MSE News: BHS to file for administration: what it means for you

Legacy_user

British shopping institution and high street retail giant BHS is to call in administrators today...

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'BHS to file for administration: what it means for you'

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liviboy

It's about time that gift cards were regulated. I know it's only fools who still buy gift cards but given the number of issues over the years with retailers heading into administration, it is downright wrong that this money can simply be wiped. "Allowing" customers to use gift cards ONLY if they spend twice its value is better than what has happened in the past when they simply are refused, but it's still not right. I think it was only ever HMV who continued to accept gift cards, as normal, when they went into administration a couple of years ago.

Yes it's a shame that British Home Stores are going under but let's be honest, there was nothing unique about them. They were overpriced most of the time and, as others have said, their stores are quite dingy. My local store opened with a brand new shopping centre in 1997 and only the signage above the door has really been changed in that time...

Personally I'm more upset that some of the "traditional" signage (such as on Edinburgh's Princes Street store) will now be pulled down once the stores close/are bought by another retailer.

Fitzmichael

Isn't it well past time that there was a campaign, with MSE at the front, to change the law in these circumstances so that customers had first call on the firms assets, then the staff for their pay and pensions? Next would be unpaid suppliers and end of the queue would be shareholders. Directors should get nothing. Why, at the very least, should they not have to repay any bonuses they have received? Why should they not be in fear of equal personal loss to that which their direction of the business has brought upon those who have suffered loss by their incompetence?
A survey of executives of large companies
(see: (www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Pages/speeches/2015/833.aspx )
showed that 'A majority of Japanese, German and French company executives put employee job security above shareholder dividends. For UK and US companies, a strong majority place the balance the other way around.' It's not surprising that Anglosphere capitalists are less socially conscious than elsewhere but equally not obvious why government should put their interest ahead of that of the electorate.
The revised Companies Act 2006 pretended to take account of some MPs' views on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), via s. 172, which is heavily criticised for not being fit for its purpose for, while it appears to enhance CSR, the reality is that no legal cure for breach is implemented.
It should be a condition of election as an MP that they had no interests which a reasonable person would conclude might detract from their prime role of advancing the interests of the electors.

Debwhite8

My mother has £60 of unused BHS vouchers which when I contacted the newly launched British Home Store website, they told me that as they were a totally separate company. Rather than let these go to waste, is there any way we can recoup the money from them?