Gift voucher refund

Steveng1970

We were given a gift voucher for our local restaurant as a wedding gift.  We had met in this restaurant 7 years ago and it was special to us.  2 weeks after the gift voucher was purchased the restaurant announced it was closing in 4 weeks!  Thought it was a bit cheeky selling vouchers before closing the business.
  We could not get a booking before it closed as all the spaces were taken up.  We have asked for a refund and they have ignored us.  We texted the owners direct and they said they can't refund it but we could use it in another restaurant, not the same name, different business they have opened elsewhere!  The voucher website is closed and the terms and contions are not visable.  Surely we are in our rights to claim a refund.  The voucher has the name of the old restaurant and no mention of any other business on it.

Thanks

born_again

Sadly there is no right to a refund on a voucher. You are just buying that bit of paper, which you can exchange for a meal. If the location is no longer there & they have shut. There is no refund due.

Best bet is to take up the generous offer from them at their new location. 

Emmia

Steveng1970 said:

We were given a gift voucher for our local restaurant as a wedding gift.  We had met in this restaurant 7 years ago and it was special to us.  2 weeks after the gift voucher was purchased the restaurant announced it was closing in 4 weeks!  Thought it was a bit cheeky selling vouchers before closing the business.
  We could not get a booking before it closed as all the spaces were taken up.  We have asked for a refund and they have ignored us.  We texted the owners direct and they said they can't refund it but we could use it in another restaurant, not the same name, different business they have opened elsewhere!  The voucher website is closed and the terms and contions are not visable.  Surely we are in our rights to claim a refund.  The voucher has the name of the old restaurant and no mention of any other business on it.

Thanks

They've offered you an alternative (although not as special) so I'd suggest you use it at their other restaurant. 

JGB1955

We had a similar situation.  Our children bought us a voucher for our wedding anniversary.  4 weeks later the restaurant closed, saying it would open again in a new venue.  It DID open, but with a very restricted menu and at a very inconvenient location (for us).  We waited until they had a full menu/service/kitchen available - only for them to go 'bust' 2 weeks later.  6 weeks later the 'new' owners started up the business again and we were relieved to find they would honour our vouchers.  Sadly both food and service left a lot to be desired and when they suggested that we still had credit on our voucher we suggested they donate it onwards.  Sad for our children who thought they had bought us a 'treat'.  At least we recouped 50% of it!

screech_78

You wouldn’t have any consumer rights anyway as you didn’t purchase the voucher. Any rights would lie with those who gifted it to you.

eskbanker

Steveng1970 said:

The voucher website is closed and the terms and contions are not visable.

Try plugging the URL in here, where archived copies may be accessible:

Wayback Machine (archive.org)

Okell

born_again said:

Sadly there is no right to a refund on a voucher. You are just buying that bit of paper, which you can exchange for a meal. If the location is no longer there & they have shut. There is no refund due.

Best bet is to take up the generous offer from them at their new location. 

Playing Devil's Advocate, did the people who bought the voucher really only buy a bit of paper?  Surely what they've bought in exchange for payment (and subject to any "fair" T&Cs) is the provision of a served meal in a restaurant?

That's the sole reason for the purchase of the voucher.

I'm not convinced by the argument that when you buy a voucher, all you are buying is the voucher.  Surely you are also buying the goods or service that the voucher is for?

(To clarify, I'm speaking generally about where a voucher is bought from a third party - eg Wowcher - but where, for whatever reason, it can't be redeemed.  eg the supplier goes bust.   The situation here is different because it appears that the supplier of the service is the same as the provider of the voucher and has now closed. If the business has gone bust there won't be a refund, but if the business has simply closed down ...?)

born_again

Often a voucher will have a "This is worth 0.0001p" or they used to do.

If the business has closed down, then in effect that is the same as going bust. There is no one to chase for a refund 🤷‍♀️


But I do get the angle you are coming at it from 👍

pdel61

A gift voucher is nothing but a loan to the business, which they will then pay back to you with a goods or service. As you are a lender to the business if that business goes bust you go to the bottom of the pile when it comes to getting any refund.

eskbanker

Okell said:

born_again said:

Sadly there is no right to a refund on a voucher. You are just buying that bit of paper, which you can exchange for a meal. If the location is no longer there & they have shut. There is no refund due.

Best bet is to take up the generous offer from them at their new location. 

Playing Devil's Advocate, did the people who bought the voucher really only buy a bit of paper?  Surely what they've bought in exchange for payment (and subject to any "fair" T&Cs) is the provision of a served meal in a restaurant?

That's the sole reason for the purchase of the voucher.

I'm not convinced by the argument that when you buy a voucher, all you are buying is the voucher.  Surely you are also buying the goods or service that the voucher is for?

(To clarify, I'm speaking generally about where a voucher is bought from a third party - eg Wowcher - but where, for whatever reason, it can't be redeemed.  eg the supplier goes bust.   The situation here is different because it appears that the supplier of the service is the same as the provider of the voucher and has now closed. If the business has gone bust there won't be a refund, but if the business has simply closed down ...?)

Obviously, as you say, the inherent value of a voucher arises from what it's ultimately used to buy, but the significance of splitting purchase and redemption into two separate transactions is that it's effectively only the first of these that's protected by card companies under chargeback or s75, in much the same way as they won't accept any liability for what you spend money on after funding a PayPal account.

The voucher provider still has a liability to honour it, according to its Ts & Cs, so this gives some sort of protection to purchasers if the voucher seller is still trading, but once ceasing trading there isn't really anywhere else for the purchaser to go.

Steveng1970

pdel61 said:

A gift voucher is nothing but a loan to the business, which they will then pay back to you with a goods or service. As you are a lender to the business if that business goes bust you go to the bottom of the pile when it comes to getting any refund.

Thanks.  They haven't gone bust, just closed one restaurant.  They have several bakeries, another restaurant and two street food business. So they are still operating just don't want to give us the money back and spend it in another restaurant.  In context the now closed restaurant was a a high end expensive restaurant, 8 course tasting menus, Master chef winner owned, waterfront location etc...  The alternative is a small bistro in crap location.  Might just get £120 pounds worth of donuts from one of the bakeries 😅