.

I was 26 at the time, so purchased the under 26 membership (presuming that their shopping cart would have stopped me if it was invalid as there was no help to be found on the site).

My partner is younger so his under 26 membership wasn't an issue.

So, we've since been to the exhibition - him with his membership card and me with a temporary one that they issued on the day after checking my details, as it had not been posted out yet. This was just over a month ago. At the time of visiting I had just turned 27, but nobody stopped me once checking my ID against my temporary card or anything like that.

Today I received a phonecall from them asking me to upgrade to full membership as I'm now over 26. Admittedly, I had presumed (never presume!) that the membership would cover me for a year, as did my 16-25 railcard that I purchased the day before I turned 26. I also presumed that the successful order, confirmation email, issuing of temporary membership card, and entrance to the exhibition all supported that fact, as they could have stopped me at any time or sent T&C with the receipt or whatever. Now they're asking for more money.

So, I can't afford a £65+ membership to a museum I won't visit again, and I emailed back politely explaining why the above reasons led me to believe all was above board, and that I'm not able to purchase the full card, hoping that they would offer me a refund, even if it's minus what the cost of the Bowie exhibit entrance would be. They've since got back to me with a fairly snooty email stating that "under 26" means literally 25 or younger, unlike every other under 26 offer or discount card I can find on the internet. So they said I was in the wrong from the start, and that it's not their fault because they operate on a system of trust.

I have a sneaking feeling that they've just pulled this one out of their behinds here - they could have just said that their t&c means you have to be 26 the whole year, but this seems really odd. If I could, I would get a refund on both the memberships, because my partner is never going to go there without me (if we ever go again), and in total it still cost us over £50, before this whole fiasco.

I've screen capped their website guidelines, and I'm trying to dig out an email I sent a while back asking specifically if I was still eligible for the card, to which they only sent an automated FAQ reply (no info on the under 26 issue to be found).

Do I have a leg to stand on in getting a refund? They've clearly mislead me, but I don't know how much of this I can legitimately claim against them, or whether they can basically do whatever they want, take the original money I spent, and leave me with nothing. I'm completely fine with paying for what we've experienced - the equivalent of the Bowie tickets - but without some sort of back up they're clearly not going to offer that as an option either now that they already have £50 of my money. I contemplated asking a friend to get in touch and pose as a 26 year old and ask about eligibility, but I doubt they get enough enquiries for it not to be obvious it was me leading it.

It's made even more frustrating by how rude their staff were to me on the day, but that's another story!

Any help or advice is massively appreciated.

Slowhand

Regards the OP's subject = No.

Agricolae

I'm trying to see where the OP is coming from, and struggling a little.

Okay, so they expected the website to stop them from being able to buy the membership if they were too old. I can understand that considering other sites have such systems in place.

However I feel the warnings on the site are quite clear about needing to be 25 or under (it even says this on the part where you input your date of birth). The OP therefore cannot take the moral high ground here.

I suppose an argument could be made that in taking money for the membership and letting OP in to the exhibition, V&A were affirming the "contract" despite them being too old.

However what may have happened is that the memberships are dealt with manually, and a pass was issued on a temporary basis on the (reasonable) assumption that the OP, in applying for an under 26 card, was in fact under 26.

When whoever deals with the memberships came to dealing with the OP's application and issuing the real card, perhaps it was at this point the discrepancy was discovered, by which time the OP had had some benefit from the membership.

Of course the real pass could have been issued prior to them discovering the mistake, though I'm not sure it changes anything.

The most reasonable solution would be to pay the difference between the two membership prices.

mattyprice4004

Stupid thread of the year award contender here!
Google the word under - it means LESS THAN.
How on earth do you deal with day to day life if you can't even manage that?
I fear for humanity's future sometimes!

arcon5

You can't attempt to defraud somebody by falsely representing yourselve then moan when it backfires. They would have originally accepted your order in good faith that the information provided was accurate and correct to the best of your knowledge.