Is this even legal?

sandygwynn

Hi, any advice gratefully received please... I purchased 9 charms from Pandora costing £244. I paid £99 using a Pandora gift card that I was given in store in January 2020 and the balance £145 on my credit card. I then returned 4 of the charms that were unsuitable that cost £111. I kept 5 of the charms costing £133.  On receipt of the return Pandora gave me back the £99 gift card and refunded £12 to my credit card. I complained I wanted the full £111 returned to my card as in my mind I had used the £99 gift card on the purchases I kept that cost £133 in total but they will not give it to me they insist I have to have the £99 gift card back - is that even legal?

I am so angry with them!

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give me...

Aylesbury_Duck

sandygwynn said:

Hi, any advice gratefully received please... I purchased 9 charms from Pandora costing £244. I paid £99 using a Pandora gift card that I was given in store in January 2020 and the balance £145 on my credit card. I then returned 4 of the charms that were unsuitable that cost £111. I kept 5 of the charms costing £133.  On receipt of the return Pandora gave me back the £99 gift card and refunded £12 to my credit card. I complained I wanted the full £111 returned to my card as in my mind I had used the £99 gift card on the purchases I kept that cost £133 in total but they will not give it to me they insist I have to have the £99 gift card back - is that even legal?

I am so angry with them!

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give me...

Yes it's legal.  They are permitted to refund in the same fashion you paid, which included the gift card.

If you wanted to separate them you should have bought the charms in two transactions - the set you were certain about on the gift card, the ones you weren't sure about on your credit card.  I appreciate you may not have known you were returning some at the time, but there's nothing wrong with what they've done if those are the terms of the gift card. What do those terms say?  Do they say they return to the gift card first and then the balance to the other payment (as they have done) or do they refund in proportion?

KeithP

Perfectly legal.

Your solution would see the conversion of the gift card amount to cash. That will not happen.

A work around is to return the whole order and then just re-purchase those items you actually want using the gift card of course together with the credit card for the rest.

Aylesbury_Duck

Just found it:

7.6 Where you use a Gift Card or an eGift Card and another payment method in the same transaction, any refund due to you will be apportioned between a new Gift Card or eGift Card and the other method of payment you used until the initial payment amount is reached.

So they should have refunded your £111 in proportion: £45.04 to the gift card and the remainder to your credit card.

lammy82

Yes, it was a single transaction made with multiple payment methods, so they will refund to the gift card first. It's standard practice and it's in their Terms and Conditions.
In your mind, you used the gift card on the purchases you kept, but in reality it was all one transaction, and they will always refund the gift card payment first.
The only way to avoid it is to keep them as separate transactions in the first place.
Sorry!

PS: If the other 5 charms are still returnable, you could do that to get your full CC refund and then repurchase them using the gift card.

DoaM

Good find by Mr. Duck ... what they did was legal, but in this case was actually a breach of contract - they should have given a proportionate refund between gift card and other payment.

pinkshoes

So just return all the charms then re-purchase the ones you want using the giftcard?

lammy82

DoaM said:

Good find by Mr. Duck ... what they did was legal, but in this case was actually a breach of contract - they should have given a proportionate refund between gift card and other payment.

Hmm... Apportioned does not necessarily mean proportionally, it can just mean to divide something.
They give two examples in the T&Cs and the second one spells out what happens when it's a part-refund:
If you buy three pieces of jewellery for £110 with a £60 gift card and £50 cash, and you return one piece of jewellery which is £40, you would be given a new Gift Card with £40 credit.

Manxman_in_exile

I think I agree that "apportioned" does not necessarily mean "proportionately".

In fact I'd suggest that in the actual wording quoted from 7.6 - "... any refund due to you will be apportioned between a new Gift Card or eGift Card and the other method of payment you used until [my emphasis] the initial payment amount is reached..." the use of the word "until" and the ordering of the wording (gift card referred to first followed by the other method of payment) suggests that the gift card can be refunded first. 

Having said that, the wording isn't really clear.

RJLupin

They are protecting themselves this way.
From their pov, you could have bought things you planned to return with a gift card, then if they refunded to your credit card, they would just be giving you money for your gift card. It's like a long version of asking them to give you money and you giving the gift card back.
You could see if anyone wants to swap it for cash, if they're planning to buy from there. Or like other posters have suggested, return the entire order and buy the ones you want with the gift card.
Good luck!

DoaM

Manxman_in_exile said:

I think I agree that "apportioned" does not necessarily mean "proportionately".

In fact I'd suggest that in the actual wording quoted from 7.6 - "... any refund due to you will be apportioned between a new Gift Card or eGift Card and the other method of payment you used until [my emphasis] the initial payment amount is reached..." the use of the word "until" and the ordering of the wording (gift card referred to first followed by the other method of payment) suggests that the gift card can be refunded first. 

Having said that, the wording isn't really clear.

In which case the doctrine of Contra Proferentem applies ... the interpretation that most benefits the party who did not write the term shall apply.