Refunds of excess payments when there is a gift card used in your original transaction

Mike555er

Hi all - I recently bought clothes online worth ~£300, 2 different shirts in a couple of different sizes, paid for with a £50 gift card and £250 credit card. I returned half of the order, the sizes that were wrong, and kept the correct sizes. My refund was £150, but the retailer has refunded me first the £50 gift card and then the remaining £100 on credit card. 

To my mind, I have kept 2 shirts worth £150 and therefore have spent, and well exceeded, the £50 gift card. 

The retailer is refusing to refund me the full amount onto my credit card. 

I am loathe to accept this as 1. This means in order to spend my gift card I can never order multiple sizes with the intention of returning one as they will always refund the gift card first. And 2. They are a nightmare to deal with in getting refunds in the first place, so I no longer want to shop there. 

Are they within their rights to do this? Is there anything I can do?

eskbanker

It's standard practice to refund to a gift card before any other means of payment, unless the Ts & Cs of your retailer differ - who are they?

retiredbanker1

Just imagine you are a money launderer - you buy gift cards to buy goods but return part of the order in an attempt to get 'clean' money into your account.

I know in your scenario this is not what happened - but to the retailer they will not take any chances.

pinkshoes

It's always been like this.

To avoid, return the whole lot then re-order the ones you liked. 

screech_78

I know of no retailer who processes refunds differently. It’s always returned to the gift card first and will usually be signposted in their refund terms. 

Mike555er

Very surprised by the responses, when I worked in retail in the past that’s not how it was done as it was recognised that the customer had spent their voucher. 

But thanks all for the input.

jon81uk

Mike555er said:

Very surprised by the responses, when I worked in retail in the past that’s not how it was done as it was recognised that the customer had spent their voucher. 

But thanks all for the input.

I worked in retail 20 years ago and thats how it worked, all refunds went back onto the original payment method, with gift cards getting first priority, this was to prevent money laundering.

Wonka_2

jon81uk said:

Mike555er said:

Very surprised by the responses, when I worked in retail in the past that’s not how it was done as it was recognised that the customer had spent their voucher. 

But thanks all for the input.

I worked in retail 20 years ago and thats how it worked, all refunds went back onto the original payment method, with gift cards getting first priority, this was to prevent money laundering.

And even without the (valid) Money Laundering reason from a marketing perspective it ensures that the customer still had to return to spend their gift card.

pushpull

jon81uk said:

Mike555er said:

Very surprised by the responses, when I worked in retail in the past that’s not how it was done as it was recognised that the customer had spent their voucher. 

But thanks all for the input.

I worked in retail 20 years ago and thats how it worked, all refunds went back onto the original payment method, with gift cards getting first priority, this was to prevent money laundering.

Retailers aren't beholden to AML regulations.

And it's not clear how refunding £150 to the credit card would facilitate money laundering.  If they were to refund it to a different payment method, fine, but not to the same one.

There is a much more likely explanation, that they refund the gift card first as it allows them to "capture" as much of the customers money as possible.

Mike555er

I doubt this is anything to do with money laundering and everything to do with capturing more spend.

Can’t believe it’s allowed tbh

eskbanker

Mike555er said:

I doubt this is anything to do with money laundering and everything to do with capturing more spend.

Can’t believe it’s allowed tbh

Who do you believe would/should disallow it?