Experience Voucher Code Advice

KirstyMc

Hi, I am hoping someone might be able to offer some advice on an issue I am having with an "experience voucher".

Long story short I have a Helicopter Experience voucher which expires in November 2024. 

I had booked a date for the experience in May 24 which was cancelled due to bad weather. No problem I thought I have a while to get re-booked as the voucher does not expire until November. 

However now it seems I cannot use the voucher as there are no dates other than 1 day in April next year and I will need to pay to extend the voucher as the actual experience day is after the expiry date of the voucher. I have spoken to the company and they are saying it is my fault for not redeeming the voucher sooner - I thought I had until November.

I have checked the terms and conditions on the website of both the place voucher was purchased and the 3rd party site which handles bookings and there is nothing to say that the Experience has to be undertaken before the voucher expiry date. I have checked the voucher I received via email and there are no terms and conditions at all on the email. I also went through the booking process again to see if there was something missed when booking but again there is no information regarding the experience must be undertaken within the year the voucher is valid.

At no point is it explicit that the experience itself rather than the booking of the experience must take place within the voucher expiry date.

The actual flights themselves only run from April to October so it seems that if there was a condition that the experience had to be undertaken within those 7 months it is not really a 9 month voucher at all. Being there were no available dates from July 24 until April 25 had I bought the voucher in March I would have only had 4 months to use it.

This is the first time I have had to redeem an experience voucher was not aware that it did not work like a regular voucher and nothing in the terms and conditions nor the booking process explain that this is the case.

Wondering if this is worth contesting or if I should just write it off as tough luck

eskbanker

KirstyMc said:

I have checked the terms and conditions on the website of both the place voucher was purchased and the 3rd party site which handles bookings and there is nothing to say that the Experience has to be undertaken before the voucher expiry date.

[...]

Wondering if this is worth contesting or if I should just write it off as tough luck 

Probably best to share the names of the sites involved, as nobody can comment on your chances of successfully challenging the company on the basis of its Ts & Cs without sight of them!

KirstyMc

details deleted

eskbanker

I think my line of argument would be based on clause 8:

In the event your flight is cancelled by us the voucher will remain valid, but the flight must be rebooked for a mutually convenient date

in that they haven't made any dates available (within the validity of the voucher), so fall short of the requirement for these to be mutually convenient!

The subsequent sentence ("Vouchers that are booked for the first time in the last month of validity of the voucher will only be rebooked to the voucher expiry date unless extended.") sets a clear expectation that it's considered late to leave things to the last month, but if you're trying to rebook with three months validity left then that doesn't seem unreasonable.

KirstyMc

Thank you for taking the time to give your thoughts on this, I really appreciate it. It makes me think I am not being totally stupid.

I also noted the "Vouchers that are booked for the first time in the last month of validity of the voucher will only be rebooked to the voucher expiry date unless extended." to me this suggests that before the last month you can rebook for a date after the expiry date. I also don't think 3 months prior to the expiry of a 9 month voucher is crazy. 

Their argument is that the "Experience" must take place within the expiry date rather than the booking must be made before the expiry date. However I am unable to see anywhere that this is a condition of the voucher. Without that being stated explicitly or even unexplicitly (don't think that is a word but you know what I mean) how I could have known this.

I'd appreciate anyone's thoughts on this point of argument. 

The contact I have had with them so far has been very rude, basically saying it is my fault I did not book earlier. I am  reluctant to contact them again until I have a better handle on what I can do about this. I  have downloaded a copy of both terms and conditions because I saw someone else post in a similar situation with a different company that they changed their T's & C's after they complained

user1977

KirstyMc said:

Long story short I have a Helicopter Experience voucher which expires in November 2024. 

Too short! How did you acquire the voucher? I would think only the purchaser has any rights.

KirstyMc

Hi, thanks for commenting, I appreciate it.

My husband purchased the voucher for myself and my 2 children as a gift - but we are named as the people on the voucher - he could not for example book a flight for himself using the voucher without contacting them in writing to ask for a change of named recipient if you see what I mean. It is also myself who has registered the voucher for redemption so all emails etc come to me as I have registered the voucher.

That said, if he would have more of a case as the purchaser it is easy enough for my husband to take up the dispute.

Either way I am not sure that the purchaser of the voucher makes any difference in terms of the conditions of use, which is the crux of the dispute.

Can anyone offer any thoughts on this point?

Many tanks

KirstyMc

Just as an update to this. I have spoken with Northumbria Helicopters today.

Customer service adviser very condescending on the phone. They agreed yes the voucher is still in date but no I cannot use it.

I asked them to point me to the terms of use of a gift voucher purchased so I could refer to them, and she said she couldn't. She said I should just know how to use a voucher without there being any terms of use - not sure this is ok. I questioned that the voucher is still in date and that there is nothing to say the experience has to be undertaken before the expiry date. She said I obviously don't understand how expiry dates work. 

I notice on other Voucher sites such as Virgin Experiences there is a very definite clause "An Experience must be undertaken before the expiry date printed on the face of the Voucher." No such condition on the voucher I have nor in their T's and C's.

I am thinking their T's and C's are not up to scratch for what they are selling. If they are going to take your money and there is a possibility the experience they are selling is going to come to nothing they really need to ensure they are water tight - these things don't come cheap.

Appreciate any comment/advice.

Aylesbury_Duck

There's no point persisting with the helicopter company, you're not the customer and they're not the retailer.  You've given them a chance to sort it out but now you need to take a different approach.

Get your husband, as the contract-holder, to write a letter before action to the retailer of the voucher asking for a refund or he'll take them to court.  Assuming he has the retailer's address and they are a UK business.

If that doesn't stir action, your husband needs to decide if he wants to pursue court action.

KirstyMc

Thank you for your kind advice, I really appreciate it.

Reading the reviews on Trust Pilot it seems in many ways I have got off lightly, some people have lost much more than me. Definitely a case of lesson learned.

I have spoken with Citizens Advice and they have advised my husband to send a letter pertaining to "Breach of Contract" on the basis that the voucher conditions of use were not provided in regards to the expiry date.

I am not holding out much hope but it is worth the price of a stamp as it is nearly £200 quid lost.

There really seems to be a black hole in terms of UK Consumer Rights regarding Experience Vouchers and gift vouchers in general. Hopefully there will be new legislation to address this in the future.

Aylesbury_Duck

KirstyMc said:

Thank you for your kind advice, I really appreciate it.

Reading the reviews on Trust Pilot it seems in many ways I have got off lightly, some people have lost much more than me. Definitely a case of lesson learned.

I have spoken with Citizens Advice and they have advised my husband to send a letter pertaining to "Breach of Contract" on the basis that the voucher conditions of use were not provided in regards to the expiry date.

I am not holding out much hope but it is worth the price of a stamp as it is nearly £200 quid lost.

There really seems to be a black hole in terms of UK Consumer Rights regarding Experience Vouchers and gift vouchers in general. Hopefully there will be new legislation to address this in the future.

The Consumer Rights Act covers it, there's no need for new legislation.  It's my view that gift vouchers are a daft concept for consumers, anyway, and should be avoided.  They're great for retailers.  They get money up front, a significant amount of vouchers are never redeemed so there's a reduced cost of business and many people top up their vouchers so the revenue increases.

From a consumer point of view, they introduce a break in the relationship between customer and service provider, and often the end user isn't the consumer, so exercising consumer rights is a headache.  In summary, the donor has to deal with it.  And chargeback or S75 claims are tricky because a voucher is what's been ordered and provided, even if the experience or item it might eventually use is unavailable or faulty.