Refund of e-gift card for cash.

Davelench

Hi,
I have ordered 2 items in one transaction from Currys. Mobile phones for my wife and I.

Both items were in stock on the Currys website so I quickly purchased an e-gift card from a discount website (Edenred via Blue Light membership)
I ordered the items and chose a date for collection from my local branch, Subsequently receiving confirmation that the order had been accepted.
The day of collection arrived and I went to pick up the phones. Only one had arrived so after some phone calls by the Currys staff I was advised that the order for the second phone had been cancelled.  I called Currys myself and have now been told that the cancellation was because there were a lot of transactions for this phone at the same time (23.30 last Friday?) and the item was in fact out of stock at the time of ordering. There is no date for replenishment so they will be refunding me by gift card for the missing item.
Obviously, my issue now is that I have a gift card that cannot be refunded by the issuer (their T&Cs), but as I have no requirement for a £999.00 gift card I would really need to have my cash back in the bank. (I used a debit card to purchase the e-gift card)
I would like to know if I can insist that Currys offer a cash refund. After all, they accepted my order and even told me it would be processed for collection.
I’m grateful for any advise. Thank you in advance.

MattMattMattUK

Davelench said:

I would like to know if I can insist that Currys offer a cash refund. After all, they accepted my order and even told me it would be processed for collection.

No you can not, you have no right to a cash refund from Currys. They are required to refund to the original payment method which is the gift card. 

You have a few choices, buy different phones from the Currys site, buy different items or sell the gift cards.

Davelench

Thanks for responding. I guessed as much if I’m honest.

mattyprice4004

Curry's won't have received the full amount from the gift card company - they broker discounts in exchange for 'guaranteed' sales using gift cards. 
They'll likely have received £950 or so for the £999 card, unfortunately this is a problem with gift cards and purchasing using them. Sometimes it's not worth saving a few quid over. 

Davelench

Thanks mattyprice4004.
Are you saying that Currys won’t refund with a gift card to the full £999 value?

Aylesbury_Duck

Davelench said:

Thanks mattyprice4004.
Are you saying that Currys won’t refund with a gift card to the full £999 value?

No, they have to refund you the full £999.  The point being made was that had the sale gone through, they would have received something less - the voucher provider's cut, basically.

Davelench

Ah, ok. Thank you 

Sandtree

mattyprice4004 said:

They'll likely have received £950 or so for the £999 card, unfortunately this is a problem with gift cards and purchasing using them. Sometimes it's not worth saving a few quid over. 

Wont be that much at all.... my ex client used a middleman "employee perks" company and to buy a £1,000 card from them costs £930 and that middleman is clearly taking a margin/covering costs etc.  At absolute most it would be £800 (currys offers 20% off as an employee perk to corporates who want to offer it) and if they are doing any volume it will be less than that... for the gift cards we'd give as part of claims settlements the discounted price we paid was much more than 20%.

Its not just guaranteed sales currys get in return but not having to pay advertising and all those cards received that are never spent in full 

The answer remains the same though, you are entitled to get the £999 store credit back but anti-money laundering best practices state refunds should always be given back to the payment source which in your case was a gift card. 

Davelench

Thank you Sandtree.
I did consider the money laundering aspect (at the time as considering the forbidden “getting cash back from a credit card transaction” scenario) but I paid for it by debit card from my current account so if it went back to the same account I don’t think it could be classed as laundering. 

born_again

Davelench said:

but I paid for it by debit card from my current account so if it went back to the same account I don’t think it could be classed as laundering. 

Except you gave Currys a e-gift card from a discount website (which they will have no idea how you bought) Not your debit card details.
Makes a big difference.

Davelench

Yes, true. But I have records of transactions which can trace back to the source. All hypothetical though as it seems a dead cert that I’ll be offered gift cards when they finally contact me.