Theft from Wedding

wkml333

Hi all

I wondered if anyone has any ideas as to what I can do regarding theft of gift cards from our wedding?

We had requested John Lewis gift cards for our wedding and were unaware of missing ones until I had a message from my work saying they hoped we'd enjoy spending them....we were unaware that they had given us a gift card and this led on to us finding another two had gone missing totalling £225. The work gift card was originally in a sealed gift bag which when we picked it up the next morning had been opened and the other two had been taken from the gift card box. We are absolutely certain none of our guests removed them.

The venue are being extremely unhelpful but my view is they have failed to keep the items safe as they do not know where they were kept or who had access to them overnight and were negligent in this as they could have expected items of a monetary value to have been gifted at a wedding. I'm really upset about the whole thing. It has been reported to Police so I have a crime number but unfortunately they can't do any more and John Lewis do not take responsibility for stolen gift cards (but we're very helpful)

Thanks all

[Deleted User]

I think it's unlikely that the venue will take responsibility for items taken from your wedding, unless they specifically offer such a guaranteed service.

They could have been taken at any time by anyone, from what you say.

Grumpy_chap

wkml333 said:

Hi all

I wondered if anyone has any ideas as to what I can do regarding theft of gift cards from our wedding?

We had requested John Lewis gift cards for our wedding and were unaware of missing ones until I had a message from my work saying they hoped we'd enjoy spending them....we were unaware that they had given us a gift card and this led on to us finding another two had gone missing totalling £225. The work gift card was originally in a sealed gift bag which when we picked it up the next morning had been opened and the other two had been taken from the gift card box. We are absolutely certain none of our guests removed them.

The venue are being extremely unhelpful but my view is they have failed to keep the items safe as they do not know where they were kept or who had access to them overnight and were negligent in this as they could have expected items of a monetary value to have been gifted at a wedding. I'm really upset about the whole thing. It has been reported to Police so I have a crime number but unfortunately they can't do any more and John Lewis do not take responsibility for stolen gift cards (but we're very helpful)

Thanks all

I don't think it will be possible to claim against the venue as, from what has been said, anyone could have taken the gift cards from the gift box at any time including while guests are in the area and / or the area was open to the public.

I don't really understand the comment about the hotel not keeping the items safe and they could have been anywhere overnight.  Is it not more common that a trusted member of the bridal party (or family etc) clears the gift table shortly after guests have arrived and simply keeps the gifts in the hotel room?  Especially if it is suspected that there are gifts of a highly liquid nature.

With regard to JL, they obviously cannot take responsibility for stolen gift cards, but can you obtain the original purchase receipt?  We had some JL gift cars that we sent once in the post and they went missing.  We visited the local JL with the receipt and from the various codes, JL were able to track the gift card numbers.  They stated that if the cards had not been redeemed, they would block the original cards and re-issue us with replacements.  Unfortunately, they tracked that the original gift card had been spent and gave us the branch, date and time of the spend (which did verify to us that the cards had truly gone missing in the post).  After that, JL could do no more, but were very sweet and gave us a free cake voucher for the cafe

We reported the issue to the Post Office, but they really did not care two hoots!

sheramber

What proof do you have the gift cards were in the box?

Were they put in the box personally by the person gifting them?

What arrangement was made with the hotel to keep them secure overnight?

lisyloo

So are you saying these items were left unattended overnight?

if that’s the case I don’t think you have any leg to stand on.
you shouldn’t leave valuables unattended anywhere

jacobevans

I feel bad for you.

Well, I'd rather call the authority or check the surveillance footage if available. But, there isn't anything you could do to recover your stuff, only if you have a stroke of great luck! Btw, learn the lesson and try keeping your important stuff safely. 

I hope you find your things!

Chris_English

You say that you are certain that no guests took them, so presumably you have CCTV, or had someone watching each guest all the time, so I’d start by explaining to the venue about the proof that you have, and how this shows beyond doubt that it was the venue’s responsibility.

Grumpy_chap

OP last active 14th October