One-for-all b*starding gift cards!

[PMcGintysGoat]

Am I the only one who hates these?

Unless I'm missing something you're basically committed to using them in a shop because they're useless online. And at the moment it's not possible to go to the sort of shops you'd want to spend it in.

You can only spend the exact amount or less - you can't use it as part payment. So if you have a £15 card you need to spend not more than £15 in one transaction. Which is fine unless there's a minimum order for free delivery and you want to order more things from that supplier anyway.

If you have a higher value one you end up losing some of it because if you want to buy something for £45 and the voucher is for £50 that leaves you with £5 that must be used in a single transaction I.e. useless. But if there was something you liked for £6 that's no use either because that takes you over the total amount and you can't use in part payment.

I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but I've been trying to spend the bloody things for an hour now without success. If you don't use within 18 months they start charging you every month.

Are there any tricks to using these? I tried to buy an M&S voucher with it but that didn't work either.

We had these for Christmas too. If you have any gamers in the house, you can use them to buy Xbox gift cards which handily come in £10, £20, £30 etc.

We got one of these last year. We used it to buy the NYE meal deal and some other bits and definitely used it as part payment, so that seems easiest to me. Use it for food from M&S and use the money saved to buy anything from anywhere else.

Yes, I work at boots and you can use as part payment as long as you know exactly how much is on the card it needs to be input first. But I hate whenever someone wants to use it, they never swipe first time and nobody ever knows how much is on the thing.

Completely agree. The best you can do with them is to spend it on food in M&S now

How did you manage to get M&S evouchers with them OP? I am have two of the blasted things gathering dust.

Does anyone know if you can buy John Lewis vouchers with them. I got one from work and don't want to waste it but the chances of buying something from the Estee lauder counter for the exact amount is slim!

You’re not alone OP. I detest them passionately. Their entire business model is based on people not being able to use the full value (you almost always get left with odd amounts like 6.97 etc which are unusable in a shop) which the company claims at the expiry date. I’ve had dozens of these over the years due to getting them from work (and my mum loves to give them as presents although cash would be better) and have probably sacrificed close to 100 quid due to not using the full balance or forgetting about them and not using them in time.

In a nutshell - to anyone thinking if giving them as a present - don’t!!

Cynical me wonders perhaps they are designed to be so useless that you give up trying to use them, they end up in a drawer unused and the company pockets the cash.

Not cynical at all. This is EXACTLY how they make their money.

I tried to use several in Curry's a couple of years ago - Curry's will only let you use three payment sources so that was a pain.

@PMcGintysGoat

osta I have just discovered I can buy M&S e-vouchers with them, I'm betting you'll be able to do this in Argos - worth a try. Still a pain in the balls though.

Can you share how please? This would really help me out! Many thanks

Are these the post office ones? If so, I've just bought a close friend £130 worth for Xmas!

I had no idea about the issues, until reading this thread and I'm wondering (if he's not used them yet!) if I could get a refund.

I feel bad giving it now!

I got one of these from work £50 for Christmas. I was trying to see where I could spend it online and was failing as I wanted to use it in part payment and at Go Outdoors which doesn't seem to on the list anymore. Not keen on vouchers anyway or visiting shops in person at the moment.

Here is some info from John Lewis which might help someone, I have £100 so its helped me 😡

www.johnlewis.com/customer-services/faq/How-do-I-pay-for-my-order-190619468915198

*You can use a One4all in any of our John Lewis & Partners shops and also on JohnLewis.com. There is a limit of £40 per transaction if using a One4all Gift Card online.

If using the One4all online:

Please enter the details for the One4all card in the payment section as a credit card. Enter the 16 digit number on the front of the card in the card number box, the valid thru date on the front of the card in the expiry date box, use your name for Name on the Card and the CVV2 number is behind the silver panel on the back of the card.

It is not possible to pay using a One4all card and another payment card for the same order. One4all Gift Card can be used in conjunction with account credit, John Lewis gift vouchers, and gift cards.

barbara my thing about not being able to use as part payment refers to online, which in our area all non-essential shopping is at the moment.

To get the M&S vouchers I went onto the M&S website, put gift voucher into the search box, and chose an electronic/email voucher. Then you select the amount - which I made the same as the one-for-all balance. Then you checkout and enter the one-for-all details as if it's a credit card.

About an hour later an email came from M&S with the voucher on it. I'm not sure how many I can use at once, but I have a better chance of spending them now that I can use as part payment for M&S online.

You can do part payment but not online. I work in a shop and fucking hate them because you have to know the amount on them down to the penny.

What you have to do is process it as split payment and use the gift card as a preloaded debit card. So swipe the card and then instead of allowing the full total to debit, you have to type in the exact amount on the card.

Let it go through then put the rest on a normal card or as cash.

You’re not alone OP. I detest them passionately. Their entire business model is based on people not being able to use the full value (you almost always get left with odd amounts like 6.97 etc which are unusable in a shop)

@Blogdog you can use it as long as you know what's on it. A lot of shops don't know how but you can. All the cashier has to do is use it as a debit card and instead of pressing ok/full amount they type in the amount on the card like they would if you were doing part card and part cash.

@nothingcanhurtmewithmyeyesshut You’re right but my experience has been the shops are unhelpful and for small amounts

All the cashier has to do is use it as a debit card and instead of pressing ok/full amount they type in the amount on the card like they would if you were doing part card and part cash.

It's still a pain though, especially if you've been using it in different shops that day.

I got one last year, spent 15 minutes trying to spend it in Fatface as the person in the shop didn't know how to use it, then by the time I got to the third shop I was trying to work out how much would be left on it with a queue of people behind me.

Ive resorted to writing the amount on the back with a sharpie but that only works until you've used it once.

I get the point of a voucher for a specified shop, you're kind of saying 'i didn't know what book you'd like so I got you a voucher to choose your own' or 'I wanted to get you a nice M&S cardigan but didn't know your size - here's a voucher' but I don't see why you would give someone what is essentially a pre-loaded credit card instead of cash or a bank transfer?

We just use them to pay for meals out. DH gets one as a Christmas bonus each year and we use them to eat out at Miller and Carter, Harvester and the pub grub place down the road from DD when we visit her at uni.

When they are open of course.

I got one as a leaving present and it was a major cause of stress.

Many of the restaurants were closing down or nowhere near me and they couldn't be used online as part payment.

I successfully spent exactly £30 on boots.com because they don't charge for sending to store.

In shops I think it depends on the cashier - some have managed part payment on one one4all plus debit card, one even managed to let me pay in a mixture of cash, one4all and gift card. Online is a different matter though.

I think businesses buy the more in bulk at a cheaper rate than the face value - that's why lots are given as bonuses and Xmas gifts.

I've used them as part payment in shops loads of times?

I've bought £100s worth of these from my children over the years, because it's easier for me to bugger around in shops than it is for them. They're an absolute swizz, and we all hate them!

Wish I'd known about the M&S e-voucher thing, it would have made life much easier.

tenyears but not online, which in our area is the only sort of non-essential shopping available.