What are you going to do with £1K Harrods gift card

IamWood

Thank you all.

DW's birthday is approaching. We'll book a trip to London to have a look and see what we can do.

BrilliantButScary

IamWood said:

FlorayG said:

I'm curious to know how valuable the hampers used to be? I can't even imagine a £1,000 hamper!

I think this is the one I received last year.

https://www.fortnumandmason.com/the-christmas-day-hamper

We usually give them away to friends, neighbours and charities.

Giving the £1000 Harrods gift card to family or charity would be my choice, as it would probably be still in my purse a year later unspent. 

subjecttocontract

I've still got my Harrods Credit Card......useful in the January sales. 

louby40

I wouldn't be impressed with a voucher from Harrods. I'd rather have a voucher for Marks & Spencer's, Next or even John Lewis. Harrods is just not most peoples choice of shop.

louby40

@Organgrinder I've sent you a PM

Grumpy_chap

Organgrinder said:

I visited Harrods a few weeks back. Can't honestly say I'd ever buy anything there that I couldn't find significantly cheaper elsewhere. Same products, just without the markup.

I'd see if I could sell the card for upwards of £800 and then buy more elsewhere.

Your experience (and others) commenting on Harrod's being expensive does not match my experience.

Obviously, Harrod's will not sell you an item (performing a function) and you being unable to buy an item performing the same function for far less elsewhere, but most people don't want the Poundland version of everything.

When I have shopped at Harrod's I have always found their price for the exact same item to be competitive or cheaper than main High Street stores.  My pen was cheaper in Harrod's than John Lewis.  My watch was cheaper in Harrod's than Ernest Jones.

Harrod's also sell items that you do not see in the same manner on the wider High Street.  Last time I was in Harrod's, I was rather taken by a tea tray until I saw the price (several £thousands).  It was far more than I would ever pay for a tea tray.  It was probably still good value based on the claim that each tray was unique and hand made.  They had a standard design for the tray and a mix of different woods for different parts, so you could chose which combination you wanted for wood colour where.  It was stated that the options chosen were all recorded and the manufacturer would not make two trays with exactly the same wood choice combinations.  The lead time was 16 weeks from order.  If individualisation is important, that is a service not generally available.

For clothing, on an exact like-for-like basis, Harrod's are also generally the same as any other provider.  There is direct competition across the road (Harvey Nichols) plus all of the brands stocked have their own boutiques where it is possible to purchase directly.


As for the question by the OP:
1 - It is my understanding that cash-like gifts above a fairly nominal sum (£50?) are liable to BIK
2 - If the OP usually receives a £1k hamper and gifts to charity, the correct thing to do would be to gift the £1k voucher to charity.

CatsAreEverywhere1

IamWood said:

My employer has abandoned the tradition of sending employees a basket of Christmas hampers. Instead, I received a £1,000 gift card from Harrods. I’ve only been there once for afternoon tea. Any suggestions for the most MSE  way to spend the money?

Cheers,

I think you and my partner work at the same place. It's a very generous gift and we're grateful for it, but we have been scratching our heads a bit since last week on what to spend it one. Electricals at Harrods are not vfm but that's where we're probably landing - upgrading some of our kitchen electricals that are coming to the end of their lives. We know we could get better deals on them at other stores - but then what would we do with this gift card? And then we're figuring out some kind of reasonable treat in the toy department for our little one. 

Looking through the Harrods website has been a curious insight into a strange world though. We're in a very comfortable financial position but live modestly and always with an eye on good value - and Harrods is just a different world completely. We could have just blown the whole gift card on one pair of champagne flutes. And then when you look at clothes and jewelry, £1k quickly looks very small indeed. Again, I'm grateful for the voucher but, man, it's an odd place. 

DullGreyGuy

BrilliantButScary said:

IamWood said:

FlorayG said:

I'm curious to know how valuable the hampers used to be? I can't even imagine a £1,000 hamper!

I think this is the one I received last year.

https://www.fortnumandmason.com/the-christmas-day-hamper

We usually give them away to friends, neighbours and charities.

Giving the £1000 Harrods gift card to family or charity would be my choice, as it would probably be still in my purse a year later unspent. 

Given you are going to pay £200-£450 tax on the gift surely you'd just decline the giftcard rather than pay to give someone a very expensive gift?

Cobbler_tone

I wouldn't be happy receiving a taxable gift to a dedicated store at that level. Especially one who has been under much investigation for horrendous reasons.
Much prefer a £50 Just Eat voucher!

DullGreyGuy

Cobbler_tone said:

I wouldn't be happy receiving a taxable gift to a dedicated store at that level. Especially one who has been under much investigation for horrendous reasons.
Much prefer a £50 Just Eat voucher!

Most companies give you the option of declining the gift; certainly when we were offered the boxes of wine there was the option to turn the down to avoid the tax