Afternoon tea booking dilemma - my mistake! :/

[PamplemousseRouge]

Hi everyone! :)

Just to give a bit of background about the situation, I bought a hotel afternoon tea for two voucher for a friend last Christmas.The idea was that I would go with her. (She's happy with this arrangement too btw ... or possibly just all too aware that I'm rather greedy with a raging sweet tooth! )

I think you all know where this is going, and I'm feeling so frustrated with myself!

I had a look at an online copy of my voucher last night to check its validity .... and it mentions that it expires six months after it's been bought. And I bought it last December..!

My plan is to phone the hotel as soon as possible to explain the situation. When I went onto their website last night, they mentioned that they could only extend expiry dates for vouchers in certain circumstances. I really do want to see what I can do, as it was meant to be a chance to really catch up and spoil ourselves a bit with a fancy afternoon tea. And I've cocked it up a bit..!

Mumsnet, please unleash all of your glorious wisdom, charm and failsafe negotiation skills to help! Do you think it's worth a try for me to give the hotel a ring?

PS this definitely won't happen again!! The lesson has been learnt..!

[OlennasWimple]

Of course it's worth a try! Is there any genuine reason you can give why you didn't use it within the six months? (New baby, illness, house move...?)

[Candlelight123]

I guess it will be hard to persuade the hotel to extend their deadline, it's there for a reason.
Did you give her the voucher last Christmas or did you keep it but forget to book it??
If you kept it (not sure why you would do this if it's a gift for your friend) I think it's your fault and you need to replace at your own cost, if you handed it over to your friend then no action required by you, she forgot to book it, or has been without you.

[NightNightBadger19962]

Offer to pay any top up if the prices have increased? I should think they will honour it.

[Boolovessulley]

Yes id offer to pay extra to extend it.

[someonestolemynick]

It can't hurt to ask but remember that any concession they make is them doing you a favour and they are perfectly within their rights to say "no".

I would go in (I find it easier to do face to face).
One negotiation trick that I found surprisingly effective is apologise for something at the beginning of the conversation. Doesn't matter for what. But it makes ppl feel good about themselves and puts them in the mood to help you.so maybe open with "I'm so sorry to bother you..."
And then you just need to hope for the best. I'd explain the situation and ask if there's anything they can do at the very least they may give you a discount on a new booking.

[WaxingNinja]

Did you actually give the voucher to your friend?

If not, why has it taken you 10 months to get round to arranging it?

Fwiw I honour vouchers when they've expired, but not just before Christmas or during any of my busy times. Basically I tell my client a couple of dates they can use it and if those dates are no good then it's tough shit.

[Floggingmolly]

Did you actually give it to your friend last Christmas, or buy it last year for this years present?
If she's actually been sitting on it for a year it's not actually your "mistake", is it? maybe she's already used it??

[ThisIsStartingToBoreMe]

I'm also intrigued as to how come you brought it for your friend but its in your possession?

[Trills]

If you gave the voucher to your friend last Christmas and she's not used it and not read the smallprint, then isn't it at least partially her problem to sort out?

[Trills]

I think you'll have to LIE.

"Didn't realise it expired and haven't got around to it" isn't going to cut it.

[notapizzaeater]

I'd throw myself on their mercy - if it's a groupon one as far as I know they can't get the money back from them after expiry date (lesson learned the hard way)

[AnchorDownDeepBreath]

I don't think they'll be keen to extend it. It's valid for 6 months from Christmas to help fill their quiet time.

That said, call and be honest, offer to pay any difference in cost, and maybe they'll reward you for your honesty and interest.

[PamplemousseRouge]

Thank you everyone for your help so far! :)

The afternoon tea is in London, where my friend lives. I've just moved to London, although my friend's been living there for a couple of years now.

Since around spring this year, I've been focussing on applying for new jobs, which I found very time consuming, and I wasn't based in London at the time as well.

I've been in a new job since September, but haven't been able to find time for much free time yet as I've found it so hectic so far. In all honesty, I've been rather disorganised! I've just had a break though, where I've really tried to focus on getting more organised and on top of things cough admin cough.

Waxy and Flogging the present was for Christmas 2015. My friend has a copy of the voucher in a gift box that I gave to her as her actual present (wrapped up) last Christmas.

[BewtySkoolDropowt]

I was coming to say the same thing - if it was bought from an offer website then too bad, the hotel won't be able to claim their money so you are out of luck.

If bought from the hotel direct then you have a chance.

[WaxingNinja]

Then your friend may have already used it.

[ThisIsStartingToBoreMe]

Surely it's your friends responsibility to do this? As she didn't, I'd take it as a sign that afternoon tea isn't her thing to be honest.

[Flisspaps]

Then it's up to your friend to redeem the voucher. I've bought DH a couple of vouchers and it's been up to him to organise the actual event. Same with a voucher DSis bought my DD for her birthday - it's up to me to arrange the actual date, not DSis.

[RebootYourEngine]

Why are you looking at the expiry date and contacting the hotel? Its your friends voucher to do what she wants with.

[PamplemousseRouge]

Bewty yep, I bought the voucher directly from the hotel.

ThisIs we've had afternoon teas exchanged as presents before, which we've both enjoyed. We both enjoy going out to restaurants, and especially as we haven't been living in the same town, I think we've both valued the catch-up time that we can have when we're on an 'experience day' together.

[dotdotdotmustdash]

My DB bought my parents a 2-night break through a voucher site, but it was advertised and bought in September and given at Christmas. In February they looked at booking it, but it had to be used by Mid-March and booked 6 weeks in advance. They got nowhere with enquiries. Money wasted.

[birdsdestiny]

OP did you definitely have a conversation with your friend about you going with her. I bought a similar gift for my friend, in my head I thought we might go together. She took her partner . But I gave her the voucher as a gift and she organised the rest. Were you really clear that it was for the two of you.

[PamplemousseRouge]

Reboot (and to the other posters who have mentioned that my friend should have arranged the tea), I realise that I should have talked it through with her to confirm which one of us was going to arrange booking the tea - it was my mistake!

The last afternoon tea that we had (also a Christmas present from me to her) had an expiry date of 12 months after the voucher was bought. I assumed (which I shouldn't have!) that this voucher would have a similar expiry date :(

[PamplemousseRouge]

birds I was fairly clear, I think. She actually bought me a similar 'experience' last Christmas (also to be used this year), with the idea being that she would go with me and another friend of ours. Incidentally, we haven't done this experience yet either, although the expiry date leaves us (I've made sure to check this time!) with a bit more time to book it. All three of us have recently been in touch to discuss this other experience, even if we haven't booked it yet!

[Somerville]

You and your friend need to stop buying vouchers for experiences and instead write out fancy IOU's for each other.

[RebootYourEngine]

Theres a lesson to be learnt here. Stop wasting money on vouchers that you dont use.