Buyagift.co.uk scam. Warning.

pickledtink

I and it would appear many others bought tasting experiences from this set up. They were advertised as special offers and vastly discounted. once they have your money and have sent the vouchers ( completing the transaction) they email everyone saying the price was a mistake and you are not to try to use the voucher. They will refund the money. Except they don't.
Anyone who complains via email or their facebook page is then emailed a £10.00 discount code for their site, which didn't work when tried. This buys them some more time whilst retaining your money. My posts on their facebook site were removed and I was blocked. My emails are ignored.
On doing a bit of back checking ( yes I wish I'd done so before I got caught out) I found this mistake/technical error is not a one off by any means. There are disgruntled posts on consumer sites citing this exact same problem time and time again with this crew.
Once people have had their purchase processed and received their voucher they go ahead with plans and invitations then are left disappointed or embarrassed that their gift is being declined so will go ahead and pay the new ( inflated) price using the apology £10.00 discount code.
They cynically cite their terms and conditions as a get out even before being questioned and are fully ready for the fall out. It's a deliberate ploy to reel people in.
It may be clever but it's a repulsive way to get business. One post on their facebook was from a very distressed disabled lady who had been treating her little girl just out of hospital. This is IMHO very nasty. Please don't get caught, especially just before Christmas.
It isn't just the Taster deals. People have been lured into parting with money for meal deals, activity deals and luxury high tea deals too. I hope this helps someone avoid this before it's too late.

bagpuss38

This happened to me this weekend, bought a tasting voucher for my son.
Received an email from them saying they would refund the money.
What do I do now?

pickledtink

I am going to contact the venues directly as they are having their good names tarnished by association. As I got absolutely blanked I just emailed buyagift telling them I was going to do that and lo and behold suddenly within 20 minutes I got a refunded through paypal email. It still absolutely stinks though. Total calculated con from start to finish.

Smithers37

No way am I buying someone an experience from there to then later have to tell the people I bought gifts for, "Umm.. sorry that voucher isn't valid".

So if it makes you feel better, I won't be buying from them ever.

chickenpants

Thanks for the warning, I was just about to order someone a thank you gift using them, I'm glad I checked on here first!

Caroline_a

I used them a couple of years ago to buy tickets as a present for a theme park. Selected email as the delivery option as it was the cheapest. When the email arrived (and I'd spent around £50), it stated that the card that had been used to purchase the tickets had to be presented at the park when the tickets were used.

I complained bitterly as my daughter was going away for a week with her boyfriend and friends, and there was no way I could let her take my card for a week! I got no joy at all and ended up losing the money.

I'll never use them again.

Froglet

I've not had a problem with them so far.I was given a voucher for the hotel offer ,2 nights for 2 people ,and took my time deciding when to go.When i rang up to book i was told the particulr date i wanted wasn't available,nor were others i chose.All to do with only getting a certain allocation of rooms per date.I rang the hotel i wanted and within 15 minutes the booking agent rang me back and offered me the original date i wanted.That i suspect was partly down to the hotel but still.

I also had a £10 credit voucher which is only supposed to be used for an experience.I emailed them and said i wanted to buy a tangible gift.I was promised that if i rang up and quoted this particular person(one of the managers) I could use the credit against anything.Which is what i did do with no problems.

I do agree though that a lot of what they sell is fairly dear,though the hotel offer is really good value.

Tomby1

I've used them or received gifts from them maybe 7 or 8 times and have had absolutely no issues before.

I think sometimes mistakes are made and at least they gave you a £10 discount and your money back - if the code isn't working, I'd imagine a quick email to them would solve that.