Can I insist on a refund?

Sweets

I bought a deal from wowcher for a candle making workshop. I redeemed the deal with the merchant in May and booked the workshop for the 19th July. Since then, I have heard nothing from the merchant, despite trying to contact them, their website no longer exists, nor does their Facebook page, phone goes straight to voice mail etc. I contacted wowcher for a refund, and they tried to contact them too, with no luck. I asked wowcher to refund me in the same method that I paid them, but they have replied with this:

Thank you for your email.

I'm afraid a cash refund is not an option when a voucher has been redeemed. When a voucher is redeemed, it means the merchant is in the process of fulfilling your order, so to refund could potentially result in your both receiving the product and having a refund.

Therefore the only way I can cancel a voucher is if I have confirmation from the Merchant, by email, as requested in my last message to you. I appreciate the Merchant has not responded, which is why I have offered an alternative of credit.

For the reasons stated, this cannot be a cash refund I'm afraid.



I have therefore credited a total of £29.00 to your wowcher wallet. You can use that right away against any other Wowcher deal and it's valid for the next 3 months.

In the last year this was the only deal that caught my eye on wowcher, so I am not happy to have it as wowcher credit, especially that expires in 3 months. Can I insist on a refund? Surely my contract is with them, and they have not been able to deliver the goods I paid for, ok not their fault, but not mine either.

cono1717

I think I mentioned something similar in another thread - it's quite complicated really with two companies involved.

From what I can tell:

You made a purchase from Wowcher for a voucher which they supplied to you thus fulfilling their obligation.

You then tried to buy something from another company with a voucher but they are not responding / not delivering the item so your contract is with them.

The other problem is that wowchers terms are very vague on the whole "Closing down" situation:

Q: What if the merchant for my wowcher closes down?

A: If the merchant closes down and your wowcher has not expired, we'll refund your money.

You could go back and say the wowcher hasn't expired and your terms state nothing about it not being redeemed? Not sure how much luck you'd have though.

Sweets

Thanks, it's a complicated one. I guess the grey area is around the voucher, yes they sold it to me, but it was a voucher for an event, which is now not going ahead. I have found some information about them going in to liquidation, so I'll forward them on to wowcher and try again.

Chelle21

I bought an ottoman bed for Wowcher in June, i can't remember who the merchant is they used, i have had a problem with the bed, all the slats aren't treated so they are going mouldy and breaking, i have email Wowcher today to ask who the Merchant is they use, is there anything else i can do??

powerful_Rogue

Chelle21 wrote: »

I bought an ottoman bed for Wowcher in June, i can't remember who the merchant is they used, i have had a problem with the bed, all the slats aren't treated so they are going mouldy and breaking, i have email Wowcher today to ask who the Merchant is they use, is there anything else i can do??

Im presuming you're using this bed inside the house? In which case id be more concerned about why the slats are going moldy. Not sure what sort of treatment you expect the slats to have.

PS - You really should start your own thread as it makes it much easier for people to help you.