Afternoon tea booking dilemma - my mistake! :/

[PamplemousseRouge]

Hi everyone! :)

Just to give a bit of background about the situation, I bought a hotel afternoon tea for two voucher for a friend last Christmas.The idea was that I would go with her. (She's happy with this arrangement too btw ... or possibly just all too aware that I'm rather greedy with a raging sweet tooth! )

I think you all know where this is going, and I'm feeling so frustrated with myself!

I had a look at an online copy of my voucher last night to check its validity .... and it mentions that it expires six months after it's been bought. And I bought it last December..!

My plan is to phone the hotel as soon as possible to explain the situation. When I went onto their website last night, they mentioned that they could only extend expiry dates for vouchers in certain circumstances. I really do want to see what I can do, as it was meant to be a chance to really catch up and spoil ourselves a bit with a fancy afternoon tea. And I've cocked it up a bit..!

Mumsnet, please unleash all of your glorious wisdom, charm and failsafe negotiation skills to help! Do you think it's worth a try for me to give the hotel a ring?

PS this definitely won't happen again!! The lesson has been learnt..!

I would have thought if it were only a couple of weeks they may honour it, but 4 months!!

I agree with Somerville about the fancy IOUs.

And then ACTUALLY ORGANISE IT.

I organised posh dinner for my friend's birthday at the end of September (birthday was July).

Why don't you contact the hotel, explain that you had both been waiting until you moved to London. That you have now done so and, just ahead of your friend booking for November, you (the purchaser) just realised that the gift had only been valid for six months. Say you don't think your friend (the recipient) has even realised yet, and is there some way this can be extended/sorted out before you tell your friend.

It's the only way to find out.

I think they will honour it if you are really honest and charming when you ask them to. Own everything as your fault, make a huge song and dance about how grateful you will be if they will take the booking, offer to pay any difference in price etc and get the booking in now before their xmas rush.

I think your best line lies in the truth - i'm so sorry to bother you - bought voucher for friend blah blah blah - but i lost my job and was so busy trying to find a new one i didn't get a chance to book blah blah - i got a job last month and now i live in london i remembered your afternoon teas but when i dug out the voucher i noticed it had expired - i was going to throw it away but after spending so much money on it i wondered if there was a chance of still using it - i know it's possibly a long shot but i guess there is no harm in asking even if i have to pay extra now blah blah blah

Another negotiating tip is to imply that you value what they offer and are are very likely to use their services more in future. If you've just moved nearer to them, that is easy to suggest. Get them thinking you represent good business value in future. I once got my money back from a missed flight by implying that.

I am always doing this type of thing so much so I keep reminding myself not to get tempted. Hope they sort it for you xx

I think it's quite rubbish of any business to give such a short time frame on a voucher, tbh. I run a small business, and if I sell a voucher, I will honour it, regardless of age. Lets be frank, any loss in terms of it coming at a busy time etc is more than made up for by the people who never use them!

(In fact, we've stopped selling vouchers because we felt too many people were wasting their money - plus they're a PITA to run through our website for boring technical reasons - but will absolutely honour any still floating around.)

I used to work for a company who sold through Wowcher and Groupon and the like.

They sell vouchers at bargain prices and then make a profit because people forget to use them.

It's basically the whole business model. Shady as fuck.

Don't buy vouchers! Seriously.

Send your friend a nice card and write "voucher for....".

A just pay for it when you get there (and call ahead if you need to make a reservation, obviously).

Vouchers are just too much of a hassle, imo.

In Ireland there was new legislation brought in last year which made expiry dates on gift vouchers illegal, for just this reason. (Sorry OP, I know that's no help to you - but just saying, short expiry periods on vouchers are very unfair.)

I was just about to say I bet companies make a fortune from people who forget to cash in these vouchers.

Seriously, the uptake (this was photobooks at a tenner a pop) was about 20% of the vouchers sold.

It was very lucrative. I won't ever buy anything from those voucher sites now as I think the whole thing is morally corrupt.

I will buy things from these voucher sites, but only if I strongly believe that I will actually use the voucher.

I've got rather a lot of nice cocktails from one particular voucher which is put up fairly often (and the bar must be doing OK because they keep repeating the offer).

I also read the T&Cs to check if it "can only be used on a Tuesday during a full moon".