Old M&S Vouchers not accepted even though no expiry date on them

ChiltonGaines

I found £160 worth of old M&S gift vouchers when doing some cleaning in my house. There is no expiry date on them, but they are pretty old; I received them in 2011, if I remember correctly. 

As there is no expiry date on them, I tried to use them recently and have been informed that since 30th September 2025, M&S have stopped accepting these vouchers. They said notices have been displayed in stores informing customers of this, and basically, tough luck. I have contacted customer services, and they have said the same. 

Do I have any consumer rights here? I feel that, due to there being no expiry date on the vouchers, M&S should accept them. I can totally understand them not accepting them if they had already expired, but these ones haven't.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

user1977

I would expect normal laws of prescription to apply here, so the debt expires after six years (in England & Wales, or five in Scotland).

In any event I suspect it would be the original purchaser of the voucher who actually has the rights?

Aylesbury_Duck

As user1977 advises, if there is a consumer right to their value, it sits with the purchaser, not the recipient.

marcia_

 I would contact M&S through their complaint department. Whenever I have contacted them they have been very accommodating. Although I've not contacted them about the same vouchers I did contact them about expired reward vouchers 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

user1977 said:

I would expect normal laws of prescription to apply here, so the debt expires after six years (in England & Wales, or five in Scotland).

In any event I suspect it would be the original purchaser of the voucher who actually has the rights?

For a simple contract it's 6 years "from the date on which the cause of action accrued" 

Usually on here we are dealing with "faulty" goods which is from the time of delivery but with something like this isn't it from the time they've refused to honour the voucher? 

user1977

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

user1977 said:

I would expect normal laws of prescription to apply here, so the debt expires after six years (in England & Wales, or five in Scotland).

In any event I suspect it would be the original purchaser of the voucher who actually has the rights?

For a simple contract it's 6 years "from the date on which the cause of action accrued" 

Usually on here we are dealing with "faulty" goods which is from the time of delivery but with something like this isn't it from the time they've refused to honour the voucher? 

No, it would be from the last time they acknowledged the debt i.e. when they issued the voucher. Otherwise what's to stop somebody producing a 100 year old voucher and demanding its worth in Percy Pigs?

Jumblebumble

user1977 said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

user1977 said:

I would expect normal laws of prescription to apply here, so the debt expires after six years (in England & Wales, or five in Scotland).

In any event I suspect it would be the original purchaser of the voucher who actually has the rights?

For a simple contract it's 6 years "from the date on which the cause of action accrued" 

Usually on here we are dealing with "faulty" goods which is from the time of delivery but with something like this isn't it from the time they've refused to honour the voucher? 

No, it would be from the last time they acknowledged the debt i.e. when they issued the voucher. Otherwise what's to stop somebody producing a 100 year old voucher and demanding its worth in Percy Pigs?

A 100 Year old voucher would likely produce a single Percy Pig

( Like the covenants on our 1930s house that prevents outbuilding less than £500 being built
It needed a house in 1930 
It can be satisfied by a shed today
in another 90 years a single brick will probably do the trick

Alderbank

user1977 said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

user1977 said:

I would expect normal laws of prescription to apply here, so the debt expires after six years (in England & Wales, or five in Scotland).

In any event I suspect it would be the original purchaser of the voucher who actually has the rights?

For a simple contract it's 6 years "from the date on which the cause of action accrued" 

Usually on here we are dealing with "faulty" goods which is from the time of delivery but with something like this isn't it from the time they've refused to honour the voucher? 

No, it would be from the last time they acknowledged the debt i.e. when they issued the voucher. 

It's exactly what @the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said - 6 years from when the contract is breached.

The purchaser entered into a contract with M&S that at some future date they would redeem the vouchers for £400 of goods.
The contract was not breached until the bearer presented the vouchers and M&S refused to redeem them. The purchaser now has 6 years (in England & Wales) from the date of that breach to pursue a claim.

All the purchaser of the vouchers needs to make a claim is proof of the date of purchase of the vouchers and a copy of the contract terms and conditions which applied on that day.
If the T&Cs from that date say the vouchers must be redeemed within 10 years for instance, there is no claim unless the purchaser successfully argues that is an unfair contract term (it might be).

Note that any claim would not be under the Consumer Rights Act because the CRA did not exist in 2011.
It could be under whatever version of the Sale of Goods Act 1979 was current (it was revised quite often) or simply a breach of contract law.

Renfrewman

Alderbank said:

user1977 said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

user1977 said:

I would expect normal laws of prescription to apply here, so the debt expires after six years (in England & Wales, or five in Scotland).

In any event I suspect it would be the original purchaser of the voucher who actually has the rights?

For a simple contract it's 6 years "from the date on which the cause of action accrued" 

Usually on here we are dealing with "faulty" goods which is from the time of delivery but with something like this isn't it from the time they've refused to honour the voucher? 

No, it would be from the last time they acknowledged the debt i.e. when they issued the voucher. 

It's exactly what @the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said - 6 years from when the contract is breached.

The purchaser entered into a contract with M&S that at some future date they would redeem the vouchers for £400 of goods.
The contract was not breached until the bearer presented the vouchers and M&S refused to redeem them. The purchaser now has 6 years (in England & Wales) from the date of that breach to pursue a claim.

All the purchaser of the vouchers needs to make a claim is proof of the date of purchase of the vouchers and a copy of the contract terms and conditions which applied on that day.
If the T&Cs from that date say the vouchers must be redeemed within 10 years for instance, there is no claim unless the purchaser successfully argues that is an unfair contract term (it might be).

Note that any claim would not be under the Consumer Rights Act because the CRA did not exist in 2011.
It could be under whatever version of the Sale of Goods Act 1979 was current (it was revised quite often) or simply a breach of contract law.

£400 of goods for £160 of vouchers?

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Thanks @Alderbank that would be my line of thinking here. 

ChiltonGaines

Thank you, everyone, for the advice. I will contact the complaints department armed with some more informed reasoning and see if I can have better luck with them.