We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.
This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
Should a refund be of full cost, if a gift card was used?
Planter12
Posts: 25 Forumite
Hi,
A company that I bought something from over Christmas won't refund the full cost of the items I've returned, because I partly paid for them with a gift card. I don't want to give the name of the shop, but I'd like to know what other people think of the retailer's refund policy. I've tried to explain the policy below, as best as I can and I've included a poll, too, where you can select multiple options. It would probably be best if you read my explanation of the policy and my opinions before answering the poll. Thanks.
The questions I have are: should a store gift card be applied to the final value of an order, or divided, in proportion to the cost of each item, and subtracted from the cost of each item; and should the full cost of the item always be refunded?
For example: if I order 10 things for £10 each from this shop, it costs me £100. If I use a £50 gift card, I only pay £50 on my debit card. Should the £50 gift card be applied to the final £100 order bill or split 10 ways, meaning £5 comes off the cost of each item? The final cost is the same and it doesn't matter how it's worked-out, if I keep everything I ordered, but what if I want to return some of the things, as I have done?
The shop won't refund the gift card value, just the 'cash' I paid, so it really matters how it uses customers' gift cards and what its refund rules are.
If I return two items, what does everyone think I should be refunded? These are the two options I can see:
1. If the retailer simply deducts the gift card value from the total cost of the order, then it would seem logical that the gift card isn't tied to particular items, just subtracted from the final cost. So, when I have to return something, the refund firstly and always comes from the 'cash' part of my payment, before potentially moving on to the gift card part of the payment, if I'm returning a lot. This is what I have always experienced - refunds of the cash amount first. Maybe other people have different experiences.
In the example above, I would be refunded £20, from the £50 'cash'. This is the full cost of both items.
2. But secondly, using my example, if the retailer splits the gift card between each item, then each item was paid with £5 gift card and £5 'cash'. I would only be refunded £10, because it won't refund the gift card part of the payment.
Also, which refund should come first - the cash part or the gift card part? It would seem, to me at least, good business sense to not favour a refund of a gift card, forcing the customer to keep going back to find something else to buy, and certainly good sense to always refund the gift card part of the payment, if you have to. I've never experienced a shop refuse to do this. The refund has usually been after the cash has been refunded and I've simply been given a new gift card balance, to spend on something else.
Retailers obviously have to make a profit to stay in business, but I don't like being swindled out of money I really could use. I have to watch my money, too.
I think gift cards should be applied to the final value of the order, not tied to specific items, unless the Ts & Cs state this. Also, that each item's full purchase price should be refunded, starting with the cash you paid and the remaining refund as a gift code/card, the same as you used in the original order, if the refund amounts to that much money. This is what I've always experienced, but perhaps retailers aren't being as generous as they were once.
Cheers for ploughing through this bit of a rant and thanks for answering the poll. It might help in my battle with the retailer.
A company that I bought something from over Christmas won't refund the full cost of the items I've returned, because I partly paid for them with a gift card. I don't want to give the name of the shop, but I'd like to know what other people think of the retailer's refund policy. I've tried to explain the policy below, as best as I can and I've included a poll, too, where you can select multiple options. It would probably be best if you read my explanation of the policy and my opinions before answering the poll. Thanks.
The questions I have are: should a store gift card be applied to the final value of an order, or divided, in proportion to the cost of each item, and subtracted from the cost of each item; and should the full cost of the item always be refunded?
For example: if I order 10 things for £10 each from this shop, it costs me £100. If I use a £50 gift card, I only pay £50 on my debit card. Should the £50 gift card be applied to the final £100 order bill or split 10 ways, meaning £5 comes off the cost of each item? The final cost is the same and it doesn't matter how it's worked-out, if I keep everything I ordered, but what if I want to return some of the things, as I have done?
The shop won't refund the gift card value, just the 'cash' I paid, so it really matters how it uses customers' gift cards and what its refund rules are.
If I return two items, what does everyone think I should be refunded? These are the two options I can see:
1. If the retailer simply deducts the gift card value from the total cost of the order, then it would seem logical that the gift card isn't tied to particular items, just subtracted from the final cost. So, when I have to return something, the refund firstly and always comes from the 'cash' part of my payment, before potentially moving on to the gift card part of the payment, if I'm returning a lot. This is what I have always experienced - refunds of the cash amount first. Maybe other people have different experiences.
In the example above, I would be refunded £20, from the £50 'cash'. This is the full cost of both items.
