Wowcher Refund

reh81

Looking for advice of whom I should contact please in relation to not being able to get a refund. I purchased a rattan garden furniture love bed sofa set from Wowcher, on 06th April 2020. The Wowcher was redeemed with the Merchant, and delivery date was updated to show that the product would be delivered on or by 15.04.2020. Nothing had arrived so on the 15th I emailed the Merchant on the email address provided on Wowcher help site. The Merchant didn't reply and I sent a further 2 emails. I have tried to track down the company directly but the number advertised on Google is a fake number. I contacted Wowcher, who are only available via online chat and they said they didnt have any further contact details for the company, although confirmed they had been vetted! (I wander how when their telephone number is fake!) The Wowcher agent said she would email on my behalf last Friday, 17.04.2020, this email still to date (23.04.2020) hasn't been replied to! After much digging on Companies House website I have managed to track a working telephone number down for the company, and they confirmed that Wowcher had sold more of the sets than were available, and that they would be contacting Wowcher to advise of the refunds due. I have done live chat with Wowcher again today, and the agent only offered to email the merchant again, they would not follow up the email sent by the Wowcher agent last week or check if the merchant has emailed re the refunds. Where can I escalate this to to get my money back please? Any help / advice is gratefully received! 

Aylesbury_Duck

You can't escalate it any further than Wowcher.  You also need to carefully read the terms of your purchase because Wowcher (like Groupon and all these other wretched voucher companies) are an intermediary.  It's likely that you have bought a voucher from them and in turn, they redeem that with the furniture supplier.  If that's the case, you are entitled to be put back in the position you were in, in other words, with a voucher or Wowcher credit, however they operate.

The forum has numerous examples of people in the same situation, where they expect money back despite not being entitled to it.  The sooner people stop using these sites and start paying for things in actual, real money, the better.  Otherwise you are simply giving up flexibility for the supposed "bargain".

frfeeney

Very questionable business practices. Placed an order
which didn't materialise - I stupidly thought the money would be returned to my account. Oh no. Into the Wowcher Wallet - their own account. Forget the "Wowcher Wallet" it's just a mechanism they use to store your cash while they ignore multiple requests for money back until their deadline expires and they steal your cash! Don't touch them with a barge pole.

Yorukkiz

My son ordered a sofa through Wowcher.  He paid £600 then the company said that they could not deliver to Scotland.  He tried another company and they also said that they could not deliver to Scotland.  Wowcher told him that he would need to spend the money on something else.  My son explained that it was a sofa that he needed and asked for a refund of his money.  After corresponding on various occasions Wowcher refused to refund his money and kept my sons £600.  I have tried to take this up with Wowcher but they refuse to deal with me.  My son suffers from a genetic condition and anxiety.  My son has been left without a sofa and his £600 and is unable to afford another sofa.  Surely you would think that what Wowcher is doing is unlawful as they are basically stealing my sons money..

km1500

as I understand it, you are not paying £600 for a 'sofa' but for a voucher.

you paid the £600 and got the voucher.

Aylesbury_Duck

I don't think they're doing anything unlawful and it certainly isn't theft when he voluntarily paid.  They're best avoided though because as you've found out, the "bargains" aren't always what they seem, and using actual money to buy things is a much better way of proceeding.

I suspect that if you look through the terms your son entered into, he purchased wowcher credit, not a sofa.  His best bet is to use that credit for something he does want or need, unless he can get a goodwill refund.

Alderbank

@Yorukkiz, which sofa?
Is it this one https://www.wowcher.co.uk/deal/shop/24532261/relax-corner-sofa-bed?usr_src=search ?

If so, the description shows a map of Great Britain with the whole of Scotland coloured red and saying 'Delivery unavailable'.
The text also says, 'This product will not deliver to these postcodes: TR, PL, TQ, EX, SA, LD, SY, LL, DG, TD, EH, ML, KA, PA, G, KY, FK, PH, DD, AB.' which covers every postcode in Scotland.

I don't think it means he hasn't bought a sofa but it means their delivery service does not extend to where he lives so he will have to arrange his own delivery. This is an annoyance but common and well known to us here in Scotland.

They deliver to anywhere in England so he could have it delivered say to Berwick & Borders Storage in the far north of Northumberland and pick it up from there
However the deal does not include any free delivery, the description says 'from £36.99', so his best value option might well be to arrange his own shipping anyway through the likes of Shiply.

ETA:
A couple of years ago the Government (in the form of the CMA) investigated Groupon, a similar company to Wowcher, and ordered them to make changes to their operation to fully comply with consumer rights laws.

Following complaints by bodies such as Which? and Money Saving Expert, the CMA is currently in the process of conducting an investigation into Wowcher.

born_again

Yorukkiz said:

My son ordered a sofa through Wowcher.  He paid £600 then the company said that they could not deliver to Scotland.  He tried another company and they also said that they could not deliver to Scotland.  Wowcher told him that he would need to spend the money on something else.  My son explained that it was a sofa that he needed and asked for a refund of his money.  After corresponding on various occasions Wowcher refused to refund his money and kept my sons £600.  I have tried to take this up with Wowcher but they refuse to deal with me.  My son suffers from a genetic condition and anxiety.  My son has been left without a sofa and his £600 and is unable to afford another sofa.  Surely you would think that what Wowcher is doing is unlawful as they are basically stealing my sons money..

Never known a wowcher be able to be used at more than one retailer..

So is the funds sat in the wowcher account?