Shops with apps - complaint process and refunding balance on closing account

ariarnia

Hi all. 

Bit random... specific example but general question (see tl;dr) 

I used to use the greggs app fairly regularly to grab a quick lunch when working. cause pandemic I've not used the app for a while and when I was going into town the other week I decided to boot it up and treat myself to a coffee. long story short, I couldn't use the app, dropped them a polite email (I thought I'd just forgotten my log in details) and it seems greggs closed my account and decided to keep my balance. no idea how much exactly, but likely around the £5-10 mark, so not world ending. bit of back and forth and they confirmed they'd changed their T&C, that I hadn't been notified of the changes, that I hadn't been given the notice under their new policy they were closing my account, and that they would recreate my account and credit it £15 as a 'gesture of good will'. 

I've since decided it's unlikely I'll be going into town often and don't really want to get back into the habit of getting Greggs anyway. so I asked them to close my account and refund me the balance (as their policy says they can). They've responded they'll send me a voucher to use in store if I want the app account deleting but won't refund any amount of the balance as 'they can't refund gestures of good will' and dont know how much i had on my account before they closed it. I've said to the lady I've been corresponding with that I understand that's their policy and if it's easier I'd be happy to make it a formal complaint re them 'stealing' my balance so she can escalate it to a manager. that was earlier today so i'm waiting to see what they'll come up with (I'm hoping they'll decide it's easier to refund me than to argue/deal with a formal complaint. 

I get the logic of not paying out cash for complaints about food and again I'm realising that it's not a crazy amount of cash. but from my perspective it's not a gesture of good will. it's them giving me back the money they took from me. Worst case they say no and I can't be bothered to fight it so I buy £15 worth of stuff I don't really want.

TL;DR it made me wonder more generally... what's the process/who provides oversight for these kinds of retail apps where there's a balance the store can simply take by clicking a button and closing an account? Again, I'm not planning on spending a huge amount of time chasing £15... but if it was £50, it might be a different story - so would it be the FCA or trading standards? 

powerful_Rogue

ariarnia said:

Hi all. 

Bit random... specific example but general question (see tl;dr) 

I used to use the greggs app fairly regularly to grab a quick lunch when working. cause pandemic I've not used the app for a while and when I was going into town the other week I decided to boot it up and treat myself to a coffee. long story short, I couldn't use the app, dropped them a polite email (I thought I'd just forgotten my log in details) and it seems greggs closed my account and decided to keep my balance. no idea how much exactly, but likely around the £5-10 mark, so not world ending. bit of back and forth and they confirmed they'd changed their T&C, that I hadn't been notified of the changes, that I hadn't been given the notice under their new policy they were closing my account, and that they would recreate my account and credit it £15 as a 'gesture of good will'. 

I've since decided it's unlikely I'll be going into town often and don't really want to get back into the habit of getting Greggs anyway. so I asked them to close my account and refund me the balance (as their policy says they can). They've responded they'll send me a voucher to use in store if I want the app account deleting but won't refund any amount of the balance as 'they can't refund gestures of good will' and dont know how much i had on my account before they closed it. I've said to the lady I've been corresponding with that I understand that's their policy and if it's easier I'd be happy to make it a formal complaint re them 'stealing' my balance so she can escalate it to a manager. that was earlier today so i'm waiting to see what they'll come up with (I'm hoping they'll decide it's easier to refund me than to argue/deal with a formal complaint. 

I get the logic of not paying out cash for complaints about food and again I'm realising that it's not a crazy amount of cash. but from my perspective it's not a gesture of good will. it's them giving me back the money they took from me. Worst case they say no and I can't be bothered to fight it so I buy £15 worth of stuff I don't really want.

TL;DR it made me wonder more generally... what's the process/who provides oversight for these kinds of retail apps where there's a balance the store can simply take by clicking a button and closing an account? Again, I'm not planning on spending a huge amount of time chasing £15... but if it was £50, it might be a different story - so would it be the FCA or trading standards? 

Sounds no different to a gift card. How long had you not used the app for?

powerful_Rogue

Looking at the apps t&c's - this is pretty much just a digital gift card, which allows a few rewards for using it.

We reserve the right to cancel your Greggs Account if it has not been used for 24 consecutive months. If this occurs, any remaining funds will become our property.

Standard with pretty much all gift cards.

You may terminate your Greggs Account by contacting Customer Care on 0808 1473447.

On receipt of this request, where your Greggs Account has a balance of over £3.00 we will return funds you have paid into your Greggs Account by either BACS, cheque or gift-code to spend in shop.

Seems fair enough. However as Greggs pointed out, your current credit is a goodwill gesture, so understandable they won't refund it.

Nothing to do with the FCA and Trading Standards won't be interested. (Not that you can contact them direct anyway)

Why not pop to Greggs, spend the £15 on a coffee and loads of goodies and hand them out to any rough sleepers nearby. Saves the £15 beingf wasted then.

emmajones1976

There are plenty of Greggs branches not in city and town centres. In fact about 200 yards away from me there is a branch, randomly plonked there.

Sure you will be passing one soon to spend up the balance, surely?

ariarnia

powerful_Rogue said:

Sounds no different to a gift card. How long had you not used the app for?

About a year, maybe a year and a few months. 

The T&C had been they'd close the app and keep the balance after 2 years. they changed their T&C to 12 months and have acknowledged in writing they didn't inform me of the change or follow their policy to notify me a month in advance of actually closing the app. 

emmajones1976 said:

Sure you will be passing one soon to spend up the balance, surely?

Nope. the nearest one is about half an hour away in a town i currently/foreseeably have no reason to go to and it costs £4 to get their on the train... 

Like I said, this is less about the specifics of the app, more about regulation of new products where you add money to apps. You are allowed to close your account and redeem your balance because it's your money you are holding in the app but who regulates that account. 

If the company were to go bust I'd understand, but general store trading practices should be regulated by someone...? I'm guessing, if not, then if it were a significant amount worth the time and effort it would be via small claims? 

jon81uk

ariarnia said:

powerful_Rogue said:

Sounds no different to a gift card. How long had you not used the app for?

About a year, maybe a year and a few months. 

The T&C had been they'd close the app and keep the balance after 2 years. they changed their T&C to 12 months and have acknowledged in writing they didn't inform me of the change or follow their policy to notify me a month in advance of actually closing the app. 

The website still states that accounts will be closed after 24 months. I don't think this was ever changed. https://www.greggs.co.uk/legals/terms-and-conditions

ariarnia

Then they're quoting the wrong T&C in the emails they've been sending me... but either way, my account was closed and balance kept outside their T&C and they've said as much in writing. 

As an update, they've transferred me the remaining balance via BACS as of this morning, so it's not really important either way.  

My question was what someone could do if they refused to return the money they'd taken (insisted a refund of a customer's money was a 'good will gesture' and wasn't eligible for the bit of their T&C that says a customer could close their account and withdraw the balance at any point) had a larger balance that meant it was worth doing something about. 

Given the responses I'm assuming the only option would be small claims.