to think it is just not safe to buy a shop gift voucher anymore?

[ToeCap]

With all the recent closures, the first thing the shops stop is honouring the gift vouchers.

Poor people losing their jobs though.

I think a safe bet is also John Lewis gift vouchers or some from the bigger supermarkets

I went into our local HMV this morning to collect something I had ordered in last week... the product has not arrived and the manager said the till would not allow him to refund it... only to give me 'store credit'.

I think I would take it and at least get something for my money, if I were you, Confused.

I stopped buying vouchers after the company I was a manager for ceased trading in the first wave of high street closures in 2008. The amount of abuse I received was unreal, including being spat at and having things thrown at me. I hope everyone can remember it's not the store staffs fault.
You can still get stopped for walking out with the stock too.

Sleepysand, the 'store credit' would go onto a gift card.... hence the apologetic look.

One thing this recent debacle might do for the high street is make people wary of paying for stuff online and awaiting delivery, and might even help some shops. I am far more careful now about who I will do business with. If I could go to a shop and pick something up there and then, I might pay more for it.

An area where the government might intervene to boost growth would be to offer online businesses a guarantee scheme that they pay into and guarantee consumer deliveries. I also think that a rethink on the traditional order of payout is worth thinking about. Currently the taxman comes first and then all the rest of the creditors together. I don't see why the taxman comes first, really, and I think there is a world of moral difference between a trade creditor who has done good, profitable business with HMV for years and is in a better position to judge credit-worthiness than Joe Public buying a gift voucher.

Muddling. If WHSmith goes where would we get our very expensive family planner calendar? name stamps are an excellent idea though.

I got my lovely extortionately priced Gruffalo family planner calendar from Waterstones. Or you could bankrupt yourself and get Organised Mum.

Sparklingbrook Tue 15-Jan-13 17:02:30

If WHSmith goes where would we get our very expensive family planner calendar? > name stamps are an excellent idea though.

YABU

Who knows what will happen in the future? You can't worry about every single possibility.

I suspect that that Boots with pharmacies will be ok, as there will always be ill people who need medicines, not sure about other branches though.

I wonder about WHSmith as well, although you've reminded me that I need to get a new family planner calendar for this year

I would much prefer to have the money. Someone bought me a £25 gift voucher for Debenhams. I looked on line and there was nothing I wanted for that price so I chose something that came to about £28. When I tried to check out I found that I could not use the token in part payment. In this way they force you to actually go to the shop which I really didn't want to do.

Yes, Amazon will extend the vouchers for you, even if they've already expired.

Yanbu. Not keen on vouchers at the best of times would rather have hard cash It would be better to buy something and give the recipient tge receipt so they can change it if the shop is still in business. Gift vouchers are often a bit of a cop out for the giver anyway, its better to choose a thoughtfully chosen present.

Those 1forall cards you buy at the post office expire, if you check the balance on line, then you have 1 year from the date of checking the card online. As I found out to my cost. £50 down the drain.......

I bought a lovely 5 column family calendar with a shopping list pad and post it notes attached for £1.99 in poundstretchers - just as good as last years expensive one from the calander stall. Still have the names to write on it though!

Lady Isabella, I got my overpriced (but I do love it) Gruffalo family planner from John Lewis. Then discovered Tesco doing them for £5 a week before christmas... so I bought one for my friend.

WHSmith keeps going because it's not just a retail store they are wholesalers too, they supply the papers and magazines to local paper shops and where I lived also to supermarkets. They used to have a warehouse behind my house when I was growing up.

I made my children use their whsmith vouchers yesterday.

my kids used their WH Smith ones just after christmas. They bought some Lego that had been reduced to around the same price they sell it for in other shops (always find WH Smith is overpriced)! They also spent the Waterstones ones they got the year before as we didnt want them to expire.

Is HMV going down?
The site's not up....
I never download music, I only buy tapes, CDs and LPs so I really value HMV.....granted I get a lot from charity shops but I have such nice memories of saving pocket money up and getting my CD from there once every few months....aw.

Are there sales on?

HMV is gone... not sure if there are sales. It is sad - I felt the same way about Woolworths.

It's definitely gone? no one's buying it?

oh no!

its not gone yet and they will still be looking for a buyer. The shops are still open

Possible they will get one, but they have been looking for a buyer for about 2 years. I don't think they would be allowed to take orders over the internet as they are insolvent. I wouldn't pay up front for anything.

Their MD a few years back dismissed music downloads as irrelevant. That ought to go down in history - clearly he was worth his salary.

Ahem .... It is interesting to note that some investors are selling short on Argos and WH Smith shares.