Currys not honouring "Free £50 voucher" with product

Liamh

Hi, I'm just trying to figure out what my rights are and what options I have regarding a voucher I should have received by the 21st November. I have been in contact with them multiple times on the phone - for the first 2 weeks I was told i should have the voucher shortly, on my most recent call they have said that the offer was not eligible for the product I purchased.

Any help or advice will be very much appreciated!

It's fairly complicated so bear with my whilst I try and explain:


I purchased a "Microsoft Surface Pro 2" which had an offer on at the time, displayed on the product page stating "£50 voucher to spend in store when you buy the product. Hurry! Ends Wednesday!"

The following image is a screenshot of the product page as it appeared on 4th November when I puchased it. I saved the page in chrome on the day I purchased it because I have had bad experiences purchasing electronics online before. (Thanks WAE+...)

i.imgur.com/iP5HBuB.jpg
(will need to copy/paste into address bar, as a new user I can't have put links in a post)

The terms stated that the offer ends 6/11/13, that the voucher will be emailed before 21/11/13 and needs to be used by 24/12/13

i.imgur.com/o78OiE8.jpg
(will need to copy/paste into address bar)


I had not received the e-mail/voucher by 25th November so I called to find out what was happening. The person on the phone found my order very quickly but had some difficulty finding the offer for the £50 voucher. After a few minutes he managed to find it, confirmed that I was eligible and said I should have it in roughly 48 hours.


I had not heard or received anything from Currys by the 3rd December so I sent the following e-mail:

"Hi, I called up last week regarding a £50 voucher to use in-store that I should have been e-mailed before the 21st November after purchasing a Microsoft Surface Pro 2 online on 4th November. (order number: CUR1311270232)


After going through the order details and confirming with the member of staff on the phone that I was indeed entitled to the voucher, I was told that I should be receiving the voucher in roughly 48 hours from when I called (Nov 25th at 17:03)


However, I have still not received the voucher (December 3rd) and am slightly concerned as the terms for the voucher stated that it must be used by 24/12/2013.


Could you please have a look into this?


Thanks"

I never received a reply to that e-mail.


I followed that up with a call on 6th December, the staff on the phone said that I would need to speak to the person who originally handled the call who would call me back by the following afternoon.

I did not receive a call by the following afternoon (7th December) so called up again. I raised a concern that I had regarding the voucher expiring 26/12/13, as if it arrives too late it may have already expired or I may not be able to get to a store in time to use it. Plus I was planning on using it to purchase a Christmas present. The staff on the phone said that they would be sending me a £50 voucher with no expiry date that I should receive in roughly 3 days and gave me a case number to follow it up with.

Again I had not received the voucher or been contacted by 13th December so I called up again and gave the case number I was given when I last rang. The member of staff now told me that it has been looked into and the free £50 voucher offer was not available on the product that I purchased, when I purchased it!

I explained that the information presented on the product page clearly showed that the product I purchased should come with a "£50 voucher to spend in store when you buy this product". I asked how is it possible to that the offer was not applicable for this product when it clearly showed that it was when I bought it? She replied that she would have to look into it again and they would contact me when they had finished. I said that I would e-mail in the product page from when I bought it that indicated what made it seem to me that I should be receiving said voucher.


That night I sent the following e-mail with the 2 images that I linked to above and a zip folder containing the .html file that I saved in chrome:
(Feel free to skip this, its pretty much the same as I have written above)

"My issue:
I purchased a Microsoft Surface Pro 2 from Currys on 4/11/2013 in the expectation that I would receive the advertised "£50 voucher to spend instore when you buy this product". This was clearly advertised alongside the product on the product page on the Currys website. I have not received this voucher despite the "Essential info" for the offer stating that I should have received the voucher by 21/11/2013. The offer ended on 6th November as stated in the "Essential info", I purchased the item on 4th November.

In my previous calls I was told that I was indeed entitled to the voucher and should receive it shortly however this has not been the case, please see the support history detailed below.


Initial call to customer support made: 25/11/2013
Called in, customer service staff found my order, found the deal that entitles me to the £50 voucher to spend instore, confirmed that I was definitely eligible for it and that I could expect it in roughly 48 hours

E-mail sent: 03/12/2013 (Case ref: CSUP2192133CR)
E-mail sent as I had heard nothing from Currys, no response received other than the automated response to the e-mail stating "Your message will be read and responded to as soon as possible by our team of colleagues."

Second call: 06/12/2013
Called in again as had not heard anything from Currys. Customer Service staff said that the staff who originally answered my call would call back by the following afternoon.

Third call: 07/12/2013
Called again as had not received the call I had been told to expect and raised my concern regarding the voucher expiring 24/12/2013 (as stated in the "Essential info"). Customer service staff gave me the Case number I am now using and told me I will receive a voucher without expiry date within 3 days.

