Trying to return a voucher..

A.Gorilla

I was wondering what i can do.I bought a voucher for my wife for valentines for a Jewelers. It turns out it wasn't the Shop that she wanted the voucher for....I went back the next day with it and my receipt and was told I could not get a refund at all. Basically tough **** and good luck to you... Do I have any options in this kind of situation?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

I doubt you have any comeback on this. There are no faulty goods involved and it comes under a change of mind.

coylemj

I really can't see that you have any recourse. The purchase of a voucher basically involves a commitment to purchase that amount of goods from that retailer so trying to convert the voucher to cash is a non-starter. I can't see why any retailer would agree to give back the money given that you're telling him you've changed your mind and want to spend the money elsewhere.

A.Gorilla

I never mentioned going anywhere else.I just said she didn't really want a voucher for Jewelery..

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

A.Gorilla wrote: »

I never mentioned going anywhere else.I just said she didn't really want a voucher for Jewelery..

Surely not wanting jewellery is tantamount to wanting to spend the money somewhere else?

Del2005

A.Gorilla wrote: »

I never mentioned going anywhere else.I just said she didn't really want a voucher for Jewelery..

Your only option is to try and sell the voucher on.

A.Gorilla

Del2005 wrote: »

Your only option is to try and sell the voucher on.

Was thinking that alright.....Shame that they wouldn't entertain a refund.

dudara

It's a pity that they won't, but technically they do not have to. Your best bet is probably to try to sell it on.

A.Gorilla

dudara wrote: »

It's a pity that they won't, but technically they do not have to. Your best bet is probably to try to sell it on.

Yeah it really is a pity...Means we will never shop there again and will tell friends/family not to either.... Ah well!

sullivlo

A.Gorilla wrote: »

Yeah it really is a pity...Means we will never shop there again and will tell friends/family not to either.... Ah well!

Why? When it was your mistake buying the voucher for the wrong place...

Cut your losses. Sell the voucher.

A.Gorilla

sullivlo wrote: »

Why? When it was your mistake buying the voucher for the wrong place...

Cut your losses. Sell the voucher.

Indeed that is true. It was a mistake...And technically the shop is correct in their stance. It just leaves a bad taste in the mouth....A refund wouldn't be the end of the world to them and I would have left a happy customer.

coylemj

A.Gorilla wrote: »

A refund wouldn't be the end of the world to them and I would have left a happy customer.

If they gave you a refund and you walked out the door with the cash on your pocket, you wouldn't be a 'happy customer', you wouldn't be any kind of customer!

A.Gorilla

coylemj wrote: »

If they gave you a refund and you walked out the door with the cash on your pocket, you wouldn't be a 'happy customer', you wouldn't be any kind of customer!

Most likely I would be a future customer....Now that won't be the case.

Saucy McKetchup

A.Gorilla wrote: »

Most likely I would be a future customer....Now that won't be the case.

But you will be, you have a voucher to spend :pac:

A.Gorilla

Saucy McKetchup wrote: »

But you will be, you have a voucher to spend :pac:

badum tchh

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

A.Gorilla wrote: »

Yeah it really is a pity...Means we will never shop there again and will tell friends/family not to either.... Ah well!

That's a totally incorrect action. You made the mistake, not the shop. Immediately on reading your OP I thought "here's a guy with a hard neck and great expectations"


You seem to want to assign some sort of blame on the retailer and none on yourself. Why bad mouth a business because you made a silly mistake and your wife wasn't happy about it?
If you had been, and would have been in the future, a customer then you'll get use for the voucher that you bought.
Badmouthing a business for not doing anything wrong when you made a mistake is OTT.

TerrorFirmer

It's not a fair way to judge a retailer either, you'd find in the vast majority of shops they would not give refunds on vouchers.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

It's not a fair way to judge a retailer either, you'd find in the vast majority of shops they would not give refunds on vouchers.

True. I would love to hear of any shop that would give a cash refund for a gift voucher.

Bepolite

Yet another person converting currency that can be spent anywhere and which (generally) never expires to a voucher with the same face value that expires after a short period of time, is subject to a company going into receivership/liquidation and if you make a mistake you're stuck with.

Why, oh why, oh why will people not learn. Vouchers are the biggest con facing consumers at the moment and yet we still keep buying them. Surely it's time to consign these to the same bin cheques are largely in!

Guy:Incognito

Bepolite wrote: »

Yet another person converting currency that can be spent anywhere and which (generally) never expires to a voucher with the same face value that expires after a short period of time, is subject to a company going into receivership/liquidation and if you make a mistake you're stuck with.

Why, oh why, oh why will people not learn. Vouchers are the biggest con facing consumers at the moment and yet we still keep buying them. Surely it's time to consign these to the same bin cheques are largely in!

A lot of people might want a certain item or something from a certain type of shop but always prioritise other , more important things so the item never gets bought. I know my missus would buy more stuff for herself that she wants if she had no choice .

rubadub

Del2005 wrote: »

Your only option is to try and sell the voucher on.

The other option is to try and sell it back to the shop, minus a restocking/admin fee.

