Cineworld gift voucher

Amycharlie

Hi all I was wondering if anybody could help me or has possibly had a similar problem before? My grandpa bought me a cineworld gift card for Christmas which is a great gift however there are none where I live, the closest one is 50 miles away and I do not have transport to get there. I went to WHSmith to return it (the retailer who he bought the voucher from as he was good enough to sent the receipt) they said that they cannot not refund me but cineworld can.

I proceeded to email the cineworld customer services who informed me that they could not refund me but I could pass the gift voucher onto somebody else. I then replied asking why the could not refund me and that I do not know anybody who does live near a cineworld.

They then told me that only the retailer is responsible for refunding, I replied saying well if you won't refund me and the retailer won't refund me and I can't give the voucher away because I don't know anybody who lives near a cineworld what I am meant to do?

They then sent me a ridiculously long email saying a load of rubbish however they did say they had a 14 day return policy which is usually only applied to cards bought from them but is sometimes applied to situations where a card is bought from a third party but they assume that the 14 days have passed. I told them that my first email requesting a refund was in fact within the 14 days.

Their next email was very short and only said that the person who last emailed me did not see the other emails and was not aware that my gift card was purchased from a third party and the 14 day refund policy cannot be applied when bought from a third party.

I then pointed out that they clearly did know where it was purchased from and they have now backtracked on what their colleague had said.

Anyway it has now been two weeks since I have heard from them even though their auto reply email says they aim to reply within 3 working days. I have emailed them again, their auto reply email now says they aim to reply within 5 working days

I work in customer service myself and feel that their customer service is, for lack of a better word, absolute rubbish! I keep getting passed between advisors who never seem to read mine or their colleagues emails properly and they keep confusing each other and none of them seem to know what their policies actually are.

I know that I can call them and probably get it sorted out quicker than if I emailed them but this would come at my expense.

Anyway what I would like to know is whether I have a case for a refund and if I do but they still refuse what would my next steps be? I have all their emails saved (another reason why I prefer email to telephone)

Apologies for the long story. But I don't know what to do and could really use some advice. Thanks.

~Beanie~

Amycharlie wrote: »

Anyway what I would like to know is whether I have a case for a refund and if I do but they still refuse what would my next steps be?

You have no rights to a refund. Can't you sell it on EBay or Gumtree?

ThumbRemote

You have no statutory right for a refund. You may have rights under their own terms and conditions, but it seems neither they nor you really know what they are.

As said above, it will almost certainly be easier to sell it, or use it if you're somewhere near a Cineworld over the summer.

halibut2209

Also to add, you have no contract with them. Your grandpa does.