John Lewis gift voucher fraud? Voucher "already redeemed" last year!

londonblue

Hi,

Has anyone experienced potential gift voucher fraud?

My parents sent my wife a £50 John Lewis gift voucher last year. We saved it until we really wanted something, so last month we tried to redeem it online for some kids' clothing. The voucher wouldn't work.

I wasn't going to let this lie, as we had now scratched off the panel to use it online, and once you do that you can't use it in store.

I emailed John Lewis customer services (CS) to enquire what the issue was. They emailed back saying the voucher had been used "in a John Lewis store" in May last year, at 8.01am.

I checked my calendar and that was a date that neither my wife nor I would have been in any JL store (our nearest is 20 miles away and we were both working, it was midweek).

Further to this, as far as I know, no physical John Lewis store opens before 9am on a weekday - some at 9.30am or 10am. So how could it be physically spent in store on that morning by a customer?

Also, we have the voucher. If you spend it in store, it's taken away from you (obviously).

We can't prove to them that we didn't try to spend it online last year, but in any case they didn't say it had been redeemed at their web site.

I'm trying to get them to tell me which store it was allegedly spent in, on what products etc. They must have this information (even if they don't tell me, it would help if they could be bothered to investigate).

At the end of the day, it's my parents who are effectively out of pocket (or rather, who have just wasted money as we can't spend it). I almost wouldn't mind if they'd just said it had expired, or could tell me some information, but this smells very, very fishy.

I suggested posting the voucher to them, they haven't said they want it as evidence. I am sure there are plenty of people who try to pull a fast one, but I am frustrated at the way we've been treated. We're now at the standard "my colleague said this, tough luck" kind of emails.

Anyone else experienced this? Is it worth taking this higher? Apart from the time expense, I've not spent anything on this yet. After a while I'll just cut my losses, I expect, but is there anything else worth doing first? Part of me doesn't want to send the voucher as then I lose all evidence if they decide to play nasty (I always thought JL were a decent company but I'm beginning to wonder)

DCFC79

Post a message on the JL facebook page, send them a twitter message or ask to speak to a manager at customer services.

tomtontom

How long has it been since you replied to their last email, have you given them chance to reply?

wealdroam

londonblue wrote: »

I emailed John Lewis customer services (CS) to enquire what the issue was. They emailed back saying the voucher had been used "in a John Lewis store" in May last year, at 8.01am.

Further to this, as far as I know, no physical John Lewis store opens before 9am on a weekday - some at 9.30am or 10am. So how could it be physically spent in store on that morning by a customer?

One JL store opens before 9am.
That at Heathrow opens at 5.30am every day.

Looks like you now know which store... unless "in a John Lewis store" includes Waitrose branded shops.

tomtontom

wealdroam wrote: »

One JL store opens before 9am.
That at Heathrow opens at 5.30am every day.

Looks like you now know which store... unless "in a John Lewis store" includes Waitrose branded shops.

It wasn't open last year

OlliesDad

Is it possible that the voucher has expired? It may be that the voucher automatically stopped being active at that time but the agent you are speaking to is thinking it means it was used then?

Just a suggestion?

agrinnall

OlliesDad wrote: »

Is it possible that the voucher has expired? It may be that the voucher automatically stopped being active at that time but the agent you are speaking to is thinking it means it was used then?

Just a suggestion?

JL vouchers appear to not have an expiry date, so while it was a valid suggestion it's not the solution in this case.

jkkne

Have you got the exact date when it was used?

My local John Lewis has several events a year when it opens at 7 or 8am

sheramber

I assume that you have double checked that you entered the voucher code correctly online.

Littlestars_2

it may be if a voucher has been deactivated the wrong code has been put in deactivating the one you have rather than the actual one used. Why not just go into a store and explain to swap it or post it off to them to swap it as that will be why they asked you to post it.

Bobson

I am experiencing the same problem at the moment. My son bought me two £25 gift vouchers last Christmas, which I tried to use online only to discover that according to John Lewis, one of my vouchers was redeemed in my local store earlier this year and they have the date and time of the transaction. My vouchers have been in a cupboard since Christmas day until two nights ago when I had decided what to buy with them. There is a code that is revealed by scratching the top off, which you have to do if you want to shop online, but the very fact that the code has been revealed renders the voucher invalid for use in store!! The initial attitude from the guy that dealt with me yesterday in my local branch was that as it was showing up as already redeemed there was nothing they could do, but I wasn't prepared to accept that as I know I haven't used the voucher. I would have insisted on speaking to the store manager but after leaving the guy to make a phone call they now have their security team looking into it. To say I am a bit peed off is an understatement.