Shop doesn't take its own vouchers

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A salutary lesson in connection with gift vouchers from a reader in Dublin. She bought a €50 gift voucher from Topshop in Blanchardstown just before Christmas as a birthday present for her 19-year-old sister and assumed that the they could be used in Topshop's retail outlet in Cork city where her sister lives.

It wasn't to be. When the sister went to use the voucher in Cork she was told that it didn't accept vouchers as the shop was a concession store within Debenhams and only Debenhams gift cards were acceptable.

"I gave my sister €50 and on my return to Dublin I went to Blanchardstown to return the voucher. The sales assistant went to speak to a manager and returned after about five minutes to say that they couldn't offer me a refund on the voucher and as I didn't have a receipt there was nothing they could do.

"I e-mailed the customer service department for Arcadia Group, the owners of Topshop on 30th December and received an automated reply to say I would receive a response to my query within 24 hours, but I haven't heard anything since."

We had a look at the terms and conditions on the vouchers in question and they do state that the card cannot be used in Topshop concessions in third-party department stores, although, to be fair to our reader, she could hardly have known that before she bought the vouchers. We also contacted the company to see if there was anything it could do for her but we're still waiting to hear back from them.

Tolled off

James McKenna got in touch in the wake of the recent price increases on some of the State's toll roads. The excuse given for the 10 cent price hike was the Vat increase of 0.5 per cent which was announced in the budget, but McKenna points out that the 0.5 per cent increase equates to less than 2 cent on the cost of the toll.

"No doubt the excuse for this increase is that the machines will not accept coins below 10 cent," he writes. "If Vat had come down, could we expect the toll to be reduced at the same rate (ie 10 cent for every 0.5 per cent decrease in the rate). It's very doubtful!"

All to pay for

Tony Dunne recently bought a €60 One4all gift voucher from An Post and was not pleased to be charged €2 in fees.

"Shortly afterwards I purchased €2,000 worth of gift vouchers in the Jervis Shopping Centre on behalf of my Social Club, and paid exactly that - €2,000! Why the €2 euro levy on only €60?"

We have dealt with this before and when we contacted An Post were told that it charged a fee because, unlike the specific shops for which the vouchers are valid, it makes no money from the end purchase, although we have also been told independently that retailers are also charged by An Post when the vouchers are cashed in.