marks and spencer credit voucher loss

[lelole]

Hi,

I took back some items after Christmas with gift receipts, and was given a credit voucher in early Jan. I then spent some of the credit voucher that day and received another credit voucher in change.

 

I wasn't feeling well that day, and probably shouldn't have been shopping, but I did, and obviously wasn't thinking straight because, it later transpired that I had the receipts from the two transactions but no credit voucher.

 

I went yesterday in store and fully expected them to be able to track and trace the credit voucher via the receipt and replace it. At the time I was unsure as to whether I had even been given the voucher. Customer services asked the securityto look at the security footage and they have told me that they saw me place the credit voucher into a carrier bag I was carrying, but when I asked them to identify the carrier bag so I can check at home, they were unable to give me any information other than it was a dark carrier bag, possibly a marks and spencer one (when I then asked how they knew it was a credit voucher that went into the bag if they cannot see that level of detail they said "we just know what they look like").

 

I was told that a replacement is not possible - that in their terms and conditions it states that credit vouchers should be treated as cash, and that they are unable to trace the credit voucher from the transaction.

 

However, in my opinion they are not the same as cash for two major reasons: number one, if they had refunded me cash, and I had lost it, there would be no way to trace it. number 2, if it were cash I had lost, they would not be benefitting from my loss.

 

If this were a small amount of money, I would probably just let it go as lesson learned. However it was £90, and that is a lot of money to me (I know I should have been more careful, I realise that).

 

Obviously my number one concern is getting a replacement voucher, but also I would have thought that they would wish to prevent any person who may have found the credit voucher from using it (if they haven't already) I certainly would like to prevent that. My understanding is that for somebody to use the voucher it would be theft, and so presumably they would wish to find out if/when that transaction occurred?

 

I cannot believe that a huge company such as this, who use a barcoding system to track transactions are completely unable to link the credit voucher to the transactions. I would have thought in terms of an audit trail that would have been a basic requirement just from a HMRC point of view.

 

So I suppose my question is, do I have any avenues here, or do I need to suck it up and not waste my time?

 

Thanks

Edited January 21, 2015 by lelole
spelling mistake

[BankFodder]

I don't think you have any right here on afraid. You could simply try writing a polite letter to their customer service department and asked them whether it might be possible to block the lost voucher if it has some digital reference number and then to issue another one.

 

The answer is probably going to be no and if it is then I don't think that there is anything you can do.

[lelole]

Hi Bankfodder,

 

Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately that was the avenue I was trying to get them to go down, but they claim there is no way of linking the credit voucher to the receipt. I am really disappointed in them - this is, as far as I can see, a cynical ploy to increase profit, there is no reason why on presentation of the receipt that the credit voucher could not be tracked.

 

A last try via social media and then give up!

 

Leah

[MaxxPower]

The issue with that is that you could be anyone with a receipt you found on the street, or just got given by a friend. Just because you have that receipt there's no way to prove that you're the owner of that credit voucher, so they could end up invalidating it for the legitimate owner and then issuing someone else a voucher they're not entitled to.

[ericsbrother]

If you lost a fiver in the street would you expect the shop you intended to spend it at either give you goods to that value or refuse to accept five pound notes from other customers? Unlikely. Your expectations are far beyond what is feasable, especially as it is you who is at fault for not looking after it properly. The compamy has done a lot more than it needs to so saying that it is a cynicl ploy to profiteer is disingenuous.

[steampowered]

Personally I would be surprised if credit vouchers are linked to receipts. Vouchers are designed to be transferable to other people so that they can be used as gifts.

 

Also, receipts don't usually have a name on them. Sometimes you get a card receipt if you paid by card but that is usually kept/processed separately from the transaction receipt - the transaction receipt will go through the store's own system whereas the card payment will go through a third party payment processing system.

 

It is certainly worth writing a polite letter to see if you can get a goodwill gesture but I'm not sure you will get anything more than that.