Mis-sold an item from M&S but gift card was used

Deltadia

Hi all,

I have been googling and trying to understand what kind of rights I have in what seems to be a unique situation. If you could share any advise that would be much appreciated.

So the issue is I bought substantinal amount of giftcard (640) of M&S from corporate rewards site to buy a new sofa (moving house) but M&S contacted me after the order is confirmed that their information was all wrong on their website so they will either refund to gift card or assume I am happy to proceed(I really dont understand why they would assume any customer would be happy to proceed with the order where they will be getting a sofa that is 2 sizes smaller than advertised).

Problem is the giftcard amount is quite substantial and as I am moving house literally next week, I cannot afford to have such amount just tied up in a gift card. There is added complication that I bought the gift card via corporate rewards site but still this seems to be unfair that M&S is holding onto my money even though they caused the issue.

I have contacted corporate rewards site to raise a case to M&S but I havent heard anything back yet. 

In this case, is there any rights or ombudsman that I could use to get a refund of my gift card purchase? I have read section 75 can be used but this would just open a claim with the rewards site...

Help!

comeandgo

M & S have to refund in the same way payment was taken.  

The_Fat_Controller

Seems fair to me.

I guess you got a special deal on the vouchers through the "corporate rewards" site as well otherwise you would have paid M & S directly.

molerat

I am afraid there are 2 separate and unconnected transactions here, the purchase of gift cards and the purchase of the sofa. 

The gift card co have done what you asked and provided you with gift cards, you have no recourse with your credit card.

M&S have admitted a wrong description and, as required by consumer law, will refund the full purchase amount via the same method used for payment. 

Your only chance of getting the cash back is by good will, there is no legal recourse.

Deltadia

comeandgo said:

M & S have to refund in the same way payment was taken.  

Yeah, I've accepted this as M&S customer service agent was saying it was illegal to refund to other payment method (although I could not find a legal reference).

My question is more on the refunding of the gift card as I specifically bought the gift card to buy the item as it was advertised in M&S website. However M&S advertised wrong information and have consequencently missold  an item. 

I shared the background of the order placed as the gift cards are typically non-refundable and so I am trying to understand if there is a way to get the refund of the giftcard. To add, I have cancelled the order as their corrected specification no longer fit my needs and have received the refund in the new e-giftcard, which is quite annoying as I used a reloadable giftcard yet they created a new e-giftcard instead of refunding the amount in the said giftcard 

Brie

I suspect this is one of those things where you may have paid less than full price to buy the card - we used to have that at work, pay £90 to get a £100 gift card.  Which is why no one is likely to refund it.

Your only recourse may be to ask them to give you a number of smaller denomination gift cards - £50 or £20 x X?  And then sell those to friends, family.  There is a website I think where you can do this too.  No idea how popular it is and I suspect there may be some discounting.

Unknown

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elsien

Do they not have a different sofa that might work for you? 

Alderbank

This^^^ (to Powerful Rogue. Sorry, elsien, cross posted)

There is a risk of money laundering if people could buy giftcards then cash them in.
Someone buying a 'substantial amount' of giftcards then asking for a refund in cash would be particularly suspect.

I am familiar with the 'Perks at Work' corporate colleague offer scheme. Is your scheme similar?
Perks at Work T&Cs say

Limitations
Gift Cards may not be redeemed for the purchase of products through in-store pickup. Gift Cards cannot be used to purchase other Gift Cards. Gift Cards cannot be used to cover taxes or shipping costs of your purchase. Received Gift Cards cannot be reloaded, resold, transferred for value, redeemed for cash or applied to any other account, except to the extent required by law.

If your scheme is like Perks at Work, you bought the giftcards for less than their face value. You still have that discounted value to buy anything else from M&S. Be aware though that they might expire in 12 months.

Deltadia

Thanks for that, @molerat 
That was what I was dreading myself of. But as you say, legally, transactions have been fulfilled by M&S. I am clutching at straws as they will be able to see from the system that the gift card credit bought was used for the sofa purchase only.

@Brie,  that's really good advise. I will do that if I cannot get any solution from the rewards site. But M&S already refunded in one single gift card of 650... I will look into splitting this up.

Olinda99

I am probably going out on a limb here but maybe you could try a long shot..!

First thing is - did you have a contract. It may be that the T&C say a contract is not formed until delivery, but if the T&C state that  contract is formed when you order and the order is accepted then M&S have misled you and caused you to do something that you would not have done and thus caused you financial loss ie you have a large gift card that you cannot use.


This being so, they need to put you back into the position you would have been had they not made this mistake ie refund the gift card

It would I suppose be the same argument if you bought a Wowcher for the purchase, or paid a fee to take out a loan for the purchase.

Anyway, as I said a long shot but might be worth a complaint along those lines.