When they sell a voucher it means they have a sale in the bag, there will come a point where they should gladly take it back minus a fee, the fee being the profit they would have made. e.g. if they usually make €10 on a €100 sale they would probably give you €90 back for it. Problem is jewelers have huge markups.

Eugene Fast Termination wrote: »

True. I would love to hear of any shop that would give a cash refund for a gift voucher.

I had one and a music shop actually was going to take it back for a refund, I forgot about it and then recession hits and I asked again and they said no way.

A.Gorilla

I'll Have to try sell it on so...Thanks to everybody for their advice and help.........

Bepolite

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

A lot of people might want a certain item or something from a certain type of shop but always prioritise other , more important things so the item never gets bought. I know my missus would buy more stuff for herself that she wants if she had no choice .

Put some thought into the purchase and ensure they have an exchange policy. At least you have tangible goods. Alternatively buy a one4all voucher or a voucher for a shopping centre if you really must buy one at all.

Alternatively I've magic beans available.

A.Gorilla

Was Valentines day...I had 5 mins spare to get something.....in a shopping centre full of blokes with arms full of crap....next time it will be differant.....birthdays,anniversary and christmas too....!

Bepolite

A.Gorilla wrote: »

Was Valentines day...I had 5 mins spare to get something.....in a shopping centre full of blokes with arms full of crap....next time it will be differant.....birthdays,anniversary and christmas too....!

Online Shopping FTW!

knucklehead6

Eugene Fast Termination wrote: »

True. I would love to hear of any shop that would give a cash refund for a gift voucher.

The problem with vouchers/gift cards is that they can be bought on line using a scammed credit card. This has happened where I work and by the time we got the chargeback from the bank the voucher had already been redeemed so we were 'down' the money.

having said that on occasion we have also facilitated the refunding of a gift card by allowing the customer 'buy' something and then refunding the item. But this has only happened in exceptional circumstances.

Mark1990

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

It's not a fair way to judge a retailer either, you'd find in the vast majority of shops they would not give refunds on vouchers.

Not true. In my experience working for BT, o2, and carraig donn among others, a refund is much more desirable than bad word of mouth.

doublej

Don't confuse the past, present and future. The OP may have been a customer in the past but their attitude to him as a present day customer puts in danger their ability to retain him into the future.
I'd go back to the store and make this point, they are legally 100% correct but need to have the sales perspective shown to them

davo10

doublej wrote: »

Don't confuse the past, present and future. The OP may have been a customer in the past but their attitude to him as a present day customer puts in danger their ability to retain him into the future.
I'd go back to the store and make this point, they are legally 100% correct but need to have the sales perspective shown to them

If he was a regular customer, fine he would be worth keeping, if he was a one off customer then the shop has lost out on a sale just because of a "change of mind". There would be no guarantee that OP would shop there again even if the refund was given, the fact that he is looking for a refund on a voucher is testament to that.

I really can't see why the OP has an issue with this and why he would bad mouth the shop. This was pure and simply his mistake, no one else's, the shop sold a voucher to a customer, big deal, move on.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

doublej wrote: »

Don't confuse the past, present and future. The OP may have been a customer in the past but their attitude to him as a present day customer puts in danger their ability to retain him into the future.
I'd go back to the store and make this point, they are legally 100% correct but need to have the sales perspective shown to them

He obviously is not a regular customer or he would have use for the voucher. His rushed mistake, his hard neck.

blade1

davo10 wrote: »

If he was a regular customer, fine he would be worth keeping, if he was a one off customer then the shop has lost out on a sale just because of a "change of mind". There would be no guarantee that OP would shop there again even if the refund was given, the fact that he is looking for a refund on a voucher is testament to that.

I really can't see why the OP has an issue with this and why he would bad mouth the shop. This was pure and simply his mistake, no one else's, the shop sold a voucher to a customer, big deal, move on.

Where did he badmouth the shop?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

blade1 wrote: »

Where did he badmouth the shop?

we will never shop there again and will tell friends/family not to either..

Telling friends and family not to shop somewhere is certainly bad mouthing. It's also churlish in the extreme considering the shop did not do anything wrong.

Miaireland

Hopefully his friends have the sense not to listen. The majority of people understand when you purchase vouchers that they are non refundable.

The shop have done nothing wrong.

Corruptedmorals

It might interest you that Dunnes and Penneys, two large department stores that can absorb refunds extremely well- and will take back obviously worn clothes, will NOT refund vouchers. All vouchers state on them that there is no comeback and to treat it like cash. This is a given. In a jewellery shop, refunds in general are rare. If you bought a ring for instance and a stone fell out the next day, they would repair or replace- and well within their rights to do that.

Singling out one shop as somehow bad or mean when it was your mistake, and all shops and department stores operate the same way is not very logical. Sell it on adverts.

A.Gorilla

You'll all be delighted to know that i got a call from the shop today telling me they were willing to give me a full refund on my voucher as a goodwill gesture.... Which was very nice of them indeed.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

blade1

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

I know, I got a a €100 voucher for Brown Thomas and a €100 voucher for Jack and Jones for my 40th.
Never bought anything in those two shops in my life.

