Eddie Rockets Gift Voucher

samsamson

Hi guys,

I received a 20 euro gift voucher for Eddie Rockets for Christmas.

I went into one of their diners the other day and my bill came to 14 euro. I tried paying with the gift voucher and they said that they don't give change from gift vouchers, and won't offer a voucher of the balance (6 euro).

Nowhere on the voucher does it say anything about there being terms and conditions. These conditions weren't stated at the time of purchase according to my brother, and there is no information available on their website about their voucher policy.

It seems crazy that somebody can spend 20 euro on a gift voucher, and they can essentially reduce its value to 14 euro. What if a child went in and spent 5 euro out of a 20 euro gift voucher? This seems like very shady practice to me.

I contacted their head office via e-mail over a week ago and am yet to get a response. Called the number for the office and got no answer.

Any ideas on where I stand legally? Any advice would be much appreciated.

Sam

triple-M

samsamson wrote: »

Hi guys,

I received a 20 euro gift voucher for Eddie Rockets for Christmas.

I went into one of their diners the other day and my bill came to 14 euro. I tried paying with the gift voucher and they said that they don't give change from gift vouchers, and won't offer a voucher of the balance (6 euro).

Nowhere on the voucher does it say anything about there being terms and conditions. These conditions weren't stated at the time of purchase according to my brother, and there is no information available on their website about their voucher policy.

It seems crazy that somebody can spend 20 euro on a gift voucher, and they can essentially reduce its value to 14 euro. What if a child went in and spent 5 euro out of a 20 euro gift voucher? This seems like very shady practice to me.

I contacted their head office via e-mail over a week ago and am yet to get a response. Called the number for the office and got no answer.

Any ideas on where I stand legally? Any advice would be much appreciated.

Sam

did you pay by cash or card in the end or did you use the voucher and lose the balance?

samsamson

I paid by cash, I kept the voucher because I intend on using it once I find out where I stand in all this

garhjw

Ask them to show you the Ts & Cs where it says you have to use the whole voucher or no change is given etc.

coylemj

That is very mean on their part, my experience in most places is that if you're spending more than half the value of the voucher and the change comes to less than €20, they will give you cash for the change.

For what it's worth, I was in a branch of Paddy Powers today with someone who had a voucher for €20, the bet (3 singles, 3 cross-doubles and a treble, all €2 stake) came to €14 and the clerk gave back €6 change in cash.

john_cappa

Congrats on eating in eddies and coming away only 14 quid lighter!! lol

Thats bizarre practice but vouchers are badly regulated.

wmpdd3

usually it says something like voucher can be used as full or part payment etc, but ive never seen a voucher from er so not sure. This uses to happen with the old one4all vouchers, the store you spent then in couldnt sell a voucher for change or give cash. But, there are no rules in consumer law requiring change of a voucher, either cash or another voucher

dudara

There is no legislation covering this situation. It's really up to their own T&Cs. Contact Head Office asking for clarification on the use of their gift vouchers.

Del2005

Is this not similar to there being no legal requirement to give change when too much cash has been handed over? The OP had a debt of €14, since they already ate, and Eddie Rocket's have to take the money/voucher to cover the debt but there's no requirement to give change from either. Not good practice but I doubt many people offer vouchers for more than the meal in Eddie's.

The fact that vouchers are so badly regulated, with little protection for the purchaser/user, makes it better to just give people cash for a gift instead of a voucher.

sandin

many vouchers have processing fees (even ones belonging to franchise groups) - one4all charge up to 12.5% - so if you give change, you are paying commission on the full amount fo the voucher and losing money.

It is very rare that people taking vouchers will give change as firstly it negates the whole voucher idea in the first place and secondly as above, it can be costly.

Also, some companies sell vouchers at a discounted rate to companies and they then give them to employees, so that would be even more costly. (example Arnotts will do 20k of vouchers for 18k)

Tails142

Had a voucher for a restaurant there recently and it said on the back that they woudn't give change... it was a credit card type voucher so maybe you could have just used it in parts... wasn't a problem anyway because we used it all in one go

I would have expected that in general you don't get change from vouchers, one of the posters says above its normal to get change but that hasn't been my experience - from the early days of Golden Discs vouchers to more recent purchases.

Don't know what to tell ya OP; it's not hard to spend 20 quid in eddie rockets though if you brought a friend and he paid you and you paid the whole bill...

triple-M

just thank your lucky stars it wasnt a HMV voucher