Voucher sites like Timeout Offers

Misceey

I bought two vouchers from Time Out Offers at the end of April for a restaurant deal at the cost of £50. I booked for two people for 24 May 2013 as a celebratory exam completion dinner. At the time of booking, I confirmed that I would be using two Time Out Vouchers and gave the voucher numbers. When we arrived and were given menus, I said to the waitress that we had vouchers for the meal and asked if it was the special menu for Time Out voucher holders. The waitress answered in the affirmative but at the end of the dinner we were presented with a bill of £141.00. We queried this and were told that we had not made it clear that we were using a voucher.

Despite being very annoyed at this and to avoid the embarrassment of arguing in front of other customers, we paid the full bill at the time. We rebooked for Sunday 30 June 2013 as we were away on holiday for the first 3 weeks of June and the voucher expires on 2 July 2013. However when I called to reconfirm the booking, I was told that I was not booked in and could not be booked in at a time convenient for me before the expiry date.

Whilst I bought the voucher in April 2013 and should theoretically have had time to use it in between that time, it is through no fault of my own and quite frankly through a poor service at the restaurant in question that it was not been used. I tried on two occasions to use it but on both occasions, the restaurant messed up the bookings.

I sent several emails to the Time Out offers team detailing the situation and asking for a refund but got no response.

I then sent a message via their Facebook page saying that I had sent several messages to their email account and would appreciate a response. I received a reply stating they had not received any messages at the stated email account and that I should send them the query over Facebook. I did this last week and have still had no response despite following up on it twice.

I have looked through to find their terms and conditions for the booking but cannot find anything relating to refunds – in fact their T & Cs are quite basic.

Does anyone know what my rights are in this situation? And what action I can take to get my refund? It just seems that these types of sites are completely unregulated.

Any advice would be appreciated.

dalesrider

Misceey wrote: »

At the time of booking, I confirmed that I would be using two Time Out Vouchers and gave the voucher numbers.
When we arrived and were given menus, I said to the waitress that we had vouchers for the meal and asked if it was the special menu for Time Out voucher holders. The waitress answered in the affirmative

So you made it clear enough then....

Misceey wrote: »

but at the end of the dinner we were presented with a bill of £141.00. We queried this and were told that we had not made it clear that we were using a voucher.

Despite being very annoyed at this and to avoid the embarrassment of arguing in front of other customers, we paid the full bill at the time.

Arguing in front of other punters is the best way to get a result. Seeing as you had the meal. They should have been hard pressed to get £141 out of you....
And you should have been waving the vouchers in their face reiterating the 1st quote....