Restaurant refusing to honour voucher

[waterfall1985]

In December 2012 my Mum entered a competition on a local radio station. She won a voucher worth £20.00 for a local restaurant and two bottles of wine. Thinking this was a lovely present idea, she then purchased 2 gift vouchers as Christmas presents in 2012 for £20.00 each along with 4 bottles of wine to package 2 in with each voucher. She gave these as christmas presents to myself and my siblings to use with our partners. As you can see in the picture there is no 'Voucher Expiry' date etc.

 

When my brother called to use his in FEBRUARY he was told the restaurant would no longer honour the vouchers due to a manager running off with money(although no change to the actual owners).

 

The restaurant will not honour these now, where do we stand? She paid on her credit card so may be covered by Section 75 however I do not want the restaurant to get away with this!

 

Letter (voucher) image attached.

 

I have also posted this issue on their Facebook site tonight! Family members have suggested ordering our food and then producing the vouchers with payment, if they call the police we have evidence of our vouchers and they will be embarrassed by a scene.

 

Advice appreciated!

 

sorry image is too small, there is no expiry date and no condition of pre-booking.

[renegadeimp]

Can you post the image in PDF format or hose on an external site please. Did the voucher say anything along the lines of "this voucher/offer can be withdrawn at any time", or " we reserve the right to amend the terms and conditions of this voucher without notice".

 

I have also posted this issue on their Facebook site tonight! Family members have suggested ordering our food and then producing the vouchers with payment, if they call the police we have evidence of our vouchers and they will be embarrassed by a scene.

 

Very VERY bad idea. You could be arrested for theft. Thats why you need to check the vouchers closely.

[BankFodder]

Sorry but I disagree. You shouldn't be arrested fro theft because it would be clear that you had no dishonest intention.

However, the police can be a bit think and make mistakes and anyway there are less confrontational ways to go about it.

 

My favourite is to write a letter, give 14 days and then bring a small claim in the county court.

This is very effective

[waterfall1985]

I cannot do it now as not working but says "it gives me pleasure to forward this gift voucher to the value of £20.00 which entitles you to take lunch evening meal or perhaps afternoon tea at a time convenient to yourselves. It can be used in conjunction with any of our speciality evenings.....or with our evening a la carte menu, the choice is entirely up to you.

 

We look forward to welcoming you and should you wish to arrange a time in advance please call.... And we will endeavour to seat you in full view of the stunning bay.....

 

Please present this letter when you arrive and we look forward to welcoming you soon.

 

Yours truly

 

....

Manager

 

 

 

 

No other text at all other than standard letterhead and removed list of deals they offer for ease of reading. Thanks

[waterfall1985]

Sorry but I disagree. You shouldn't be arrested fro theft because it would be clear that you had no dishonest intention.

However, the police can be a bit think and make mistakes and anyway there are less confrontational ways to go about it.

 

My favourite is to write a letter, give 14 days and then bring a small claim in the county court.

This is very effective

 

Ok sounds good, although my brother has already had a verbal battle with them. Apparently old manager ran off with money however they are still trading successfully!!

[waterfall1985]

Http. :/. /picturepush. com/public. /12844344. Remove spaces to see letter

[waterfall1985]

Remove excess full stops too when using that link ( only need dot com)

[renegadeimp]

Sorry but I disagree. You shouldn't be arrested fro theft because it would be clear that you had no dishonest intention.

However, the police can be a bit think and make mistakes and anyway there are less confrontational ways to go about it.

 

My favourite is to write a letter, give 14 days and then bring a small claim in the county court.

This is very effective

 

You shouldnt be arrested, but there have been various news articles that report that people did get arrested, even when they had vouchers or gift tokens. Thats why i mentioned it. The vouchers are usually at the sole discretion of the restaurant or business. Thats why i said the terms and conditions need to be checked carefully to see if there are any clauses allowing them to withdraw the offer.

[stu007]

This is the link the Op is referring to: http://picturepush.com/public/12844344

[Dotty50]

I think I would try calling the radio station that supplied them as a prize.

 

The restaurant won't be happy if there is a hint of bad publicity!

[waterfall1985]

Thanks everyone, I see it as two seperate issues - the radio needs to deal with the prize and I/my mum will deal with the paid vouchers. Can anyone advise on what we can claim to add more of a stong in the tail? The vouchers total £40.00, we have consumed the 4 bottles of wine purchased (hic) but can we claim for more i.e. interest/compensation for the time wasted and hassle? Thanks

[ericsbrother]

The manager running off with the cash has nothing to do with you. If you turned up andhad a meal would you expect to pay twice the advertised price because the restaurant owner had lost a few quid at roulette?

They dont seem to know their obligations under contract law so you should write to them and remind them that you have entered a contract and paid for a service or consideration and you expct to receive it.