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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

My friend kept dds money and used Tesco vouchers

791 replies

jammyjamjam · 03/09/2014 12:24

Hi, ds had inservice yesterday and a friend (a mum from school) offered to take her, her own dd and 2 others to an amusement park, entry fee was 25 pounds. When ds got back in the afternoon, we chatted about the day and it turns out the mum paid for my dd and the 2 other children with Tesco vouchers, ie, she had redeemed her Tesco points to pay for the 4 dcs and then kept 75 pounds form my dd and the 2 other dc. Surely she could have told us that this place took in Tesco vouchers and I could have used my own points and saved the money? I'm grateful that she took dd but surely she should have been upfront about her intention of using vouchers....AIBU?

OP posts:
ChickenFajitaAndNachos · 03/09/2014 17:33

Some people priorotise a basket full of bread and milk and other essentials over a pizza from prezzo or whatever Boutt.

MissBattleaxe · 03/09/2014 17:35

I would be thrilled if someone took my DC to a theme park for the day and I wouldn't have cared about whether it was vouchers or not. YABU.

Celticlass2 · 03/09/2014 17:36

Yep Boutt I only use my vouchers when the are x 3 or 4 in value. We normally use them for meals out but traded up some earlier in the year to get tickets for a west end show at ChristmasSmile
Hoping to get around £50 worth when the next lot come in November. Would never use them instore for shopping.
OP, yabu and ungrateful as well.

whatever5 · 03/09/2014 17:39

True, but asking Tesco to reduce the price instead of giving me the vouchers isn't really an option. The choice is Tesco and it's points or somewhere else, no points and possibly paying more.

The fact that you can't ask them to reduce the price instead of having vouchers is irrelevant. If supermarkets didn't have points schemes then the food would be cheaper so in effect we are paying more to have vouchers as well as food etc.

VivaLeBeaver · 03/09/2014 17:39

I wouldn't have done it. When I took my friend and her kids with me somewhere that did Tesco vouchers I paid for us all to get in using my vouchers and wouldn't take money for it. Though they were about to run out!

However you were prepared to pay £x for your ds to go out for the day and it hasn't cost you any more. Tis woman looked after your ds for you for nothing as a favour. How much would a childminder have cost? I think you have to suck it up.

She used her vouchers, if she hadn't she could have kept the vouchers and then used them for 4x the price in pizza express or odeon, etc. so she is down that amount in vouchers.

VivaLeBeaver · 03/09/2014 17:41

And I wouldn't value £6.25 of vouchers as £6.25. I'd value them as 4x that much which is how they're converted into days out vouchers, etc.

DayLillie · 03/09/2014 17:43

This is skanky.

Ask for the bottle of wine back. Wink

pippop1 · 03/09/2014 17:49

Whatever the details, the friend hasn't been honest and open about the cost. I'd feel cheated if it was me.

RJnomore · 03/09/2014 17:56

I see no problem with this.

Your friend supplied something which as a value of £25. You gave her £25. Fair do.

She could have chosen to keep the clubcard points and not take your child, or to use the cash to pay for your child's entry.

She has lost £25 value of entrance to something, which is the exact same value as the cash you paid her. It's wrong to say the clubcard points are worth £6.25, as actually they are worth £25 when used for this.

She may have been a bit short for cash this month but had the vouchers and wanted to take the children, and used the cash for h shopping. You got what you paid for. End of story.

If you wanted to use your own clubcard vouchers, you could have researched it yourself and found out about it, as she obviously did.

RJnomore · 03/09/2014 17:58

Again I repeat - she isn't getting in cheaper. She used up £25 value which she could have used on something else instead. The only difference is which pieces of paper she used for entry - ones with tesco logo or ones with the queens head on. In this instance the value of both was identical.

Notagainmun · 03/09/2014 18:02

I don't see it as a problem myself. You have still got your vouchers to spend as you like.

