Warning

Comprendiamo

I had been saving up my Natwest rewards for over a year to buy a toaster. I found the one I want - a Dualit lite - after much research on the most durable one available (I'm hoping it will last longer than I do). I checked suppliers in advance. I checked that the B&Q voucher is usable on online - I am disabled and in-store shopping is not an option - and you could pay the difference using a voucher. Simple, I thought ... exchange saved up rewards for a B&Q voucher at Natwest rewards & pay the difference on B&Q site ... but, no. It is only at the final stage that you realise that something may be adrift when this message flags after inputting the voucher code: 'This is not a valid voucher code. Please check your voucher and try again.' Well, I did and there was nothing wrong with the code.
It was only on a phone call to B&Q that I actually found out that you cannot use the voucher online or in-store, as the toaster is supplied by a partner. Is this emblazoned on Google search results? No. Is this vital info under or above items for sale on first page of the company web site? No. Is this warning available when you click on a product. No. Is this messaged when you input the voucher numeric code? No. Is this somewhat relevant fact that you will not be able to use the e-voucher online for whole range of products printed in the T&C's at the bottom on the voucher itself? Unbelievably that is also a big, fat, NO. I have counted and logged the opportunities that B&Q had to impart this vital piece information and it is now running at 7 ... and still counting. You know what the greatest irony is? Well, while on hold for a call-handler, you get a pre-recorded jingo to buy a B&Q voucher this Christmas so that you can give your loved-ones 'the flexibility to buy' what they 'really want' ... giving a seasonal fictional flourish to finish things off. B&Q, how about giving this important consideration a mention everywhere before people waste their hard-earned money this Christmas? Here, I will do it for you: not all products are available for purchase on our site or in-store using our vouchers. This leads to the next leading question: just how many products are there on-site that you cannot buy with a voucher at B&Q? Please post your best guess.

Date of experience: 01 November 2022

sarah1972

To be fair, it does clearly state Sold and shipped by Harts of Stur on the product page ? 

It’s also clearly pointed out on their t&c’s https://www.diy.com/faq/b-q-gift-cards/1200010.faq

Can I use my B&Q Gift Card when I shop on diy.com?

B&Q gift cards can be used as full or part payment for any products purchased from B&Q stores in the UK (except concessions and cafes in B&Q stores) or on our website.

A gift card can't be used for purchases from B&Q call centres or in B&Q stores outside of the UK, including B&Q stores in Jersey or Guernsey and Republic of Ireland.

Gift cards cannot be used as payment for items sold by verified sellers(i.e. flagged as ‘ ‘Sold and shipped by [seller name]’). 

Pmd the team to move to the praise, vent & warnings board 

Comprendiamo

 Hi Sarah
To be fair Sarah, no, that is incorrect. Go on the site and put toasters in and you will pull up the toasters up ... all of them, a lot of them. Only when you click on an individual toaster is it mentioned 'sold and shipped by [...]', as applicable. Firstly, consider the basics: if you have ever used an Amazon gift card (or, similarly, a Next voucher) it is absolutely no issue to use it to purchase stock supplied by Amazon itself or partners:  Gift Cards are pre-paid gift instruments that can be redeemed for purchasing items on (the aforementioned) and its partner merchants. They are offered in 3 types, i.e. Physical, eGift Cards  and Anytime Gifts [...]

The fact that it is supplied by a third party is not going to raise warning bells in the same way that a clear declaration, after 'Sold and shipped' [...], that this product cannot be purchased with a B&Q gift card. Secondly, now consider about the actual process required to find the very, very, few 2-slice toasters that you can purchase with a voucher. There is no duly entitled filter such as, "available for purchase with a B&Q  gift card." So, logically, purchase via voucher requires you to click on every single one until a suitable one is found that is not sold and shipped by a partner. I ask you, Sarah: honestly, do you really have the time for this? Of course, it also required either prior knowledge that B&Q is now sharing the platform or having read the full T&C's before buying said card. As I mentioned, I bought my voucher on NatWest rewards (on a secure site subject to a banking timeout), where there are no links or mention of T&C's. The lady at NatWest, the call-handler, had no idea either on the huge constriction on use. Why would she or anybody else for that matter? As mentioned, throughout the whole process, there is no messaging or warning flash-up that such severe limitation on gift card usage is in play. Moreover, it is not mentioned at all at the bottom of the actual voucher in the T&C's.  Don't you find it a little disingenuous that customers are not informed, in the aforementioned T&C's, that a multitude of products advertised on the site cannot be purchased but are told they can't use vouchers in the cafe? Perhaps clarity might also be better served if there was not zero reference to any restrictions on B&Q's 'Xmas ad selling the gift card, experienced on call wait. Ironically, it is flogged as the 'flexible' option for people to purchase what they 'really want'. 

 
So Sarah, by your reckoning, are you suggesting this is somehow all acceptable?  Could you perhaps agree that this all could be made a lot clearer rather than buried deep in the bowels of extraneous T&C's?  Just to round it off, put the following search in - 'what can I use a B&Q gift card for' - into Google Chrome and this is what you get: B&Q gift cards can be used as full or part payment for any products purchased from B&Q stores in the UK (except concessions and cafes in B&Q stores) or on our website.

sarah1972

Comprendiamo said:

 
So Sarah, by your reckoning, are you suggesting this is somehow all acceptable?  Could you perhaps agree that this all could be made a lot clearer rather than buried deep in the bowels of extraneous T&C's?  Just to round it off, put the following search in - 'what can I use a B&Q gift card for' - into Google Chrome and this is what you get: B&Q gift cards can be used as full or part payment for any products purchased from B&Q stores in the UK (except concessions and cafes in B&Q stores) or on our website.

Yes it’s perfectly acceptable as it’s in the t&c’s. You have just said yourself if you put it in Google it says except concessions so that explains it straight away. 

I do, however agree that they could put their concessions separate on their website but to be honest, I wouldn’t think of getting a toaster from a diy store but yes, I get your point.