Legalities/morals of not accepting gift vouchers
Discussion
.sidekickdmr said:
Just to clarify though, these are gift vouchers, not discount vouchers.
The same as walking in with £5,000 cash as far as I’m concerned.
If they were discount vouchers, or were purchased at a discount id understand completely.
I agree with you - vouchers arent "offers", they are in lieu of cash.The same as walking in with £5,000 cash as far as I’m concerned.
If they were discount vouchers, or were purchased at a discount id understand completely.
Thats said, the only thing i can think of is maybe the TV show bought £5,000 of vouchers at less than £5,000. For example, Halfords have a semi-secret business website where you can buy vouchers at 10% less than face value. This is for the benefit of businesses buying them for their employees but theres nothing stopping joe public buying them for themselves. In that case, the travel company might say "you have £5,000 of vouchers that we only got paid £4,500, we're not giving you even more discount". Not saying thats the case, its just an idea.
daddy cool said:
Thats said, the only thing i can think of is maybe the TV show bought £5,000 of vouchers at less than £5,000. For example, Halfords have a semi-secret business website where you can buy vouchers at 10% less than face value. This is for the benefit of businesses buying them for their employees but theres nothing stopping joe public buying them for themselves. In that case, the travel company might say "you have £5,000 of vouchers that we only got paid £4,500, we're not giving you even more discount". Not saying thats the case, its just an idea.
Could well be this, we have that Halfords thing you mentioned through work, combined with a 15% off voucher from my wifes work, a 10% weekend I managed to buy a bike for 35% under RRP (they werent chuffed when I pulled out the vouchers to pay but I think in the end determined a sale was a sale)Let me get this right. You WON £5,000 worth of vouchers and you are now upset that you don't get a discount of £270, which was not yours to claim in the first place?
I'm simply stunned you didn't shrug this off, what does it matter to you? This is a freebie? Why do they owe you a £270 saving? If its the 'same as cash' why were you not given cash instead? The TV show obviously has an arrangement in place.
Your not worse off get over it!
I'm simply stunned you didn't shrug this off, what does it matter to you? This is a freebie? Why do they owe you a £270 saving? If its the 'same as cash' why were you not given cash instead? The TV show obviously has an arrangement in place.
Your not worse off get over it!
sidekickdmr said:
Just to clarify though, these are gift vouchers, not discount vouchers.
The same as walking in with £5,000 cash as far as I’m concerned.
If they were discount vouchers, or were purchased at a discount id understand completely.
The problem of course is that they are not as good as cash.The same as walking in with £5,000 cash as far as I’m concerned.
If they were discount vouchers, or were purchased at a discount id understand completely.
If indeed you were walking in with £5k of cash and they said "sorry - cash payments cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer" then you'd take your £5k elsewhere and purchase from somebody else - not possible with your vouchers.
The cash would also not have an expiry date, your vouchers will.
It's the reason I hate vouchers completely.
"Lets take this lovely cash, with no expiry date that can be spent anywhere and on any item and turn it into a piece of paper that will expire and can only be used on certain things in a certain shop."
I know you had no choice, but if members of the family start talking vouchers I always direct them to the "Visa giftcards" instead and let them write inside the card what it was supposed to be spent on - receiver can of course still spend on whatever they like.
I'd say from a legal point of view, no legs - seller determines terms & conditions.
Rtype said:
Let me get this right. You WON £5,000 worth of vouchers and you are now upset that you don't get a discount of £270, which was not yours to claim in the first place?
I'm simply stunned you didn't shrug this off, what does it matter to you? This is a freebie? Why do they owe you a £270 saving? If its the 'same as cash' why were you not given cash instead? The TV show obviously has an arrangement in place.
Your not worse off get over it!
If you win the lottery, give me a call, I have an amazing mars bar, I know its amazing as ive just eaten a bite of it, yours for only £28,000!I'm simply stunned you didn't shrug this off, what does it matter to you? This is a freebie? Why do they owe you a £270 saving? If its the 'same as cash' why were you not given cash instead? The TV show obviously has an arrangement in place.
