Debenhams gift vouchers

pampam

I didn't know where to post this so I will start here.

My friend retired from her work place last year.

Her work colleagues presented her with £500 worth of debenhams gift vouchers, very nice.

However, she has noticed the small print on the vouchers. It states that the vouchers must be spent within 2 years of purchase.

Can they do this?
I would have thought that as the vouchers were bought in cash they would have to be treated as cash.

Any comments on this. (Apart from the obvious, I wouldn't have a problem spending £500 quid)!!

Thanks
Pam

Poppycat

Unfortunately they probably can if it states as part of the terms and conditions. It doesn't just apply to Debenhams, I know Amazon do this with online codes, some people have falling foul of this. I tend to spend any voucher codes a.s.a.p just in case

pampam

Poppycat wrote: »

Unfortunately they probably can if it states as part of the terms and conditions. It doesn't just apply to Debenhams, I know Amazon do this with online codes, some people have falling foul of this. I tend to spend any voucher codes a.s.a.p just in case

Yes I know what you are saying but these are gift vouchers not discount vouchers.
It doesn't seem right to me as they were purchased with £500 in cash.
Thanks
Pam

pruney

Well Amazon do it with their gift vouchers, my brother bought me one a few years back for Christmas and I only had a year to spend it; seems Debenhams are a little more generous with their time limit

Now_then

pampam wrote: »

However, she has noticed the small print on the vouchers. It states that the vouchers must be spent within 2 years of purchase.

Any comments on this. (Apart from the obvious, I wouldn't have a problem spending £500 quid)!!

Thanks
Pam

Pam

It does not seem fair but I think these stores can do what they like.

However, if you find that in 20 to 22 months time you still have a couple of hundred of pounds in unspent vouchers you could buy something and return next day/ next week - well any time within the refund period. You would not get a cash refund but new vouchers with another 2 years life. You could repeat this in another 20-22 months down the line to get new ones for any remainder.

Hey presto, ever lasting vouchers.

Now then

bargain_hunter_2

I hate when retailers do this. My DD's got vouchers at christmas to get a little princess manicure - just dug them out the drawer (still in the envelopes!) to find they expired in March !!! I thought three months was pretty poor! Did phone the shop but they are not interest - £50 quid down the drain and I'll have to pay for them to be done now as a treat as it was my fault:mad: ! I won't be taking them to that particular chain though!!!

pampam

Thank you all for your replies.
Is this another task for you Martin?
It seems totally unfair that these companies can put a time scale on these gift vouchers that were, after all, paid for in cash and tied to the company that sold them.
Come on Martin get your teeth into this one!!

Star

I use to love the paper vouchers as these never had a time scale on, and you knew exactly how much you had. Hate the gift cards. I always try to spend them as soon as possible, cause if they get lost/stolen they are regarded as cash and won't be replaced. :mad:

Chris25

Now_then wrote: »

Pam

It does not seem fair but I think these stores can do what they like.

However, if you find that in 20 to 22 months time you still have a couple of hundred of pounds in unspent vouchers you could buy something and return next day/ next week - well any time within the refund period. You would not get a cash refund but new vouchers with another 2 years life. You could repeat this in another 20-22 months down the line to get new ones for any remainder.

Hey presto, ever lasting vouchers.

be best to check though as but when item exchanged, you might end up with credit vouchers rather than gift vouchers which may not have as long a use-before date.

M&S also give 2 years for gift vouchers. I thought this was reasonable - some smaller companies only 1 year.

saintscouple

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere (please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

ShockingPink

I recently spent 2 extremely old gift vouchers that I'd found in the back of a drawer. One was £5 from Tesco and one was £1:o from WH Smith. The latter was so old that it didn't even have a barcode. I told the lad on the till to send it to the WH Smith museum! Had no trouble spending either voucher, although the staff were initially a bit confused...:rolleyes: