Rights when purchasing using gift card

starrybee

Sorry in advance if this is the wrong place to post this, wasn't sure which forum would be best.

My employer has a benefits portal where we can buy giftcards for various stores with a % discount. I'm going to be buying my first home soon and any saving on substantial furniture purchases would be great (an Ikea £1000 giftcard would cost me £950 for example), but just wondering if there any pitfalls on buying furniture on the gift card if something were to then go wrong with it?

Would buying the giftcard using a credit card provide the same protections as buying the furniture itself on the credit card if I ever needed to do a chargeback? (Worst case scenario, obviously!)

Carrot007

Usung a gift cards is the same as paying with cash and has the same rights as that.

Buying the gift card with a credit card makes no difference as you are spending the gift car not forming a chain.

Of course this gives you the same rights as when buying anything. credit cards do not add protection, just another liable company for issues. They are never the first option/nor a way to make things easier as they will rightly tell you to deal with the company first.

So there fore there is really no issue so far.

However obviously if you have an issue and end up with a refund then that too will be a gift card. That can be seen as a downside by many.

So in conclusion, by buying a gift card the comany has your money. However all your rights are intact.

GrumpyDil

To be clear buying on a gift card will mean that you would have no S75 protection on the items purchased by the gift cards. 
Unless they are in excess of 100.00 and you are able to split the payment on gift cards with a small amount on the credit card. 

DiddyDavies

A couple of things to bear in mind.
Although I can't see Ikea having problems, if the store that you have the gift card for does fold or go into administration before you make the purchase, your card may be worthless.
Another thing is if for any reason you have to return the goods, the refund will probably be made back to the gift card (or to a new one) so you wouldn't be able to shop around for a replacement.

Carrot007 said:

Of course this gives you the same rights as when buying anything. credit cards do not add protection, just another liable company for issues. They are never the first option/nor a way to make things easier as they will rightly tell you to deal with the company first.

They might say that but it's not correct.
When claiming under S75, you are under no obligation whatsoever to try to resolve the problem with the retailer before approaching the credit provider.
In most cases it makes sense to try to resolve the problem with the seller but this is not a requirement.

born_again

If the gift card is provided by their company and billed on your statement as say "Giftcards4U" then there will be no S75 on a Credit card. As the fact that you bought from them and not Ikea breaks the creditor/debtor link.
If it was billed as Ikea, then that is fine.

TBH. for the sake of £50 it's not worth it.

davidmcn

Also bear in mind that these sites generally give the bigger discounts for gift card purchases by debit card rather than credit card anyway.

Tokmon

davidmcn said:

Also bear in mind that these sites generally give the bigger discounts for gift card purchases by debit card rather than credit card anyway.

It's now illegal to charge different prices for something based on the payment method.

Money_Grabber13579

Tokmon said:

davidmcn said:

Also bear in mind that these sites generally give the bigger discounts for gift card purchases by debit card rather than credit card anyway.

It's now illegal to charge different prices for something based on the payment method.

But it’s not illegal just to refuse to accept credit cards, as mine does.

Spank

Money_Grabber13579 said:

Tokmon said:

davidmcn said:

Also bear in mind that these sites generally give the bigger discounts for gift card purchases by debit card rather than credit card anyway.

It's now illegal to charge different prices for something based on the payment method.

But it’s not illegal just to refuse to accept credit cards, as mine does.

Having flashbacks to the "Shell petrol station" thread.