Discount Platforms

adamcat81

Hi, Can anyone help me. My husband's company has launched a new discount scheme which is hosted by a company called Arthur J Gallagher. This scheme allows all employees to buy discounted shopping cards for various stores i.e. A Thomas Cook shopping card can be purchased for a 7% discount and then used to buy a holiday. This is the one that particularly interests me as I shortly will need to pay the balance for our summer holiday. I have worked out that by purchasing one of these cards to the value of my final holiday payment that I could save £200, which sounds great, possibly too good to be true to my cynical mind. So what I really wanted to ask is - "have any other forum members used such schemes and what are the pitfalls, is there something I am missing?" I would be very grateful to hear from other forum members on this.

Doc_N

These schemes are quite common, and the company you refer to is a large well-known one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_J._Gallagher_%26_Co.


The main risk would be not getting the card, but you can cover that (if you're allowed to, which you may well not be) by using a credit card.

The other risk would be that you won't get the usual credit card protection on the holiday itself - though ABTA protection might help there.

Finally, check whether you can use the card to pay a balance. Often they're only usable on a new booking, and sometimes only through certain outlets.

Marcon

As the previous answer says, these schemes are quite common and most are fine. Your husband should have been provided with full information about the scheme (or it'll be on his employer's website) which will answer the very sensible points raised by Doc N. If not, get him to ask his HR department.

You also need to check if there is a maximum 'purchase price' on the cards he can buy in (say) any one calendar year.