John Lewis won't reissue £300 gift card

Undervalued

unholyangel wrote: »

The problem you seem to have is that (from memory anyway, haven't reread the thread) you have no contract with JL and nothing they have done has caused you a loss in any way - you'd already lost the £300 voucher to fraud by the time they'd cancelled it.

JL may not be reissuing because really, it would be up to a court to decide if the contract you entered was void or voidable and if title passed or not (and JL could be held liable if they give it to the wrong party). Its one of those complex areas and although I can't remember all the ins and outs, pretty sure it would likely focus on who the fraudster was versus who he held himself out to be.

If (example) fraudster said he was Tim Jones, really is Tim Jones and falsely made a fraud claim with his bank then contract would likely be valid & title/ownership of the voucher would pass to him.

The promotion may also have stipulated that the voucher would be invalid if resold. Literally a minefield of details that could affect the legal position.


However, try writing both to JL's head office & neff explaining (and provide police incident reference - I'd also include any imperative supporting evidence on separate sheets from a main covering letter) and asking if either of them can reissue and see how you get on - for the value involved, its definitely worth at least asking.

Slightly playing devil's advocate here but, arguably, the one thing JL may have done wrong was to have blocked the card!

Had they not then it would have been simple. The OP would have had a clear cut legal claim against the person that bought the card. OK, that may have been difficult to enforce, assuming they got judgement, but they did at least have a valid address and proof of sale.

Once JL blocked the card they must presumably take on some responsibility. They presumably must be relying on their terms and conditions giving them the right to void the card if re-sold and retain its value.

As I said earlier JL will have been paid far less that £300 for this card in exchange for an agreement to supply £300 worth of goods at retail price (which will obviously have cost them less). They were never obliged to exchange the card for cash.

mariahussain

Yes thanks exactly why block it in the first place. I know I received it as a promotion but still £300 is not small amount. I actually had to buy something expensive in order for me to qualify for this promotion. I will try and chase John Lewis about it and see how I get on.

Undervalued

mariahussain wrote: »

Yes thanks exactly why block it in the first place. I know I received it as a promotion but still £300 is not small amount. I actually had to buy something expensive in order for me to qualify for this promotion. I will try and chase John Lewis about it and see how I get on.

Certainly no harm in asking. As I said the legalities are complex to say the least and may well not be on your side. So you are looking for a gesture of goodwill. Keep in mind that JL will not have received anything like £300 for this card so if they were to give you that they would be making a significant loss.

SouthUKMan

Scammers are just scummy chancers. They know that the law of probability means that sometimes the eBay / PayPal dispute resolution process will rule in their favour. I've been on eBay pretty much from the start, although I'm only a very light seller. It's only over the past couple of years though that I've had any real issues. Only last month I listed an older digital SLR camera which someone with a zero feeback score won. They paid within 24 hours, but a fortnight later I had a 'disputed transaction' claim and the funds in my PayPal account were frozen. Thankfully I had used signed for postage which proved that the buyer himself had signed for the item! However I rather suspect that if I had not been able to prove that, then I would have lost both my camera and the money.

mariahussain

SouthUKMan wrote: »

Scammers are just scummy chancers. They know that the law of probability means that sometimes the eBay / PayPal dispute resolution process will rule in their favour. I've been on eBay pretty much from the start, although I'm only a very light seller. It's only over the past couple of years though that I've had any real issues. Only last month I listed an older digital SLR camera which someone with a zero feeback score won. They paid within 24 hours, but a fortnight later I had a 'disputed transaction' claim and the funds in my PayPal account were frozen. Thankfully I had used signed for postage which proved that the buyer himself had signed for the item! However I rather suspect that if I had not been able to prove that, then I would have lost both my camera and the money.

ebay/PayPal should do more to protect sellers. I have been selling for a couple of years and there are a minority of buyers who tries their luck and it is usually the seller that loses out.

Police does not want to get involved also - as soon as you mention eBay/PayPal they just say sorry can't help.

Undervalued

mariahussain wrote: »

ebay/PayPal should do more to protect sellers. I have been selling for a couple of years and there are a minority of buyers who tries their luck and it is usually the seller that loses out.

Police does not want to get involved also - as soon as you mention eBay/PayPal they just say sorry can't help.

I agree to an extent.

However, as I said earlier, you do have to be street wise. If something seems too good to be true then it may well be dodgy! Thinking about it now, with the benefit of hindsight, can you come up with any sensible reason why an honest buyer would pay £289 for a £300 gift card from a private seller?

I hope you get at least some of your money back but you did attempt to sell something contrary to its terms and conditions for a price that no honest person would entertain paying. Do learn from your mistakes here and not just blame eBay, PayPal and John Lewis.

meer53

Undervalued wrote: »

I agree to an extent.

However, as I said earlier, you do have to be street wise. If something seems too good to be true then it may well be dodgy! Thinking about it now, with the benefit of hindsight, can you come up with any sensible reason why an honest buyer would pay £289 for a £300 gift card from a private seller?

I hope you get at least some of your money back but you did attempt to sell something contrary to its terms and conditions for a price that no honest person would entertain paying. Do learn from your mistakes here and not just blame eBay, PayPal and John Lewis.

Er, because they can buy £300 worth of goods for £289 ?

Undervalued

meer53 wrote: »

Er, because they can buy £300 worth of goods for £289 ?

And you would take the risk for an eleven pound saving plus tie yourself to one retailer?

iammumtoone

mariahussain wrote: »

Hi
Anyway I quickly rang John Lewis and the person who I spoke to was really helpful. He told me that there was a pending transaction of £289 on there and advised that he could freeze the gift card for me. I thought great thanks yes please! He also advised that if I could provide proof that the gift card was issued to me then they would issue the gift card.
I actually had proof as this was sent to me via a special promotions from a well known retailer.

I think if your proof of purchase had been a personal purchase (face value was paid for the card) then JL might as a good will gesture issued the card again (as you were originally advised).

However once they found out it was a promotional card they didn't first they wouldn't have received face value for it (would have been alot less) and second you had no contract with JL as you didn't even get the card via them. It is clear that you never intended to spend at JL (unlike if it was a personal transaction) and most of the cards got via this promotion will probably never end up being used anyway.

custardy

Undervalued wrote: »

And you would take the risk for an eleven pound saving plus tie yourself to one retailer?

Okay. Common theory on the Ebay boards.
Person is on benefits (or has another reason for not wanting cash to show in bank accounts) and is selling/trading on Ebay.
So they churn over their Ebay payments through the Payal account for cards/vouchers they can spend.