SirChenjin · 03/09/2014 18:04

No, that's not on. She's kept quiet about it (which means she probably had a good idea that it wasn't on...) and she's pocketed the difference. Yeah, she did you a favour etc tec - but I bet you've probably all done her favours at some point.

She should have been open and honest about her plans - I know I would have been.

whatever5 · 03/09/2014 18:07

Why would she need to discuss her plans with OP? The OP wasn't effected by whether or not her friend used Tesco vouchers so it isn't really any of her business.

SirChenjin · 03/09/2014 18:10

Because when money and friendships are involved you are always better to be up front.

whatever5 · 03/09/2014 18:16

Because when money and friendships are involved you are always better to be upfront

That should only apply if what you're doing effects the friend.

ashtrayheart · 03/09/2014 18:19

I think the friend should have said upfront, I am using tesco vouchers for tickets, did you want to get one with yours for your dd or give me £25 and I will use one of my vouchers - I did think £25 was cheeky but I have changed my mind when looking at it from what the £6.25 voucher has the potential to buy viewpoint.

GhoulWithADragonTattoo · 03/09/2014 18:22

I think the point is that if you want to spend the on fairly specific things like days out then they might be more. But the cash value is £6.25. That is what you'd get off in the shop. The friend has taken OP's cash so the correct cash equivalent is £6.25.

BOFster · 03/09/2014 18:22

My head is exploding with all this. I think I need a lie-down Grin

SirChenjin · 03/09/2014 18:24

No - it should apply in all cases where money is involved between friends. The friend should have either have told the OP of her plans, or she should have used the vouchers for her own children and paid for the others using the cash with which she had been provided. It was not up to her to unilaterally decide that using this money did or did not affect the OP.

whatever5 · 03/09/2014 18:32

I think the point is that if you want to spend the on fairly specific things like days out then they might be more. But the cash value is £6.25. That is what you'd get off in the shop. The friend has taken OP's cash so the correct cash equivalent is £6.25.

Why would the amount you get off in the shop = the value of the voucher? Anyway £6.25 in vouchers is £15 off in the shop at the moment.

revealall · 03/09/2014 18:34

Very wrong in my book. She earned £6.25. That's what she would have to spend in store. The fact is she can purchase the theme park tickets for that amount. So she shouldn't be pocketing the difference.

I also think the theatre voucher scenario is all wrong. Personally when we get vouchers or tokens we just split the new subsided total. They are friends why wouldn't you?

whatever5 · 03/09/2014 18:34

No - it should apply in all cases where money is involved between friends.

It didn't involve the OP though. She was not effected by whether her friend did or didn't use Tesco voucher.

SirChenjin · 03/09/2014 18:36

Even if that means £15 off in the shops at the moment she has still benefited financially from this. The money was provided to pay for the entry fee at the gate - it was not provided for vouchers. The friend has benefited under false pretences - as I said, she should have used the vouchers for her own children and used the cash for the children she was taking. Then there would have been no ambiguity.

EmeraldLion · 03/09/2014 18:38

I can't get over how some people use Tesco points. What a waste. I would never in a million years spend them in Tesco at 1x value

Definitely agree with this...it's a huge waste IMO.

Even if you don't want to use them for meals or days out at 4 x the value, could can sell them on Ebay for roughly double their face value!

Also for anyone that doesn't shop at Tesco and accrue these vouchers, keep Ebay in mind for buying them. I buy Tesco vouchers all the time when i've used all my own. A recent example was a day out at Oakwood Park - usual entry is £23 pp, or £5.50 in clubcard vouchers. There were 6 of us going and I bought £35 of Tesco vouchers on EBay for £62, which converted to 6 entry tickets.

So we all got in for £62...had we paid at the gate it would have been £140 ish. Massive saving :)

KirstyJC · 03/09/2014 18:41

She is wrong and it is really sneaky and underhand.

But how about you forget all about it and take her and the children out for a meal or theatre trip to reciprocate? You would obviously need to charge her full price and watch her face when you pay in Tesco vouchers after stuffing her cash in your wallet! It's not like she can complain after all.....