Help with wayfair closing my account with an active balance

Alderbank

Yes, you might well be right, eskbanker.
However Wayfair vouchers are often referred to as gift cards, and Amazon's system is set up for purchasers to buy a gift card and send it directly to the recipient. Looking through the feedback it seems that most purchases are because it is a convenient way to buy a gift for someone else.

alex777777

Hi 

Thank you for all of your help, apologies for any confusion to confirm I was bought an amazon gift card as a present but wanted to buy furniture from wayfair so bought a wayfair gift card with my amazon gift card.

alex777777

Hi just an update so ive been going back and forth and told again and again that they would call me back, today a customer service agent told me they should never have said they could call me as executive resolutions aren't able to use a phone and can only email.

Last Friday they said this

Thank you for waiting. Alex, I've opened a new case for you with this ERT Team. I've exaplained your situation and specifically requested calling you on the numbe above, not sending you another automated email. Please expect their phone call by the end of the next business day (either today by 7pm or on Monday also by 7pm). Your new case ID is ERT-558108. Is there anything else I can assist you with today?

and today I received this email:

Dear Alex,

 

I am reaching out to you on behalf of the Resolutions Management Team due to the multiple contacts regarding your query. 

Our team has reached out to you with the result of this previously (see below). We will refrain from responding further on this matter due the result. 

 

We also strongly advise aganist contacting our Customer Service, as they are unable to assist you further and contacting further will result in a lack of response from our team.

Our Customer Service will forward your communications onto us and we will refrain from responding further on this matter, as previously advised on multiple occasions. 

This will be our last correspondance to you on this matter. 

 

--------------------------------------------------------

Due to the recent account closure, the Gift Card has now been made redundant and unfortunately cannot be used on your account.

I regret to inform you that a Gift Card cannot be refunded as cash or as a bank transfer. 

This information is highlighted in our Terms and Conditions which is publicly available to all of our customers. 

Please see the T&C's here - "Gift certificates are not redeemable for cash and cannot be returned for a cash refund".

I do apologize for any inconveniences this may have caused.

 

I will bring these correspondences to an end as no further action can be taken.

 

Kind Regards,
Alex
Account Manager
Resolutions Management Team

I really dont know what to do, I cannot speak to anyone as they immediately just say I have to speak to executive resolutions but they are only contactable by email and they just say I cant do anything, but they still have £250 of my money in my account and wont allow me to use it.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Sorry if it's been asked OP but did you pay with the gift card using a credit card?

If not I'd send a letter before action to Wayfair head office. State their terms are unfair and you expect to either be able to spend the voucher with them or have the money back. 

I think your legal claim would actually be against Amazon as that is who you have a contract with for the sale of the gift card but for the cost of a stamp sending the letter to Wayfair as a bluff might see a result. 

Templates are available on Google, you need to be clear in the letter you intent to issue small claims proceedings without further contact if your requests are not meant within say 28 days.

Undervalued

As I said back on 10 January......

Any company can refuse further business from any customer, with or without a reason, as long as the real reason doesn't amount to unlawful discrimination (e.g race, gender sexuality etc).

That is quite separate to the question of the voucher balance, which is far more complicated. It may depend on the exact terms and conditions you agreed to (assuming they are lawful) when you bought the voucher. You may need to seek legal advice on that from somebody who can scrutinise the "small print".

If you are going to pursue this you will need to fully understand the terms of the voucher. If those terms are unfavourable to you then your only remaining hope is if they are unlawful. If they are then you will have to take legal action in the small claims court to recover the £250 pounds plus your court fee.

It may be, if you have any realistic case they won't actually defend the claim and you will eventually get your money.

born_again

Even if it was paid for by CC. There is nothing they can do. No chargeback, OP got a gift card as requested. No S75 as D-C link is broken.

All I can see is a Letter before action & court case. 

alex777777

The issue seems to be with the refunds not gift card as I had already used the gift card and then that amount was then refunded:

I recently had 3 orders over a period of a few months that were faulty

Childs bed - they sent the wrong one which I sent back and they accepted
Electric radiator - had the back socket hanging off (I sent photos of all damage and they said they would refund but dont send back)
2 portable heaters - they only sent 1 (they sent an email to say they where investigating and after investigation only 1 was sent so they admitted fault again)

So they have admitted fault and refund me but have chosen to close the account, there's nothing wrong with the gift card so amazon cannot help me but wayfair are incredibly rude there phone team just say "Oh we completely understand that is so bad and not your fault but we cant help and there's no manager you can speak to they can only email"

Gavin83

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

I think your legal claim would actually be against Amazon as that is who you have a contract with for the sale of the gift card but for the cost of a stamp sending the letter to Wayfair as a bluff might see a result. 

Would it? I'd have thought they'd have upheld their part of the contract once they supplied the gift card. Once redeemed against the users Wayfair account I'd suggest that forms a new contract and therefore it's those terms that apply.

Regardless though I agree with your suggestion. If I was you OP I'd be sending a letter before action to Wayfair. If that doesn't produce a result then you need to decide what action to take next as I don't think this is a clear case. As others have said their terms almost certainly allow them to do this so your argument would be whether those terms were unfair.

I suspect in reality you'd get a default judgement as they wouldn't bother to turn up but that's a risk for you to consider.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Gavin83 said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

I think your legal claim would actually be against Amazon as that is who you have a contract with for the sale of the gift card but for the cost of a stamp sending the letter to Wayfair as a bluff might see a result. 

Would it? I'd have thought they'd have upheld their part of the contract once they supplied the gift card. Once redeemed against the users Wayfair account I'd suggest that forms a new contract and therefore it's those terms that apply.

Regardless though I agree with your suggestion. If I was you OP I'd be sending a letter before action to Wayfair. If that doesn't produce a result then you need to decide what action to take next as I don't think this is a clear case. As others have said their terms almost certainly allow them to do this so your argument would be whether those terms were unfair.

I suspect in reality you'd get a default judgement as they wouldn't bother to turn up but that's a risk for you to consider.

I'm not really sure, I do see it the way you mentioned but also see it in the way that the gift voucher didn't conform to the contract as the customer was unable to spend it due to unfair terms imposed (should that be deemed the case). 

If I was the OP I wouldn't like to invest the cost and time in small claims without knowing the exact legal position they stand in. The terms aspect and stance of Wayfair may be up for debate during the process and go either way but if the OP inadvertently claims against the wrong party they are just going lose more money, it's a very tricky situation I wouldn't want to be in.

born_again said:

Even if it was paid for by CC. There is nothing they can do. No chargeback, OP got a gift card as requested. No S75 as D-C link is broken.

All I can see is a Letter before action & court case. 

When you say D-C link is broken is that correct in this instance? If say a gift card couldn't be redeemed I don't think the credit provider is off the hook with S75 by stating a gift card was supplied as that gift card wouldn't have conform to the contract and the credit provider have the same liability as the retailer.

I understand in this instance it has been redeemed but the OP is left unable to spend the money and I think it does raise a question of whether the goods conform to contract. I'm not saying I know the answer to that question but I think it's one the OP needs answered, probably professionally, in order to get somewhere with this. 

Other option is contact a newspaper and see if they run it, often companies will resolve the matter with a sorry to avoid any bad PR. I don't read the news but I'm sure the Daily Mail has articles of questions put to them where they then contact the company, possibly other papers do something similar. 

alex777777

Yeh, thank you for all your help btw it is much appreciated I think I will have to go down the legal route, I appreciate there are people who scam people with returns - ive worked for a clothing store in my younger days and see how people abused returns, but the fact they have admitted fault on all the items and have just closed my account seems odd - I will look at the legal route and way up the costs