to think that Sodexo can't just go off with over £2000 of our money?

[OhBuggerandArse]

I'd really appreciate some help from anyone who's got any ideas of how to handle this situation.

We have been signed up to the Sodexo childcare voucher scheme through my and my husband's work, and have been paying in for around seven years. We had a significant balance (over £2,000) which we hadn't been able to use while we had changed our childcare arrangements, and had set it aside to pay for after school care for the next couple of years. Neither of us had realised or read in the small print that the vouchers can expire, and only found out when we logged in to make this term's payment and discovered that the money had just vanished from our account.

I got in touch straight away, and was advised to send in a letter explaining what had happened, and that we hadn't been aware of the expiration policy - apparently vouchers can be restored. We've just had the response - a flat refusal, with no details or explanation at all, and that's that. Money vanished. No explanation of where it's vanished to, or how they distinguish between the money we contributed and the proportion that comes from tax. Presumably the company have just got the cash themselves.

What next? I can't see any way in which this can be legitimate - I do get that it's a tax scheme not a bank account, but surely it's not acceptable practice just to absorb money like this without providing any notice? And is there any way I can try again to get them to reconsider?

Would be really grateful for any suggestions anyone might have. (Posting in Money Matters too, but the thread is here for the utter outrage and upset and worry that I feel!)

Thank you very much, everyone, esp for the links to Code of Practice and the Ian McMath. Will keep trying - have had response back on Twitter but from jolly PR person not anyone who can make any decisions...

They can't simply expect to be able to steal £2k from you out of the blue, whatever their T&C say.

Certainly tell your employer and get them to change providers.

And raise on hell of a stink any which way you can, until they deal with you fairly.

Are your company a large employer? Might you have some leverage getting your HR department involved and asking them to review their use of this voucher supplier? They might be more willing to refund if there's a risk they'll lose business.

Our company are a massive employer, but have, alas, already switched prividers so there's no potential leverage there!

Hi - we were with them through a previous employer. The vouchers last 18 months and they sent us an email when they were due to expire. All we had to do is call or email them and they simply reissued them for another 18 months. They were electronic vouchers and this was 2010-11.

I would still get your HR dept on board, even though you are changed provider. They might be able to plead your case for you too.

Can you clarify who the provider is as I assume it isn't Sodexo themselves? They are an FM company rather than a financial services company aren't they? If so, you might want to be careful what you say with their name attached, especially on social media and are still employed by them! This is nothing to do with them, your dispute is with the provider.

As others have said, you signed up to the terms and conditions. Is that term an unfair one? Bit of a grey area that one. The point with PPI is totally different and not really relevant. All you needed to do was tell them you wanted them kept, so not exactly onerous. I imagine they'd argue that they shouldn't have to keep hold of them forever.

Hi BoyScout, that's very interesting that you did get an email saying they were due to expire, because that suggests that they have notified users in the past about the status of their individual accounts, and we certainly didn't get any warning at all. You'd think something like that would be standard practice for all customers, wouldn't you?

Cake, I'm not sure I understand what you're getting at - the childcare voucher website says Sodexo, all their email addresses say Sodexo, in what way would Sodexo not be the provider?

And of course it wouldn't have been onerous to tell them we wanted the vouchers kept - but we never knew that they wouldn't be, and were given no notification that they were going to expire. I wouldn't expect my bank, or any other financial institution I'm involved with, to make a major change to my financial arrangements (or a major deduction from my account) without telling me - why would I have anticipated that Sodexo would?

I'm confused (easily done ) You said that the provider had been changed. Are you saying that there isn't a third party provider contracted with Sodexo to provide a childcare voucher service? I have no experience with Sodexo, but do with one of their competitors, who use a third party provider.

I do sympathise, but this isn't like a bank account. You bought vouchers, even high street ones have an expiry date. They might have emailed and it went into your junk folder or got lost in cyberspace or any number of reasons. I think you have to accept that you were in the wrong by not reading the terms and conditions and appeal to their better nature (fingers crossed that they have one). I certainly wouldn't be going in all guns blazing and criticising my employer in a very public way.

Cross posted with you quietbatperson. I thought the op worked for them. I know of Sodexo as a major FM provider (catering, security etc.), certainly not a financial services company. Apologies for getting the wrong end of the stick.

Yes, we got an email, I think it was possibly automatically generated but definitely got one. And renewing them was no problem, they just did it.

I'd have thought you should have be notified of their upcoming expiration for this to be fair.

If my vouchers expired I'd expect that meant I'd be refunded the money with the tax & NI deducted. I certainly wouldn't think that meant the provider just kept the money. Are you sure they've kept it and not refunded it?

I wouldn't let that go without a fight.

This document says "Can the vouchers go out of date?
Yes – vouchers are valid for 15-18 months. However,
Sodexo will generally replace any childcare vouchers up
to 18 months after their expiry date if you write to their
finance department."

I suspect the fact that your company have stopped using them is why they are being difficult. The admin on managing accounts with a balance when they've stopped getting the admin fee would mean they would be quit strict about closing down accounts when they've become dormant.

Sorry no advice unfortunately apart from trying to cause enough of a stink they will consider refunding.

"Can the vouchers go out of date?

Yes, however, Sodexho Pass undertakes to replace any Childcarepass voucher for up to 18 months after the printed expiry date." Another site

OMG. We also have Sodexo. I am aware of expiry, but have been worrying about how it works - we are not paying in but are actively using the vouchers, however it's going to take forever to get through the balance using after school clubs once every few weeks. I've been wondering whether the vouchers expire bit by bit (i.e. if we paid £243 in 18 months ago and £243 17 months ago, and use £9.50 this month, do they expire 233.50?) The one thing I had certainly assumed was that they would contact me when it was expiring!

For what it's worth I have an extremely large employer who really should be making sure things are above board.

What would be the purpose of the vouchers expiring other than nicking people's cash by stealth?

I had childcare vouchers for years and they definitely didn't expire

Just to give you a bit of hope......we had a similar problem in the summer. Started with paper vouchers when we originally joined the scheme but switched to electronic as it seemed easier. Never notified of any expiry dates to the electronic vouchers which was one of the benefits that instigated us changing. DS left private nursery Jan 2013 with a substantial amount still in the account. Used minimal amounts for a period then nothing for a number of months.
Logged in to the account this summer to pay for a summer club and the account was empty! Sodexo said the vouchers had expired. I said that wasn't aceptable - we had received no notification of the expiry and I explained that any expiry had never been communicated to us. They promised to investigate and less than 1 week later confirmed that the vouchers would be reinstated 'on this occasion'. I thought it was around £500. It was actually £1648!!!!
So keep perusing them and good luck. I found them difficult to get hold of, even by email but once we had started a communication, they were pretty good at keeping me updated through the process.

That's hugely helpful to hear, Prosecco - that sounds exactly like what happened with us. Except that we're a month into the investigation process, and got an email this morning that just said it wasn't their policy to refund so they weren't going to. How can they be so inconsistent?

That seems very unfair! As you say, how can they be so inconsistent? Clearly they can refund if they wish to do so. Your case sounds virtually identical to mine. I am very cross on your behalf