2. But secondly, using my example, if the retailer splits the gift card between each item, then each item was paid with £5 gift card and £5 'cash'. I would only be refunded £10, because it won't refund the gift card part of the payment.
Also, which refund should come first - the cash part or the gift card part? It would seem, to me at least, good business sense to not favour a refund of a gift card, forcing the customer to keep going back to find something else to buy, and certainly good sense to always refund the gift card part of the payment, if you have to. I've never experienced a shop refuse to do this. The refund has usually been after the cash has been refunded and I've simply been given a new gift card balance, to spend on something else.
Retailers obviously have to make a profit to stay in business, but I don't like being swindled out of money I really could use. I have to watch my money, too.
I think gift cards should be applied to the final value of the order, not tied to specific items, unless the Ts & Cs state this. Also, that each item's full purchase price should be refunded, starting with the cash you paid and the remaining refund as a gift code/card, the same as you used in the original order, if the refund amounts to that much money. This is what I've always experienced, but perhaps retailers aren't being as generous as they were once.
Cheers for ploughing through this bit of a rant and thanks for answering the poll. It might help in my battle with the retailer.
How should shops refund you, when a gift card partly paid for your items? 23 votes
Keep the gift card whole; don't split it.
4%
1 vote
Split the gift card, so the shop doesn't have to refund that part.
0%
0 votes
Refund the cash value first.
8%
2 votes
Refund the gift card spending first, then the cash amount.
82%
19 votes
Always refund the full cost of the item - however it was paid for.
4%
1 vote
0
Comments
-
Why would a poll help you with the retailer?
Most of this is a repeat of the thread started by the OP 2 weeks ago
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/57656790 -
I love the idea of going back to the shop and presenting a poll from MSE to pursue any rights you feel you have. Wonderful.0
-
Sorry, I didn't realise I had accidentally posted this earlier.0
-
Greta_Sharbo wrote: »I love the idea of going back to the shop and presenting a poll from MSE to pursue any rights you feel you have. Wonderful.
Lot of peeples voted in this poll .0 -
The shop won't refund the gift card value, just the 'cash' I paid
Do you really mean that they won't refund the gift card value, or that they will refund that part of the transaction only to another gift card? You need to make it clear.
Items are usually refunded to the same method of payment.
The usual protocol for a mixed transaction (e.g. £100 of items, paid with £50 cash and £50 gift card) is that in case of a refund being given, the refund will be given in the form of a gift card up to the value of the amount that was paid using the gift card (irrespective of which items are returned, if you return £50 worth of items then you will get a £50 gift card as your refund). If you return more than the gift card amount, then you get cash for that amount.
That's up to the store. Clearly they will prefer to hold onto the cash. If you want to ensure you can get a refund in cash, you need to separate the item you think you might want to return into a separate transaction paid with cash.0 -
Edited after seeing the link to the original thread0
-
Do you really mean that they won't refund the gift card value, or that they will refund that part of the transaction only to another gift card? You need to make it clear.
The shop won't refund any of the gift card payment. It has chosen to split the gift card value between each item and refuse to refund that part of the cost of the returned items - the second method in my original post.
I wanted to make the questions more general.
It isn't whether the shop prefers to refund as much as it can via a gift card, i.e as little 'cash' as possible, but that it has refused to refund any of the gift card amount. It's deliberately chosen to keep as much of the payment as possible, by using this devious way of calculating how the items were 'officially' paid for. There isn't anything in the Ts & Cs about this.0 -
-
Why won't they refund in full? Is it a store which doesn't allow refunds for change of mind? Are you out of their return period? Have you actually handed the items back and accepted the cash?
Why not just tell us the name of the store, what you bought, when you bought the items and when you returned them. No one can give you any real advice without having any real information to gone on, bar your somewhat ridiculous hypothetical scenarios.0 -
The shop won't refund any of the gift card payment
what sort of gift card was it? was it a promotional card (£50 off £100 spend etc) or a purchased card?
Are you saying that if you bought £50 worth of goods and paid with a £50 gift card only they would refund nothing if you returned the goods? (assuming they allow change of mind returns)0
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply
Categories
- All Categories
- 351.7K Banking & Borrowing
- 253.4K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 454K Spending & Discounts
- 244.7K Work, Benefits & Business
- 600.1K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 177.3K Life & Family
- 258.4K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.2K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.6K Read-Only Boards