Gift Vouchers

Hels1234

Hi All,

I’m after some advice….

My daughter has been given gift vouchers by family members who knew that she has been saving for an iPad. She now has enough vouchers to purchase the iPad, but following a trip to curry’s on the weekend I have found out that their policy only allows 3 vouchers to be spent in 1 transaction. 

Most of the vouchers are low value - £10 to £20 and she has a combination of curry’s and love2shop vouchers.

I’ve contacted both curry’s and love2shop who have informed me most shops have a policy now to only accept 3 vouchers at one time and that you cannot use vouchers to buy higher value vouchers or exchange them in any way.

I have to say I feel that we have been completely Mis-sold vouchers and I now have a very upset 9 year old and £350 of vouchers I can’t use. 

In terms of consumer rights I just don’t understand how this can be allowed. I’ve complained to both curry’s and love2shop and received quite poor responses- it’s policy and there is nothing we can do. 

Does anyone have any suggestions?

thanks,

Bradden

Sadly coupons are not the best thing to buy from a consumer rights perspective - as long as they've followed their T&C's there isn't much you can rely on legally.

jon81uk

You can use up to 10 Currys gift cards in one transaction online.
Gift cards | Currys

Manxman_in_exile

+1

I know the advice is of no help to you, but I'm afraid the honest truth is that buying gift vouchers or gift cards etc is rarely a good idea, and is often a very bad idea.

Unless the voucher/card is offering a really significant discount, friends and relatives who want to give gifts are far better off giving cash or cheques rather than vouchers or cards.  I know people used to think that there was no "thought" behind a gift of cash or a cheque, but in my view there's even less "thought" behind a gift card.

Your best bet is to check the terms and conditions at the time of purchase of the vouchers and see if the T&Cs made it clear that only a maximum of three individual vouchers could be redeemed at purchase.  If the T&Cs don't make that clear you could try to carry it further with currys and/or the card sellers, but you'll probably get nowhere.  You might even need to get the card purchasers to chase it up.

Moving forward, tactfully let friends and relatives know that if they want to give gifts to your daughter, that vouvhers and cards can be very tricky to redeem...

(In fact you can tell them this from elsewhere on the MSE site:

We're not generally fans of gift cards and vouchers. There are three main reasons why:

1. If the shop goes bust, they can become worthless and there’s little recourse. So if you get them don’t hold them for long – and make sure it’s a big solid, reputable store, or one you can use at multiple stores. 
2. Often they have dates (sometimes hidden) by which they need to be used.
3. Cash is far more flexible. It has no expiry date and you can use it anywhere. 

A gift card makes a much nicer present than cold hard cash, doesn't it? Er, no, not really. You may not like giving cash as a Christmas present, but it's a much better way to give than purchasing a gift card. 

In fact, in December 2017 Martin did a Twitter poll of around 6,000 people and while 50% of people preferred to give vouchers as presents, of the same group, 70% preferred to receive cash. )

pinkshoes

Oddly, online at Currys it says you can use up to 10 gift cards in one go... 

https://www.currys.co.uk/services/gift-cards-page.html

How many gift cards can I use online?
You are able to use up to 10 gift cards per transaction.

So could you buy online instead? Or are gift cards different to gift vouchers? It says "paper vouchers can only be used in store".

I cannot see anywhere in their T&Cs about only being allowed to use 3 gift vouchers at once. Have you got a link to that T&C?

Aylesbury_Duck

As a pragmatic way around it, use the three highest-value vouchers, top up the rest with credit card (to get some extra protection) and use the remainder of the vouchers to buy things you need or will need in the future.  e.g. batteries, extension leads, HDMI cables, a spare toaster/iron/kettle, etc.  Ask friends/family if there are things you can buy on their behalf, too.

Alderbank

The people who make and sell Currys and Love2Shop paper vouchers say that retailers can set their own rules about how they accept them (three max per item, for instance).

Hels1234, you, or your daughter, must go into Currys and buy suitably priced items (toasters, kettles, etc.) with bundles of 3 vouchers to use them all up.
When you have paid and been given the sales receipt, with the boxes still stacked on the counter, announce that you have changed your mind and would like a refund in the form of an iPad instead.

That is fully allowed by Currys's (quite generous) refund system, which allows free exchange of unopened unwanted goods within a 30 day limit.

Quite a chore but Currys make the rules. 

TELLIT01

I feel sorry for the OP, but agree with the general sentiment that gift cards are a bad idea for all the reasons listed by Manxman.  I go on and on to my wife not to buy them as Christmas presents but it falls on deaf ears.  Her argument being that cash doesn't seem right as a present.  Give me the cash and let me spend it when I want, on what I actually want.  When she retired she received a number of gift cards, some for places she never shops, but I still can't get through to her.

mattyprice4004

You’ve not been misled unless you’ve been told otherwise - gift cards often have silly clauses attached to them which usually makes them a poor idea. 

born_again

Hels1234 said:

Hi All,

I’m after some advice….

My daughter has been given gift vouchers by family members who knew that she has been saving for an iPad. She now has enough vouchers to purchase the iPad, but following a trip to curry’s on the weekend I have found out that their policy only allows 3 vouchers to be spent in 1 transaction. 

Most of the vouchers are low value - £10 to £20 and she has a combination of curry’s and love2shop vouchers.

I’ve contacted both curry’s and love2shop who have informed me most shops have a policy now to only accept 3 vouchers at one time and that you cannot use vouchers to buy higher value vouchers or exchange them in any way.

I have to say I feel that we have been completely Mis-sold vouchers and I now have a very upset 9 year old and £350 of vouchers I can’t use. 

In terms of consumer rights I just don’t understand how this can be allowed. I’ve complained to both curry’s and love2shop and received quite poor responses- it’s policy and there is nothing we can do. 

Does anyone have any suggestions?

thanks,

As you did not buy them, you can not have been mis sold. 

Best bet. Buy them off her & then buy the i-pad yourself & spend the vouchers yourself 👍

ziggycj

It may be possible to buy an item to the value of 3 giftcard, then return it. They should (I think) return all onto one giftcard. It'll be a Currys giftcard regardless of if you used L2S as they are not able to refund to these.

If you do this enough times, you will end up with the 3 giftcard. However, this doesn't help the issue around the "high value" item restriction. If that Currys of Love2Shop that have the high value restriction. It seems odd for Currys to restrict that way for their own giftcards.