Your not worse off get over it!
Not your money so why would it matter?
sidekickdmr said:
They keep referring to the terms and conditions and say they cannot be used with any other offer.
And do the Ts & Cs of the vouchers state that?sidekickdmr said:
I stand by the fact that the vouchers are as good as cash, paying full retail price so there is no OTHER offer for them to stand behind.
Except - even ignoring the fact you aren't giving them any of your money - you're not paying full retail. You're trying to pay 7% less than full retail, due to the discount OFFER from your membership of a particular marketing scheme. THAT's the offer they're talking about not combining with the vouchers.Look, it's easy to get your head around.
What's the point of the vouchers? To bring money into the business, rather than see it spent with a competitor.
What's the point of the scheme discount? To bring money into the business, rather than see it spent with a competitor.
The vouchers have brought the money in. There is no need to further entice you.
TooMany2cvs said:
Look, it's easy to get your head around.
What's the point of the vouchers? To bring money into the business, rather than see it spent with a competitor.
What's the point of the scheme discount? To bring money into the business, rather than see it spent with a competitor.
The vouchers have brought the money in. There is no need to further entice you.
What's the point of the vouchers? To bring money into the business, rather than see it spent with a competitor.
What's the point of the scheme discount? To bring money into the business, rather than see it spent with a competitor.
The vouchers have brought the money in. There is no need to further entice you.
If you were using cash you could vote with your feet, in this case you cannot.
I always try and see the positives in things, I'd be thinking "ooooh 5k holiday for £270, result!"
sidekickdmr said:
I won £5,000 of holiday vouchers as part of a TV show, I was able to pick the company, so I picked this company, they spent £5,000 on vouchers, and obviously received £5,000 vouchers which were passed onto me.
The voucher is not 'as good as cash', otherwise you would have won cash.What was purchased, from the company you picked was a voucher. Those vouchers have rules, for example an expiry date, or a 'cash in value' - usually negligible.
You are the owner of a voucher, rules and all.
sidekickdmr said:
Rtype said:
Let me get this right. You WON £5,000 worth of vouchers and you are now upset that you don't get a discount of £270, which was not yours to claim in the first place?
I'm simply stunned you didn't shrug this off, what does it matter to you? This is a freebie? Why do they owe you a £270 saving? If its the 'same as cash' why were you not given cash instead? The TV show obviously has an arrangement in place.
Your not worse off get over it!
If you win the lottery, give me a call, I have an amazing mars bar, I know its amazing as ive just eaten a bite of it, yours for only £28,000!I'm simply stunned you didn't shrug this off, what does it matter to you? This is a freebie? Why do they owe you a £270 saving? If its the 'same as cash' why were you not given cash instead? The TV show obviously has an arrangement in place.
Your not worse off get over it!
Not your money so why would it matter?
You should say:
"I have won a game on catchphrase, offered me a 3 k holiday"
I have a discount card with x shop that would normally give me 5% off. So i pick one for £3,157.89. I'm going to kick off because I'm entitled to that 5%
err no why should they? Suck it up and get over it.
I don't think you are being unreasonable at all.
You in effect have 'store' credit. I don't see why they should seek to restrict how you use that credit any more than any other form of payment.
Are the T&C's of the vouchers available to view online?
If they do actually say 'not in conjunction with any other offer' I would argue that vouchers are not an offer so the term does not apply.
You in effect have 'store' credit. I don't see why they should seek to restrict how you use that credit any more than any other form of payment.
Are the T&C's of the vouchers available to view online?
If they do actually say 'not in conjunction with any other offer' I would argue that vouchers are not an offer so the term does not apply.
You are all making very valid points, they can set the T&C's as they like and that’s that.
They also already have the money so why would they need to offer discount etc.
Just doesn’t seem fair to me, to me it’s exactly the same as your lovely mother buying you a gift card for Marks and Spencer for Christmas. £20 of her hard earned money purchased you a £20 gift card.