Fourth call: 13/12/2013
Called as I have received no voucher, no e-mail, no call. I am told on the phone that the promotion offer was not on the product that I purchased, when I purchased it and therefore will not be receiving any voucher.

This is contradictory to my previous conversations with staff on the phone who confirmed to me that I am eligible for the voucher and that I will see it in 48 hours / 3 days.

This is also contrary to the information displayed on the product page from which I purchased it.

I have attached a zip folder containing the .html of the 'Surface Pro 2' page that clearly shows that the product I purchased entitles me to the £50 voucher. This page was saved when I purchased the product on 4/11/2013

I have also attached a screenshot of said page and the "Essential Info" pane that pops up when you click on "Essential info" in the box that states: "£50 voucher to spend in store when you buy this product" in a large, red font, in the centre of the page. I have uploaded the same images and provided links below in case the attached images do not work:

i.imgur.com/iP5HBuB.jpg
i.imgur.com/o78OiE8.jpg

Please contact me when you have a resolution to this issue.

Regards,"



I'm 90% certain that this is going nowhere but I don't know where I can go from here. Is this something that I can take to the small claims court? Being a voucher I don't know if it counts as having any real monetary value or even whether or not it counts as a breach of contract.

The invoices and order confirmations say nothing about a free £50 voucher so the only evidence I have is the page that I saved in chrome and screenshots that I can take of that page. (the page was saved directly to Skydrive cloud storage so the date and time it was saved at is intact)


Any advice is more than welcome!
And sorry for the long post!

jb66

Maybe return the tablet and buy elsewhere if cheaper

unholyangel

Have you checked a web archive to see if there is a cached copy of the webpage? You may not need it but it may help if they dig their heels in.

Yes, its a breach of contract. The voucher formed part of the contract so they are in breach by not supplying it.

If you paid by credit card, given the goods are worth over £100....your card company may be liable under section 75 of the consumer credit act (it holds the creditor jointly liable with the retailer - meaning you have the same rights with them as you do the retailer).

Alternatively, if you didn't pay by card then it looks like it may be time to send a letter before action.

Liamh

Thanks for the replies!

I don't think that I'll be able to return I've had it and used it for over a month now.

I've checked Internet archive/waybackmachine and they dont have the page unfortunately.

I paid by debit card unfortunately

Sounds like I'm going to have to send a letter before action then and prepare to take it through the small claims court.

When I saved the page in chrome I saved it to my Skydrive cloud storage though so it lists the date created / modified for page's files on there. Hopefully that will help if it goes that far.

unholyangel

Liamh wrote: »

Thanks for the replies!

I don't think that I'll be able to return I've had it and used it for over a month now.

I've checked Internet archive/waybackmachine and they dont have the page unfortunately.

I paid by debit card unfortunately

Sounds like I'm going to have to send a letter before action then and prepare to take it through the small claims court.

When I saved the page in chrome I saved it to my Skydrive cloud storage though so it lists the date created / modified for page's files on there. Hopefully that will help if it goes that far.

With the LBA, remember to title it as such (Letter Before Action), keep it simple and don't get bogged down with non-essential information. You bought x item on x date for x price with the offer of £50 voucher to be delivered by/after x date. They have subsequently refused to provide the voucher and are in breach of contract.

You expect them to honour their original offer or make store credit to the same value available to you or issue a partial refund for the amount to the card used to pay (you can just choose one but personally I'd choose 2 to suggest as remedies). If they do not respond within 14 days, you will issue court proceedings against them, at which time your claim will also be including costs incurred.

jwi1969

I've had exactly the same problem and still haven't received my voucher. I smell a rat here, I think this is a deliberate ploy by them to put people off and also to make money out of their customer service phone line. I now have the same issue with another cashback.


This needs escalating!

Liamh

I just got my voucher code a few hours ago. I don't know if leaving a comment about my experience on their most recent 'up to £50 voucher' post on their facebook wall helped or not but it seems that they only let you have it if you kick up enough of a fuss. Their final response:

"Dear Mr Howley,

Thank you for your recent e-mail regarding your voucher.

I was sorry to learn that you had not received the voucher at the time of contacting us. From speaking to the Promotions Team, they have informed me that there is a backlog in getting the voucher codes sent to the customer. Due to the length of time that you have waited to receive your voucher, I requested that your case is dealt with as a priority.

I have since received e-mail back confirming the voucher number, which is XXXXXXXX. This can be used against any in store purchase but this does expire on 24th December 2013.

We thank you for your patience whilst we resolved the issue. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused. "

Kind regards,

I did a bit of research and it seems lots of other people have had similar problems and only got the voucher after complaining enough times by phone/email/twitter/facebook. See:
hotukdeals.com/deals/ipad-air-5-off-30-pcworld-currys-voucher-1696504?page=30#comments

My original e-mail that never got a response was to customer.services@currys.co.uk so on my most recent e-mail I addressed it to both that address and letusknow@knowhow.com, it might be worth doing the same.

Also it appears that some people have had to use this image to clarify which offer they are talking about or even to prove that it existed!:
i42.tinypic.com/2ii8rjd.jpg

The staff on the phone lines appear to make things up as they go along going off the broad range of different responses other people have had, especially my experience with a member of staff who said I wasnt even entitled to it and then sounded taken aback when I said I had proof that the offer existed when I bought it!

It seems to me that you've just got to hound them until they finally give way and seeing as the voucher still expires on Dec 24th I'd do it as fast as you can!

We shouldn't have to resort to this to get what was promised as part of their purchase so I'm still going to write a complaint to their head office, if you want to do the same the address is:

Dixons Retail plc
Maylands Avenue
Hemel Hempstead
Herts HP2 7TG

(this is the address I was going to address my LBA to and list as defendant in small claims case)

Good luck getting your voucher!


And thank you unholyangel! Luckily I dont think I'm going to have to go through with a LBA but your advice was fantastic nevertheless

MotorHomer

Has anyone claimed £50 or £100 off a television that Currys/PCWorld are advertising?

I've exchanged a few emails with them and they are telling me it's tablets only despite their advertising online and in the press.

4kidsandadog

Not sure if anyone can offer some advice on another Currys dilemma? Was in the Currys Superstore at Cribbs Causeway, Bristol yesterday buying a tablet. Whilst I was queuing to pay I say an advert running in a loop on a TV screen by the till which stated that there was a £10 cashback on the tablet I was buying (an Asus ME173X) The offer stated a price of £129 with £10 cashback but when I asked the shop assistant about the cashback he first told me that it was for the Samsung Galaxy and then when I pointed out that there were various tablets that were being shown on the TV screen he said he would check his computer and then told me there was no offer available.


I asked to speak to a Manager who came over and then told me that the offer had finished on Thursday (the day before) and that they hadn't removed the advert yet. No apology for the confusion and when I pointed out that it was very misleading information he just looked at me and told me again that the offer had finished. I paid for the tablet anyway as I was in a hurry but am now wondering if it would be worth writing to someone senior in Currys to raise this matter and see if they are likely to give me the advertised £10 back. Any advice would be gratefully received!

frugal_mike

4kidsandadog wrote: »

Not sure if anyone can offer some advice on another Currys dilemma? Was in the Currys Superstore at Cribbs Causeway, Bristol yesterday buying a tablet. Whilst I was queuing to pay I say an advert running in a loop on a TV screen by the till which stated that there was a £10 cashback on the tablet I was buying (an Asus ME173X) The offer stated a price of £129 with £10 cashback but when I asked the shop assistant about the cashback he first told me that it was for the Samsung Galaxy and then when I pointed out that there were various tablets that were being shown on the TV screen he said he would check his computer and then told me there was no offer available.


I asked to speak to a Manager who came over and then told me that the offer had finished on Thursday (the day before) and that they hadn't removed the advert yet. No apology for the confusion and when I pointed out that it was very misleading information he just looked at me and told me again that the offer had finished. I paid for the tablet anyway as I was in a hurry but am now wondering if it would be worth writing to someone senior in Currys to raise this matter and see if they are likely to give me the advertised £10 back. Any advice would be gratefully received!

You may as well try as they may offer you something as a gesture of good-will, but they are under no obligation to give it to you. It didn't form part of your contract as they were quite clear before you paid for the item that it was a mistake. It's certainly not good that they forgot to remove it though, and if they still haven't removed it then they may be deemed to be wilfully misinforming customers since they're now aware of it.

wealdroam

4kidsandadog wrote: »

Not sure if anyone can offer some advice on another Currys dilemma? Was in the Currys Superstore at Cribbs Causeway, Bristol yesterday buying a tablet. Whilst I was queuing to pay I say an advert running in a loop on a TV screen by the till which stated that there was a £10 cashback on the tablet I was buying (an Asus ME173X) The offer stated a price of £129 with £10 cashback but when I asked the shop assistant about the cashback he first told me that it was for the Samsung Galaxy and then when I pointed out that there were various tablets that were being shown on the TV screen he said he would check his computer and then told me there was no offer available.


I asked to speak to a Manager who came over and then told me that the offer had finished on Thursday (the day before) and that they hadn't removed the advert yet. No apology for the confusion and when I pointed out that it was very misleading information he just looked at me and told me again that the offer had finished. I paid for the tablet anyway as I was in a hurry but am now wondering if it would be worth writing to someone senior in Currys to raise this matter and see if they are likely to give me the advertised £10 back. Any advice would be gratefully received!

You offered to pay £129 in exchange for a tablet and £10 cashback.

They refused your offer. It appears to have been a mistake.

Really, that's the end of the matter, but if you want more detail, have a read of this thread:

Do shops have to sell at the advertised price?