Voucher Company has changed name

BigUpsConsumer

Hi All,

Looking for a bit of thought/discussion.  I purchased a voucher for my Dad last Christmas from a company online (I've read the article on MSE on vouchers).  

However, many customers, including my Dad, seem to now be struggling to make contact with the company to use their vouchers.  Furthermore, the company in question has gone through Companies House for a name change, and the new website says it has nothing to do with Voucher Sales.

I realise my dad's voucher may be a lost cause....

However, the original website is still selling vouchers?!  What is the best way to force a response/closure of this website?  It just seems criminal.

Thanks

eskbanker

BigUpsConsumer said:

Furthermore, the company in question has gone through Companies House for a name change, and the new website says it has nothing to do with Voucher Sales.

Is the company's old name literally "Voucher Sales"?  It's difficult to narrow down a company with such generic words, but if they've simply changed the name while retaining the same company number then it's the same legal entity and therefore required to honour contracts formed under the old name....

BigUpsConsumer

No, it's Gourmet Guide.  Apologies, just didn't want to get into specifics until there was some general thoughts.  

And the change of name on Companies House now has this same company changed to Boxing Breaks Limited - quite the diversification!

born_again

BigUpsConsumer said:

Hi All,

Looking for a bit of thought/discussion.  I purchased a voucher for my Dad last Christmas from a company online (I've read the article on MSE on vouchers).  

However, many customers, including my Dad, seem to now be struggling to make contact with the company to use their vouchers.  Furthermore, the company in question has gone through Companies House for a name change, and the new website says it has nothing to do with Voucher Sales.

I realise my dad's voucher may be a lost cause....

However, the original website is still selling vouchers?!  What is the best way to force a response/closure of this website?  It just seems criminal.

Thanks

You mean this company?

https://www.gourmetguide.co.uk/home

Change of name means nothing in reality. So long as voucher is within date you can still use it.

No idea why you think a change of name is criminal?

You contact restaurant to redeem voucher.

eskbanker

Recent reviews do suggest that the company is effectively no longer operating:

https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.gourmetguide.co.uk?sort=recency

BigUpsConsumer

Nope - not the name change that I think is criminal.  It's the continuance of sales for a service which appears to stopped which I think is pretty criminal.

And on the booking front, you need to contact Gourmet Guide, who then contact the restaurant and arrange a deposit.  Just called a restaurant to confirm

eskbanker

According to the Companies House data, it looks like there are two related companies, albeit with no common people involved:

The original Gourmet Guide Limited, number 09976537, was renamed to Boxing Breaks Limited on 6 December 2024.

Meanwhile, a new Boxing Breaks Limited, number 16064733, had been incorporated on 6 November 2024 and was renamed to Gourmet Guide Limited on 6 December 2024, i.e. they swapped names simultaneously.

The https://www.gourmetguide.co.uk/home website seems to have been stripped of all non-sales pages, so there's no meaningful data about the company, trading terms, legal, privacy, etc, but I can imagine that anyone succeeding in making contact with them would be told that it's nothing to do with the original company of that name - technically true perhaps but something stinks!

BigUpsConsumer

Thanks eskbanker.  Do you think I should raise this concern with any authority - e.g. Financial Ombudsman?  Like I mentioned above, I realise my dad's voucher might be a lost cause, but I'm concerned that this business continues to sell with little/no intention on honouring sales.  As you say, it's really suspect that the website has been cleared of any significant detail

eskbanker

BigUpsConsumer said:

Thanks eskbanker.  Do you think I should raise this concern with any authority - e.g. Financial Ombudsman?  Like I mentioned above, I realise my dad's voucher might be a lost cause, but I'm concerned that this business continues to sell with little/no intention on honouring sales.  As you say, it's really suspect that the website has been cleared of any significant detail

It's outside the FOS jurisdiction, so they won't be able to assist - you might be able to get Trading Standards involved (via Citizens Advice) or even Action Fraud if a case can be made that the corporate name swap is part of a scheme to defraud customers, rather than simply a company ceasing trading due to poor sales or whatever?

DullGreyGuy

BigUpsConsumer said:

Looking for a bit of thought/discussion.  I purchased a voucher for my Dad last Christmas from a company online (I've read the article on MSE on vouchers).  

However, many customers, including my Dad, seem to now be struggling to make contact with the company to use their vouchers.  Furthermore, the company in question has gone through Companies House for a name change, and the new website says it has nothing to do with Voucher Sales.

I realise my dad's voucher may be a lost cause....

However, the original website is still selling vouchers?!  What is the best way to force a response/closure of this website?  It just seems criminal.

A company can change its name, doesn't mean anything, its still the same legal entity just in the same way if you were to get married and change your name it doesn't stop you being you.  Whereas for a natural person you may look at thinks like finger prints to see if its actually the same person or not for legal persons you look at their company's house number to verify if its the same entity or not. 

The website is terrible, it has no terms & conditions, no instructions on how the vouchers are used etc. It has £6k in the bank and owes others more than £0.5m. Its parent company has a massive £1k in the bank but is otherwise in better shape. 

The system doesn't allow me to enter payment details so they have suspended sales. 

I'd be a little surprised if a website of its size had any real deals with at least half the companies on the list. I do wonder if instead it was that they just would make you a booking and pre-pay the restaurant to the value of the voucher meaning their main profit is going to be in unredeemed vouchers which could be why they're running with such a negative balance sheet because ultimately many will drop off as the vouchers expire. 

A google of the brand name and "email" comes up with search results with an email address and telephone number to make the redemption. Have you tried these? Its currently 1.3/5 on Trust Pilot but thats all in the last few months where most people are reporting they cannot get hold of them but one or two have said they've had replies and bookings made. 

Arunmor

They look like they are three quarters of a million in the hole.