You go in in January and the sales are on, result, you pick up a lovely mauve 100% wool jumper, that was £35 but its in the sale down to £19.99, you take it to the tills, it comes up as £19.99, you present them with your gift card, and they say "Oh, sorry sir I didn’t realise you were using a gift card, you will have to pay the full £35 if you want this jumper.
And tell me you wouldn’t be annoyed.
They also already have the money so why would they need to offer discount etc.
Just doesn’t seem fair to me, to me it’s exactly the same as your lovely mother buying you a gift card for Marks and Spencer for Christmas. £20 of her hard earned money purchased you a £20 gift card.
You go in in January and the sales are on, result, you pick up a lovely mauve 100% wool jumper, that was £35 but its in the sale down to £19.99, you take it to the tills, it comes up as £19.99, you present them with your gift card, and they say "Oh, sorry sir I didn’t realise you were using a gift card, you will have to pay the full £35 if you want this jumper.
And tell me you wouldn’t be annoyed.
PurpleMoonlight said:
Are the T&C's of the vouchers available to view online?
If they do actually say 'not in conjunction with any other offer' I would argue that vouchers are not an offer so the term does not apply.
Yes they are but with the N&S rules i cant post, however here is a direct copy/paste:If they do actually say 'not in conjunction with any other offer' I would argue that vouchers are not an offer so the term does not apply.
"XXXXXX Vouchers cannot be used in conjunction with any other vouchers, discounts or offers"
sidekickdmr said:
You are all making very valid points, they can set the T&C's as they like and that’s that.
They also already have the money so why would they need to offer discount etc.
Just doesn’t seem fair to me, to me it’s exactly the same as your lovely mother buying you a gift card for Marks and Spencer for Christmas. £20 of her hard earned money purchased you a £20 gift card.
You go in in January and the sales are on, result, you pick up a lovely mauve 100% wool jumper, that was £35 but its in the sale down to £19.99, you take it to the tills, it comes up as £19.99, you present them with your gift card, and they say "Oh, sorry sir I didn’t realise you were using a gift card, you will have to pay the full £35 if you want this jumper.
And tell me you wouldn’t be annoyed.
Thats not the same though, they would be advertising something at a price and you would buy itThey also already have the money so why would they need to offer discount etc.
Just doesn’t seem fair to me, to me it’s exactly the same as your lovely mother buying you a gift card for Marks and Spencer for Christmas. £20 of her hard earned money purchased you a £20 gift card.
You go in in January and the sales are on, result, you pick up a lovely mauve 100% wool jumper, that was £35 but its in the sale down to £19.99, you take it to the tills, it comes up as £19.99, you present them with your gift card, and they say "Oh, sorry sir I didn’t realise you were using a gift card, you will have to pay the full £35 if you want this jumper.
And tell me you wouldn’t be annoyed.
For your analogy to work it would have to be a £15 voucher, they offer the jumper in the sale at £19.99 and you know you can get another x% off due to your membership. You try and use this and they say "Sorry due to this being a sale item it is excluded from any further offers"
I have had first hand experience of "Vouchers" on an insurance claim, when I said I was paying with insurance vouchers the ability to negotiate discount was minimal as £5000 of vouchers did not translate to £5000 for them. I suspect this is what your up against, it may be already £500 discounted as far as the retailer is concerned.
I can understand why they are doing that, I think it's kind of similar to a situation I had with my University.
After completing my BSc there, they offered 10% discount for returning students doing a Masters. I was then fortunate enough to obtain a grant/bursary for more than the total cost of the course, where any remaining money is given to me over the first year.
The 10% discount was not applicable in conjunction with a grant/bursary, but I didn't even question it, as I'm so incredibly grateful for getting the bursary in the first place!
After completing my BSc there, they offered 10% discount for returning students doing a Masters. I was then fortunate enough to obtain a grant/bursary for more than the total cost of the course, where any remaining money is given to me over the first year.
The 10% discount was not applicable in conjunction with a grant/bursary, but I didn't even question it, as I'm so incredibly grateful for getting the bursary in the first place!
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