Debenham eGift card charged as cash advance?

csteinle

I've literally just had Nationwide refund this (as a gesture of goodwill) from a card purchased on Friday, so in the 11 months since it's not been resolved. I'd advise anyone against buying Debenhams gift cards online because of this. They said the merchant had flagged it as Travel Money, so it's certainly Debenham's fault. I'll be complaining to them as well.

joroshe

Unsure why Nationwide would have taken 11 months to resolve this as all banks/building societies and credit card companies receive a report on how retailers process transactions which would have been easy for them to check 11 months ago! Debenhams would appear to have an issue with their systems if they have processed a Gift card as a travel money order!

lisyloo

Anecdotal evidence is that occasional cash on credit cards is not treated as "bad" debt.
Many of us take cash out if ATMs abroad and have no issue with getting credit.
The wider context does of course matter, so if you have a good credit history then it's unlikely to be an issue, it might be different if you had a bad credit history, but I can't imagine one incidence of a cash advance will be a showstopper.
As I say many of us use it for cash multiple times a year for real cash without issue.

csteinle

joroshe wrote: »

Unsure why Nationwide would have taken 11 months to resolve this as all banks/building societies and credit card companies receive a report on how retailers process transactions which would have been easy for them to check 11 months ago! Debenhams would appear to have an issue with their systems if they have processed a Gift card as a travel money order!

Nationwide didn't. They refunded it immediately, as they said gift cards should not be considered as cash advances. I'm not the OP.

However, Debenhams have obviously know that this is an issue for at least 11 months and can't be bothered to do anything about it. Why are they reporting the transaction as "Travel Money" - which is what Nationwide said it was flagged as?

joroshe

sorry csteinle didnt read your thread properly POS transactions can be processed with different codes (depending on what the sale is for) and it would depend on what code Debenhams put it through as. I would presume this is not a manual process and therefore someone has set their system up with the incorrect processing codes

chuckley

this is shocking, but Debenhams are having so many problems of late with online shopping.

after my last email back and forth with them I'm reluctant to use them online any more.

grumbler

elisagrace wrote: »

...Even then if there is no reply, then you can file suit in competent court of law.

Yeh - and seek £10K compensation. All this for "£3 charge plus interest of 19p". How typical for USA with their cohort of ambulance chasing and similar lawyers.

Give us a rest, please.

agrinnall

elisagrace wrote: »

Hi SideKick,
Big companies do not like this. If they are not taking your matter seriously, the better option available to you is to drop a mail to their CEO. Even then if there is no reply, then you can file suit in competent court of law.

Why not read what Sidekick wrote nearly a year ago, in particular the final sentence? I'm guessing you're a post count builder and we'll be seeing your spam soon, my advice would be to take it elsewhere.

SideKick wrote: »

Debenhams gift voucher arrived by post today (£5).

The letter did apologise and promise to investigate, so that was nice.

Matter closed now.