Homebase A-Card from Morrisons - spend at Argos?

chipp

I have a (not insignificant) balance on a Homebase gift card (A-Card) bought at Morrisons in 2012 (to get the petrol discount as I was about to spend several hundreds in Homebase). I tried to buy something on it yesterday and was told that since the company has now been sold, Homebase can't accept the card any more.

Whilst I was vaguely aware of something going on with the ownership of Homebase, it wasn't till my visit to store yesterday that I discovered the company was actually sold in February. Perhaps I should have paid more attention, but they're still Homebase branded and if there's any signage instore it's not obvious. A receipt from 16th May still gives the Milton Keynes head office address on the back. On that date nobody told me the rules were about to change. I'm surely not the only one in this situation.

The phone number on the back of the card now relates to Argos cards only. When I rang it I was read a press release about 27th May being the last date Homebase would accept the cards. Customers would have found about this when they visited a store, apparently. I didn't, less than a fortnight before that date. There was no empathy from the CSA I spoke to. For those of us who don't frequent Homebase with the regularity of our local grocery store it was unfortunate. The advice was to try Morrisons as that was where I bought the card.

Morrisons customer services were apologetic. They felt the problem should be with Homebase (which is where I started, full circle).

I rang the number on the card again and this time selected the "balance" option. The card number was recognised. It seems I may be able to spend it at Argos. I think I might try to do so quite quickly (just need to find something I need to buy!), before the goalposts are moved again.