white company paper gift vouchers

yas212

born_again said:

yas212 said:

Alderbank said:

Yas, who actually purchased these vouchers from the White Company? You say you found them in an old wallet. In law the contract is between the White Company and the purchaser. White have changed their T&C to say they no longer accept paper vouchers but they are bound by the terms applying when they were sold which seem pretty clear, i.e. they can simply be exchanged 'at any of our stores'. 

Provided the original purchaser still has proof of purchase as evidence they should send a Letter Before Action to the White Company to see what that flushes out.

Note that in law the finder of these vouchers has no claim against anyone, only the original purchaser.

I first acquired these in late 2016 when my girls were born and I was given some gifts from the White Company which I exchanged for gift vouchers, so I assume I am the original purchaser? Unfortunately I don't have receipts from back then.
I thought to save them for something that we needed and as they don't expire, I had time on my side! I am writing a complaint via Resolver now and we'll see what happens.
It is very cheeky of them as they didn't even send out an email or letter about it, and they had all of my details. I've just counted up my vouchers and I still have £134 worth in total!

Would they even have any address details for people that had been given vouchers?

Not for everyone. But they do ask everyone making a transaction in store if they are on the mailing list and then collects their details. I would have expected at least an email informing of their decision to terminate the use of these vouchers. 

yas212

Update from resolver:
I received a reply asking for the voucher numbers which I sent. I thought great, we’re getting somewhere.
Next message from them:
Thank you for taking the time to write to us.
Should you need any further assistance, please feel free to contact us back and we will gladly help.

Kind regards,

The White Company Customer Service Team

me: !!!!!! if that for a reply? We’re obviously not done here. (Sent in a bit more professionally).

This morning at 3am I receive an identical message, copied and pasted. Exactly the same as the first email they sent to me saying that they no longer accepted them and they won’t honour or replace them, didn’t even respond or acknowledge the points in my complaint. 
 Pathetic service from TWC. 

ItsComingRome

The current T&C's state that gift cards are only valid for 24 months.  Do you have any evidence that this wasn't the case in 2016?

Alderbank

ItsComingRome said:

The current T&C's state that gift cards are only valid for 24 months.  Do you have any evidence that this wasn't the case in 2016?

The OP doesn't have any gift cards, only paper vouchers. The White Company might not even have done gift cards in 2016.  Their website says (my bolding):

Paper Gift Vouchers
The White Company will no longer accept paper gift vouchers as a payment method.

We stopped selling paper vouchers in August 2017 and replaced these with gift cards

I think the OP would be happy if they would actually replace their paper vouchers with gift cards but they refuse to do so.

Unfortunately, vouchers and gift cards are an unregulated area in UK consumer protection and attempts to change this have been unsuccessful. Many countries (such as Republic of Ireland in 2019) now have rules to say they must be valid for at least 5 years.

ItsComingRome

Alderbank said:

ItsComingRome said:

The current T&C's state that gift cards are only valid for 24 months.  Do you have any evidence that this wasn't the case in 2016?

The OP doesn't have any gift cards, only paper vouchers. The White Company might not even have done gift cards in 2016.  Their website says (my bolding):

Paper Gift Vouchers
The White Company will no longer accept paper gift vouchers as a payment method.

We stopped selling paper vouchers in August 2017 and replaced these with gift cards

I think the OP would be happy if they would actually replace their paper vouchers with gift cards but they refuse to do so.

Unfortunately, vouchers and gift cards are an unregulated area in UK consumer protection and attempts to change this have been unsuccessful. Many countries (such as Republic of Ireland in 2019) now have rules to say they must be valid for at least 5 years.

What is a paper gift voucher if not a gift card? 

You're arguing semantics, which isn't going to get you anywhere.

custardy

ItsComingRome said:

Alderbank said:

ItsComingRome said:

The current T&C's state that gift cards are only valid for 24 months.  Do you have any evidence that this wasn't the case in 2016?

The OP doesn't have any gift cards, only paper vouchers. The White Company might not even have done gift cards in 2016.  Their website says (my bolding):

Paper Gift Vouchers
The White Company will no longer accept paper gift vouchers as a payment method.

We stopped selling paper vouchers in August 2017 and replaced these with gift cards

I think the OP would be happy if they would actually replace their paper vouchers with gift cards but they refuse to do so.

Unfortunately, vouchers and gift cards are an unregulated area in UK consumer protection and attempts to change this have been unsuccessful. Many countries (such as Republic of Ireland in 2019) now have rules to say they must be valid for at least 5 years.

What is a paper gift voucher if not a gift card? 

You're arguing semantics, which isn't going to get you anywhere.

Given the company differentiates them, then it maybe far more than semantics with regards to the terms at purchase

ItsComingRome

custardy said:

ItsComingRome said:

Alderbank said:

ItsComingRome said:

The current T&C's state that gift cards are only valid for 24 months.  Do you have any evidence that this wasn't the case in 2016?

The OP doesn't have any gift cards, only paper vouchers. The White Company might not even have done gift cards in 2016.  Their website says (my bolding):

Paper Gift Vouchers
The White Company will no longer accept paper gift vouchers as a payment method.

We stopped selling paper vouchers in August 2017 and replaced these with gift cards

I think the OP would be happy if they would actually replace their paper vouchers with gift cards but they refuse to do so.

Unfortunately, vouchers and gift cards are an unregulated area in UK consumer protection and attempts to change this have been unsuccessful. Many countries (such as Republic of Ireland in 2019) now have rules to say they must be valid for at least 5 years.

What is a paper gift voucher if not a gift card? 

You're arguing semantics, which isn't going to get you anywhere.

Given the company differentiates them, then it maybe far more than semantics with regards to the terms at purchase

It does now, but whether they called them "paper gift vouchers" or "blarp blarps" is irrelevant. What matters is what the T&C's for them were when the OP bought them.

yas212

ItsComingRome said:

The current T&C's state that gift cards are only valid for 24 months.  Do you have any evidence that this wasn't the case in 2016?

Yup, it would be stated on the vouchers.
Furthermore, customer services have not replied with any legal backing whatsoever, which further proves that they don't have any. They are just refusing and hoping that I will back down. 

ItsComingRome

yas212 said:

ItsComingRome said:

The current T&C's state that gift cards are only valid for 24 months.  Do you have any evidence that this wasn't the case in 2016?

Yup, it would be stated on the vouchers.
Furthermore, customer services have not replied with any legal backing whatsoever, which further proves that they don't have any. They are just refusing and hoping that I will back down. 

Absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence.

I'd be very surprised if any gift card had indefinite validity.  It's an accounting nightmare to have that much in redeemed credit potentially sitting around.

I'm not sure why they would need to provide you with any legalese here.  They have your money and you have a few useless pieces of paper.  They don't really need to do anything at this point but keep batting you away.

user1977

ItsComingRome said:

yas212 said:

ItsComingRome said:

The current T&C's state that gift cards are only valid for 24 months.  Do you have any evidence that this wasn't the case in 2016?

Yup, it would be stated on the vouchers.
Furthermore, customer services have not replied with any legal backing whatsoever, which further proves that they don't have any. They are just refusing and hoping that I will back down. 

I'd be very surprised if any gift card had indefinite validity.

Like I said earlier, they won't have indefinite validity, but in the absence of any other limit surely it's just the usual prescription period for debts which would apply? The retailer can't just arbitrarily decide it's some other date.