What to do with a Gift Voucher for a closed shop?

lulubenny

Just looking for a bit of advice really.

I have a gift voucher (€200) that was given to me back in June '10 for a local independent fashion shop. The shop then announced in November that they were closing down at the end of the year and had a closing down sale. During that time I was out of the country on holiday, and when I got home early December, I couldn't get out and about due to the snow and frost. So bottom line the shop closed, and I didn't get to use my voucher.

Can I or should I approach the shop owner and look for a refund? Taking into consideration that she was just a sole trader and is local, I don't want to cause any problems for her but am I entitled to anything back? Or is it just a case of tough luck for me?

I have checked with NCA but their advice was to submit a claim to the liquidator and I would get a refund possibly through that. But I know for a fact that there is no liquidator, it was just a small local business, not a company.

I would appreciate all advice!

Paulw

If the shop has gone out of business, then there is almost nothing you can do.

You're out of luck on this one.

jor el

There's nothing you can do, so you may as well throw it in the bin. There is no legislation around gift vouchers, and you are completely at the mercy of the retailers T&Cs (like expiring, or not being accepted at certain times) with them when they are in business, and when they go bust, it's going to be worthless.

If you get a gift voucher, spend it as quickly as you can.

sandin

Sounds like there's no liquidator here and she just closed because it wasn't worth keeping open. Not every store that closes has gone into liquidation. Many retire, decide it not worth the hassle, or simply aren't making a living from it but still are well able to pay off all bills.
Maybe if you see her ask and something might be done, after all its €200 and asking won't cost a cent.

Zab

Definitely write a letter if you can track down the owner. I believe that legally they cover themselves with terms such as "no cash value", i.e. it isn't a debt, but that doesn't preclude her from choosing to honour the voucher. Of course, if she closed down because things weren't going too well then cash could be tight, so I wouldn't count on anything.

antoinolachtnai

It is a debt and you are definitely owed the money. But that doesn't resolve the problem of how you are going to get it.

I would write a letter and ask. And then maybe follow up in person if you don't get a reply.

It may be that they have some old stock somewhere and there might be something of interest to you in it.

It is not worth being unpleasant about it if it is a local person.

thesandeman

She may still have contacts with her suppliers and be able to order something for you and just keep a profit margin for herself.
No harm in asking.

UrbanSea

Am I the only person who disagrees with asking for money from her?


The shop's closed,you'd about 6 months to spend the voucher. Not her problem really.

Zab

UrbanSea wrote: »

Am I the only person who disagrees with asking for money from her?


The shop's closed,you'd about 6 months to spend the voucher. Not her problem really.

You could be, but what are your reasons? Let's say that you personally open a shop in November 2010 and sell vouchers expiring in July 2011. Doesn't go so well so you decide to call it quits in January 2011. Do you feel no obligation to the people you took money from in November? (none of these dates are from the OP)

Miaireland

UrbanSea wrote: »

Am I the only person who disagrees with asking for money from her?


The shop's closed,you'd about 6 months to spend the voucher. Not her problem really.

I agree with you.

I assume the owner advertised that she was closing down and it was up to the op to use her voucher in time. It was not the owners fault that she couldn't due to weather or being away.

To be honest this is the risk you take with vouchers.

Oh_Noes

Best thing you can do is write a friendly letter and send the voucher with it, the person might still have a bit of stock somewhere that's just taking up space but you would have a use for.

If it's a local person, then you never know when you might need to "call in" a favour. So the voucher is still useful in that sense.

UrbanSea

Zab wrote: »

You could be, but what are your reasons? Let's say that you personally open a shop in November 2010 and sell vouchers expiring in July 2011. Doesn't go so well so you decide to call it quits in January 2011. Do you feel no obligation to the people you took money from in November? (none of these dates are from the OP)

It's quite a straight forward reason,the shop is closed.

The shop clearly wasn't profitable or else she wouldn't have closed it,she hardly did it because she just couldn't be bothered or anything.
If it was well known the shop was closing then I'm sure she could honour gift vouchers then.
There wouldn't be an 'obligation',certain people in business would feel bad that people have lost out,others wouldn't,that's just the way things are.

Zab

UrbanSea wrote: »

It's quite a straight forward reason,the shop is closed.

The shop clearly wasn't profitable or else she wouldn't have closed it,she hardly did it because she just couldn't be bothered or anything.
If it was well known the shop was closing then I'm sure she could honour gift vouchers then.
There wouldn't be an 'obligation',certain people in business would feel bad that people have lost out,others wouldn't,that's just the way things are.

I do understand your reasoning, and our society does provide a way of separating personal and business debt (for better or for worse). However, that doesn't change the fact that the person started a profit-making venture, sold something with certain conditions and then failed to meet those conditions. You say that there isn't an obligation, but you don't explain why. We're not talking about a legal obligation here. The fact that other people may leave OP high and dry is not a convincing argument. I would not expect the owner to honour anything if money is tight to be honest, but it was the owner who was supposed to be taking risk with this venture, not OP.

UrbanSea

Put it this way. If the owner were to open another shop,I'd expect them to honour it,even if they don't have to legally,just to create a good impression to keep customers coming back.

I don't think I'd have to explain why there isn't an obligation it all comes back to the fact that the business is closed. It's not as if it closed over night either,there was more than enough time to use a voucher,and I'm sure that's why the owner would have announced before that she was closing,so she could honour them. She can't do anymore,it could be a case of tough luck,depending on her financial situation.
And let's remember,that 200 would be coming from her pocket. The 200 paid to the company wouldn't necessarily gone straight to her pocket,i.e VAT.

sandin

The OP just asked how he/she should appoach it.

There's no further info, so it can't be assumed that the store is in liquidation, closed due to losses or any other reason.

As said before, many stores close for many other reasons. Its not always bad sales / losses. And even if it is closed for these reasons, the voucher is still valid unless the company operating the store has either ceased trading through liquidation or ceased trading after paying all debts.

Technically the voucher holder is a creditor of the company that operated the shop until such time the voucher expires or is used. If goods cannot be provided to the voucher's value, then it has to be bought back at face value in order to extinguish the debt.

coylemj

It's possible that the shop was technically owned by a limited company and if the owner decided to voluntarily wind up the company a notice would have been placed in the papers asking creditors to come forward with statements of money owed and with a cutoff date after which such claims would not be entertained.

If the shop owner followed this route that the OP has no hope of lodging a claim with anyone, the debt is basically dead.

lulubenny

Just to clarify some details:

The shop is in a small town - it was well known that the shop was doing poorly and that the owner closed due to poor trading. She was a sole trader not a company. I have heard on the local grapevine that she was left with a substantial debt so this is why I am treading carefully and asking how best to approach the situation. As I know her I don't want to cause any ill feeling but at the same time if there was any chance of getting something for my voucher am I silly not to look into it?

Thanks for all your advice so far!

Zab

Hey lulu. You obviously have a chance as it's going to be down to her decision but you're going to have to make a judgement call as to whether you want to or not.

UrbanSea

Sole Trader=Unlimited liability