Gift receipts

[dmo]

My DH got me some boots for christmas from primark (another story!!).
I hate christmas sales and all the crowds so we waited to go into town until sunday.
I had the receipt for £19 but the lady at the desk said as it was over the 28 days they could only exchange not give money back.
So i grab a handful of tights and back to the desk i go
And was told i would only be given a exchange for £10 now as the boots instore are £10 in the sale and as the purchase took place 28 days ago that was all they could do.
My DH explained they were a gift to which she said you should have asked for a gift receipt then if you had you could have got the £19 back!!!!!

How the heck are you meant to know this??? No signs anywhere to explain about gift receipts

Im afraid this is the same in all stores. Its pretty much common knowledge about the gift receipts, though I cant imagine my dh would have known about it! Ive been stung on this before, its just one of those things, after all the shop cant just take your word that you paid £19 when you could have bought them for £10 the day before. Sorry, I know this doesnt help much.

Oops sorry, just seen that you had the receipt for £19. Would have thought you would get full value back for them in that case. I think you should have asked for the manager, imo you would only be given the lower sale price if you didnt have a receipt

YABU. That is the whole point of gift receipts, that they enable you to get a refund for the full price paid pre sale, they are valid for longer than a regular receipt and the recipient doesn't know how much was paid unless they need to change the gift.

They have been around for several years now across many many retailers, not a new concept at all.

YANBU to be pissed off, I would be too, but unfortunately Primark is within its rights here. They're not actually obliged to refund or exchange at all unless the goods are faulty, some shops do out of goodwill, but Primark isn't one of them.

So you had a normal receipt for 19 pound?

Over 28 days?

Not a gift receipt?

I think Primark are within their rights here BUT at the point of sale, the assistant could have asked your DP whether he wanted a gift receipt. All the shops I went in during December asked me....

What date were the boots bought?

Where I work, if the customer has the receipt but it's over the 28 days we will exchange for the amount that was paid. To a certain extent. If it's more than 3 weeks we usually say no, as the system can't usually find the transaction.

Yes had normal receipt for £19 but it was over 28 days and no it was not a gift receipt
I know they are right just gutted to lose £9

I have worked in retail for ten years and never heard anything like that. I would be

Exch over 28 days with receipt- normal

Exch without receipt over 28 days for current selling price - normal

Exch with rec over 28 days, if they agreed to an exch then they have to give you the exch value of what you paid. As far as I'm aware.

Exch and refunds are discretionary if item is not faulty.

But if they agreed to An exch you should have been able to exch for the price you paid. They can't just keep some of the money as its in the sale now

You had a receipt. It doesn't matter what type of receipt it was

Dh got boots December 10th

You were only 2 days over.

I would get in touch with the store manager

You could point out that there were days in that period where many shops, Primarni included IIRC weren't undertaking exchanges at all. In most cases is was the 2 days after Christmas. Plus Christmas days the shop was shut.

I'm in retail and would have used my discretion given the circumstances. Try appealing to the manager.

They cannot pocket £9 of the money you paid.

Regardless of whether it was over 28 days.

You had a receipt.

Complain. I would have asked to speak to a manager there and then.

I thought the whole point of a gift receipt was for someone to be able to return an item that had been bought for them for the full price, but that unless they needed to do this they wouldn't know what you'd paid, as the gift receipt doesn't have the price on it. If I'm buying presents for my nearest and dearest, I wouldn't ask for a gift receipt, as I would be doing the returning. If you have the original receipt, they should reimburse what you paid, not what the price is today. That's what they do if you don't have a receipt, and they'd refund as a gift voucher what you'd pay in store that day.

They don't have to give you anything at all legally unless they were a faulty item. I know it is frustrating but I guess you have to just suck it up. Be grateful you got an exchange.

Over the Christmas period, stores that are offering gift receipts should ask you at point of sale if you want one. Speak to the store manager and if that doesn't work, write to head office. Tell them that unless it's resolved favourably you will not shop there again and you will tell everyone you know about your experience, and ask them if £9 is really worth more to the store than a potential lifetime of goodwill from you as a customer.

I will tell them i will write about them on mumsnet that should get my £9 back

Normally I would say YABU but I bought my mum a pyjama set from Primark for christmas (she specifically aske for it!) and I asked for a gift receipt. The supervisor told me that I didn't need one since they would be able to see from the receipt that I bought it near to christmas. I bought the pyajams in November.

They're obviously not consistent in their policy.

I've never heard of gift receipts, and never been offered one.

I thought that primark had a sign up saying they were extending their refund/exchange times over Xmas when I went in Nov

I'd write and complain, and see what happens.