Company expired my vouchers. Is this legal with no T&Cs?

rborob

Hello I received £50 worth of vouchers for thesportshq.com for Christmas in 2012.

I checked the site and there was no expiry, nor was there one on the physical voucher. I thought "great", stuck them in my drawer and never "got around" to using them.

I recently got around to playing golf again and thought i'd use them. However all 5 of the vouchers are showing as expired on the website. I double and triple checked the whole site and there is no mention of an expiry.

I contacted them and they've dragged their heels with a response until today when they said (after i pestered them via live chat);

"Hi there, I do apologise about that. I tried to email you yesterday but it seems I had misplaced your email address. Sadly after my manager looked into this there is nothing we can do as the vouchers were valid from 2012 and we are now in 2014"

I asked them if this was legal as there is no mention of an expiry date anywhere on the site, and adding one now seems to be something Trading Standards would be a bit annoyed about.

Has anyone had anything like this happen before? When I originally contacted them they told me the vouchers would need reissuing, now I'm being told they're useless. Please help advise me on my next course of action!

shaun_from_Africa

The first thing that you should do is to speak to the person who gave you the vouchers.
They may have been informed of an expiry date either verbally or there may have been something on the paperwork when they made the purchase.

If no expiry date was given, it is the purchaser who will have to attempt to get either a refund or getting reissued vouchers as they are the ones who have a contract with the seller.

agrinnall

rborob wrote: »

"Hi there, I do apologise about that. I tried to email you yesterday but it seems I had misplaced your email address. Sadly after my manager looked into this there is nothing we can do as the vouchers were valid from 2012 and we are now in 2014"

If that's really what they said then it's completely meaningless - if the vouchers are "valid from 2012" then they are valid in 2014, 2015, 2016, and "in the year 2525" (for those old enough to remember Zager and Evans ).

ThumbRemote

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

If no expiry date was given, it is the purchaser who will have to attempt to get either a refund or getting reissued vouchers as they are the ones who have a contract with the seller.

Not sure this is correct. It's fairly obvious with gift vouchers that they are a gift, and as such the statutory rights can be transferred to the recipient.

shaun_from_Africa

ThumbRemote wrote: »

Not sure this is correct. It's fairly obvious with gift vouchers that they are a gift, and as such the statutory rights can be transferred to the recipient.

Just because something was purchased with the intention of being given as a gift doesn't mean that the purchasers statutory rights can automatically be transferred to the intended recipient.
The SOGA specifically refers to rights between the purchaser and the retailer and I may be wrong but I don't recall ever reading any UK legislation that states that a consumers right can be transferred without the agreement of both parties (consumer and retailer).

hollydays

The company is called S247 Plc
They have a lot of offshoots
I'd write to their registered office.
http://www.companiesintheuk.co.uk/ltd/s247

unholyangel

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

Just because something was purchased with the intention of being given as a gift doesn't mean that the purchasers statutory rights can automatically be transferred to the intended recipient.
The SOGA specifically refers to rights between the purchaser and the retailer and I may be wrong but I don't recall ever reading any UK legislation that states that a consumers right can be transferred without the agreement of both parties (consumer and retailer).

MSE themselves say:

DO write 'it's a gift' on receipts
Legally, only the person who purchased the item has a right to return faulty goods. Yet if the assistant writes it's a gift and who it's for on your receipt as well their copy (the debit/credit card slip), the rights are transferred.

Some shops will deal with gift recipients regardless, but it's worth doing just in case.

gik

unholyangel wrote: »

MSE themselves say:

Who writes what, where and when with whose agreement? Neither the seller or the buyer can alter the contract after it's concluded without both seller and buyer consent surely?

unholyangel

gik wrote: »

Who writes what, where and when with whose agreement? Neither the seller or the buyer can alter the contract after it's concluded without both seller and buyer consent surely?

Well if you ask for a gift receipt at the time its not altering the contract.

gik

unholyangel wrote: »

Well if you ask for a gift receipt at the time its not altering the contract.

Well if ? You are really struggling... how about well if you don't ask? As in real life?

gik

Can I write anything on a receipt that is legally binding without the seller's agreement?