Went into both,looking for something I'd wear and eventually came away with a shirt for €35 from Jack & Jones.

Came home,tried on the shirt again and thought Nah.
Gave the shirt away to my brother.

I gave away the Brown Thomas voucher and I ended up forgetting about the other one and it's too late now so ended up with nothing.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

A.Gorilla wrote: »

You'll all be delighted to know that i got a call from the shop today telling me they were willing to give me a full refund on my voucher as a goodwill gesture.... Which was very nice of them indeed.

I wouldn't say I'm delighted, no. Are you now going to go to all the family and friends you told us were disgusted by the shop's attitude and were never going to buy from that shop again? Will you tell all these friends that the shop is very nice?

A.Gorilla

Eugene Fast Termination wrote: »

I wouldn't say I'm delighted, no. Are you now going to go to all the family and friends you told us were disgusted by the shop's attitude and were never going to buy from that shop again? Will you tell all these friends that the shop is very nice?

I didnt say anything to anybody. Was seeing how it all panned out first.
I sent a letter to Their head Office Explaining the situation which obviously they saw my side of it.

TerrorFirmer

A.Gorilla wrote: »

I sent a letter to Their head Office Explaining the situation which obviously they saw my side of it.

You bought a voucher for a shop your wife didn't like. You make it sound like she died! :P

A.Gorilla

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

You bought a voucher for a shop your wife didn't like. You make it sound like she died! :P

Dunno where youre getting that from.....

Afroshack

A.Gorilla wrote: »

I didnt say anything to anybody. Was seeing how it all panned out first.
I sent a letter to Their head Office Explaining the situation which obviously they saw my side of it.

Sounds more like you threatened to badmouth them and they felt bullied into refunding you.

Stavros Murphy

Vouchers - turning money you can spend anywhere into money you can only spend in one place. I never really "got" vouchers from a shoppers point of view. Surely cash notes is a kinda "universal" voucher?

"Here love, I got you some vouchers!"

hands over wad of cash....

davo10

Afroshack wrote: »

Sounds more like you threatened to badmouth them and they felt bullied into refunding you.

That is giving the OP to much credit, more likely they gave him the money back because he's an example of a complete "anchor" for consumer rights.

A.Gorilla

davo10 wrote: »

That is giving the OP to much credit, more likely they gave him the money back because he's an example of a complete "anchor" for consumer rights.

Have never heard such a negative shower in my life... You buy something,You realise its not the right thing,you try to return it the next day...the shop says no way.......So you obviously get a bit annoyed over it so you send a letter to their head office explaining the situation...They give you a refund....
Would anybody here in the same situation do anything different? Or would you just sit back and take your punishment for buying the wrong thing in the first place? Regardless of the product....
Looking at other threads here with people asking advice...the negativity is rife on Boards....Gotta love the internet!
At the end of the day i'm happy...And thats what counts.....

davo10

A.Gorilla wrote: »

Would anybody here in the same situation do anything different? Or would you just sit back and take your punishment for buying the wrong thing in the first place? Regardless of the product....
...

Yes is the answer to both, most would. You see, most adults take responsibility for their actions and don't blame nor bad mouth someone else or try and disadvantage others for the mistake. The shop sold an item to you, you picked it, they make a profit......

neckedit

A.Gorilla wrote: »

You'll all be delighted to know that i got a call from the shop today telling me they were willing to give me a full refund on my voucher as a goodwill gesture.... Which was very nice of them indeed.

"A good will gesture"
Translates to some one in HO thinking.......get rid of this......give him his money back and if it pleases the Gods, we'll never see him again.

A.Gorilla

A.Gorilla wrote: »

Have never heard such a negative shower in my life... You buy something,You realise its not the right thing,you try to return it the next day...the shop says no way.......So you obviously get a bit annoyed over it so you send a letter to their head office explaining the situation...They give you a refund....
Would anybody here in the same situation do anything different? Or would you just sit back and take your punishment for buying the wrong thing in the first place? Regardless of the product....
Looking at other threads here with people asking advice...the negativity is rife on Boards....Gotta love the internet!
At the end of the day i'm happy...And thats what counts.....

Why did you contact their head office over a mistake that YOU made?

They buckled under your threats, but they really shouldn't have.

Melissa30

I feel sorry for that business. You messed up and they paid for your mistake. They only returned your money as you threatened them. Maybe next time man up and dont resort to threats.

A.Gorilla

I honestly think some of you people are either a bit mad or just stupid. Never once did I threathen or badmouth the company in question either to them or to friends. I said it here because I was a bit annoyed about the situation. Also I acknowledged my mistake from the very start and clearly somebody there decided to give me a break over it....which I appreciate greatly. Hope none of you negative folk ever buy something wrong.....or god help us!

dudara

Posters - please don't assume that there were threats etc here.

OP - I'm glad that HQ were able to resolve this for you. You had nothing to lose by asking them & they could have refused, but they helped you out.