Wowcher voucher unable to redeem due to fault, only offering me 50% back

Lorna24

Good afternoon, 

Hoping someone can help me. My husband bought my Mum and I a wowcher massage voucher. Due to the pandemic and my parents being a carer for an elderly member of family, we didn't get to use this straight away. The voucher expires in October. I have been trying to redeem this voucher for the past 3 weeks. I have spoken to 5 different advisers. There appears to be an issue with the voucher. I have been told on 3 separate occasions to wait 24/48 as the issue should be resolved. It isn't resolved. 

I have now lost patience with them as I had hoped to redeem this voucher for my Mums birthday, which was yesterday. I asked today for a refund as the voucher has not been able to get used. This was her response :

*Mary*

I am sorry As it has been more than 30 days since you received your voucher, in line with our E-Commerce Terms we can apply a 50% wallet credit to your account.

Does this sound right? I feel like it's very unfair as it is a problem on their side rather than me "changing my mind"

Hoping someone with better knowledge on this can help me!

Thank you so much in advance 

Alderbank

Lorna24 said:

Good afternoon, 

Hoping someone can help me. My husband bought my Mum and I a wowcher massage voucher. Due to the pandemic and my parents being a carer for an elderly member of family, we didn't get to use this straight away. The voucher expires in October. I have been trying to redeem this voucher for the past 3 weeks. I have spoken to 5 different advisers. There appears to be an issue with the voucher. I have been told on 3 separate occasions to wait 24/48 as the issue should be resolved. It isn't resolved. 

I have now lost patience with them as I had hoped to redeem this voucher for my Mums birthday, which was yesterday. I asked today for a refund as the voucher has not been able to get used. This was her response :

*Mary*

I am sorry As it has been more than 30 days since you received your voucher, in line with our E-Commerce Terms we can apply a 50% wallet credit to your account.

Does this sound right? I feel like it's very unfair as it is a problem on their side rather than me "changing my mind"

Hoping someone with better knowledge on this can help me!

Thank you so much in advance 

Hi Lorna, welcome to the forum.

You say your husband bought the voucher.
It is only the purchaser, your husband in this case, who has any consumer rights.
Vouchers always come with terms and conditions attached. Your husband should read whatever T&Cs came with this voucher to decide how he wishes to proceed.
He always has statutory consumer rights which Wowcher cannot take away from him. If you feel they are trying to deny any of his rights, come back with more details such as when he bought the voucher, exactly when it expires and what the T&Cs actually say and we will probably be able to help.

I am afraid that your parents being carers is unlikely to make a difference.

PS Who is *Mary*?

lisyloo

Have you explained to then that the voucher cannot be used?
the response you posted doesn’t indicate they understand it’s not working.

how did you pay?
precisely e.g. if credit card was it visa, MasterCard, or Amex.

sheramber

Ask them to replace the voucher since it does not work.

born_again

Alderbank said:

He always has statutory consumer rights which Wowcher cannot take away from him. If you feel they are trying to deny any of his rights, come back with more details such as when he bought the voucher, exactly when it expires and what the T&Cs actually say and we will probably be able to help.

Trouble is that Wowcher is supplier of a voucher, which they have done. So they have fulfilled their statutory consumer rights. Problem is the retailer end.

Before anyone mentions Chargeback or S75 that is no go as Wowcher provided what they were asked to do (they do not provide the goods/service, only a voucher) & S75 has no debtor creditor link.

OP needs to contact retailer providing the service to resolve the issue before it runs out.

Lorna24

Just to answer a few of your questions.. . Alderbank said: Lorna, welcome to the forum.

You say your husband bought the voucher.
It is only the purchaser, your husband in this case, who has any consumer rights.
Vouchers always come with terms and conditions attached. Your husband should read whatever T&Cs came with this voucher to decide how he wishes to proceed.
He always has statutory consumer rights which Wowcher cannot take away from him. If you feel they are trying to deny any of his rights, come back with more details such as when he bought the voucher, exactly when it expires and what the T&Cs actually say and we will probably be able to help.

I am afraid that your parents being carers is unlikely to make a difference.

PS Who is *Mary*?

Mary is one of the many whatsapp agents I have spoken to. I have spoken to several people and they have all closed the case before it was resolved.

I understand the fact that my parents have been caring for an elderly relative will not be relevant to wowcher, but it is the reason it was not booked sooner. We had always said we would book it for my Mums birthday but didn't want to book until we knew it was viable. I tried to book it 3 weeks ago for her birthday.

The voucher was booked by my husband but was gifted to me, it is under our joint account anyway.

I believe the voucher was bought on Christmas day or January. I can find out exactly when. The email says it can be booked until the end of September but the actual voucher says it must be used before October. 

Wowcher are aware the voucher isn't working. They have been trying to resolve it. I have been repeatedly told it will take 24/48 hours to work... Each time I get the same error and the next adviser tells me they have fixed it and it will be another 24/48 hours. 

The voucher was booked by a visa debit card.

Hope I have answered all the questions!

Thank you so much to everyone that has responded! Very kind of you giving up your time to advise me x

lisyloo

The liability is to your husband - joint account or gift are irrelevant.

my advice is to keep records of all your calls (if you have everything in WhatsApp’s then great). Records of numerous attempts would win you a complaint/chargeback or court case

I don’t think you are entitled to a refund at the moment although I completely understand how frustrating this is.
they are trying to resolve and it hasn’t yet expired.

Im sorry but you still need to give them the time and opportunity to resolve.
this is very frustrating but there is still time to resolve it.

if they fail to resolve and the voucher expires and the retailer will not extend and wowcher will not extend then come back again, but I think legally you have to stick it out.

There is a chargeback route with visa debit but if they want to they might be able to squirm on the time limits. Credit cards give you more rights and are certainly advised for larger purchases (like conservatories, solar panels, holidays, weddings etc.)

my advice in future is to make a nice gift box and put cash in it (seriously). So many companies have gone bust leaving people with vouchers it’s just not worth it, plus pandemic and change of circs. You can dress up a gift box with ribbons, spa/Ferrari/hot air balloon pictures etc. Gifts that someone has put some effort into are always lovely to receive IMO.

Lorna24

Thank you. I think their offer of 50% off is ridiculous. I don't know how they can justify offering that.

I just wanted to get my facts in check as I feel it is wrong what they are offering.

I wouldn't even mind keeping the voucher but I will only have a week left to use it, which seems very unfair. 

lisyloo

You have 2 weeks left to use it.

you need to continue trying for the next 2 weeks.

after that if they won’t extend then
1. Put in a complaint
2. if that failed try a chargeback with visa

Lorna24

Update: they have offered me full credit back. I have requested a refund but they will not give me a refund. Only credit. Does anyone know my rights with this?

Many thanks 

Alderbank

Lorna24 said:

Update: they have offered me full credit back.

Who are 'they'?
If they are the anonymous massage company we can't usefully comment since we don't know any of their T&Cs.
If they are Wowcher then that is a very fair offer.
As others have said, Wowcher kept their side of the legal bargain by delivering the voucher, so they are going beyond that in giving you full credit. Whether they can recover anything from the massage company is up to them, we don't know.

If it were me I would thank your husband for his gift and make sure that mum enjoys the unexpected day out.