Tanning Salon Expired Minutes - is it legal?

StanByrneGalway

My girlfriend just got back from her local tanning salon. She only goes occassionaly. She was told that she had no minutes left on her account. She said she had at least 100 minutes left and was then told they had "expired" in November 2009 as she only had one year to use them.

She was never told that there was an expiry date and no notice was given to her prior to November. She paid €75 for the minutes and had only used a third of them.

Is this legal? What action can she take? It seems very unfair as there is no cost involved to the shop if she uses the minutes slowly and it just seems like a rip-off. I'm annoyed and it is not about the money but the principle.

I'd appreciate your knowledge, thoughts and experience folks.
Stan

i71jskz5xu42pb

StanByrneGalway wrote: »

Is this legal? What action can she take?

First things first, go back down to the shop, ask to see the manager or get the owner's phone number if s/he is not there. Explain this to them

StanByrneGalway wrote: »

She was never told that there was an expiry date and no notice was given to her prior to November. She paid €75 for the minutes and had only used a third of them.

After you've done that, and assuming you have no joy you can start thinking about the legal route. Namely that, unless she signed a contract to agree to the expiration policy, she paid for the service and is entitled to that service.

First step would be to send a letter to the company involved (re)explaining the issue in writing, then, assuming no joy, lodge a complaint with the Small Claims Court.

StanByrneGalway

thanks for that.

yes she has the name of the owner but the receptionist wouldn't give her the mobile number so writing is probably the best option to begin with. The receptionist was all casual saying "yeh this happens to loads of people" and gave the impression its just tough luck.

i just wanted to know the actual legal position first.

Stan

Clarissa Steep Transparency wrote: »

First things first, go back down to the shop, ask to see the manager or get the owner's phone number if s/he is not there. Explain this to them


After you've done that, and assuming you have no joy you can start thinking about the legal route. Namely that, unless she signed a contract to agree to the expiration policy, she paid for the service and is entitled to that service.

First step would be to send a letter to the company involved (re)explaining the issue in writing, then, assuming no joy, lodge a complaint with the Small Claims Court.

i71jskz5xu42pb

Well she essentially bought a voucher and these guys are pretty clear on vouchers with unspecified expiry.

http://www.consumerconnect.ie/eng/Hot_Topics/Guides-to-Consumer-Law/Gift-vouchers/expiry.html

If a shop refuses to honour a voucher that doesn't specify an expiry date, you have the option to take the matter to the Small Claims Court.

dudara

It all depends if there is a mention of an expiry date/length. This may be on a notice in the shop, or written on a receipt.

If there is no such written notification, then I'd say that she has a good claim on those unused minutes.

StanByrneGalway

Unfortunately I think there may have been a notice on the receipt but she didn't see it and of course it was not pointed out to her.

Is this not sharp business practice? Why do retailers need to put expiry dates on vouchers or advanced payments. Surely they have received their payment and the longer a customer takes to avail of the good or service then the better for them?

Stan

dudara wrote: »

It all depends if there is a mention of an expiry date/length. This may be on a notice in the shop, or written on a receipt.

If there is no such written notification, then I'd say that she has a good claim on those unused minutes.

aidan_walsh

The longer a customer takes to avail of something they paid for once is the longer it takes for that person to pay again. Thats not in the business interests.

dudara

StanByrneGalway wrote: »

Is this not sharp business practice? Why do retailers need to put expiry dates on vouchers or advanced payments. Surely they have received their payment and the longer a customer takes to avail of the good or service then the better for them?

I understand where you're coming from, but I do think that it's unfair on a business to keep a liability outstanding indefinitely.

Maybe there should be a legal period of three/five years. That would be fair on both the consumer and business.

Cabaal

StanByrneGalway wrote: »

Unfortunately I think there may have been a notice on the receipt but she didn't see it and of course it was not pointed out to her.

None the less she still had the receipt and was provided with the informatioin if she choose not to look at this information its not the shops fault

Is this not sharp business practice? Why do retailers need to put expiry dates on vouchers or advanced payments. Surely they have received their payment and the longer a customer takes to avail of the good or service then the better for them?

Stan

Its perfectly legal for them to put expiry dates on vouchers, ok you might view it as dodgy but its legal so not much of a recourse as long as they've made the info available.

djk1000

Expiry dates are perfectly legal, but only if the date of expiry is made clear BEFORE purchase, it has to be in plain view and of a reasonable size, it doesn't matter if it is on a receipt as the contract was already formed when money changed hands.

i71jskz5xu42pb

djk1000 wrote: »

Expiry dates are perfectly legal, but only if the date of expiry is made clear BEFORE purchase, it has to be in plain view and of a reasonable size, it doesn't matter if it is on a receipt as the contract was already formed when money changed hands.

This makes a lot of sense to me.

Thoie

StanByrneGalway wrote: »

Why do retailers need to put expiry dates on vouchers or advanced payments. Surely they have received their payment and the longer a customer takes to avail of the good or service then the better for them?

I'm not defending them, but some places do it because it makes book-keeping easier. If you have to reconcile the purchase (when the goods were handed over) against the receipt (when the money was handed over) it can be a complete PITA trying to track back through previous years receipts to find when the cash was handed over. If the earlier years accounts are closed (after an audit, for example) you have to start trying to port over old receipts into a new financial year. So if I had a voucher from 2005 and wanted to use it now, the receipt would have to be brought through each intervening year's accounts to balance the books in 2010. It's all doable in one way or another, but some accounting s/w packages don't make it easy in the slightest, and it's an area that liable to fiddling the books, so the Revenue aren't mad keen on it either.

Personally if I owned a business I'd try to avoid issuing gift vouchers and that ilk as much as possible.

StanByrneGalway

thanks alot - that arguament that it was not made clear prior to the issuing of the receipt might work - we'll give it a try at least
Stan