AIBU to expect to use two vouchers to pay art.co.uk?

[wherehavealltheflowersgone]

I was very generously given two gift vouchers for art.co.uk. Each one is worth £50.

I found a print I wanted worth £92, went to the online checkout, discovered it's only possible to pay with one voucher at a time.

Thinking this must be a mistake I had a LONG conversation with a customer services advisor who confirmed that in fact, i am not mistaken, I cannot pay with two gift vouchers for one purchase. She said I can only pay £50 with one of the vouchers and the balance on my debit card.

I asked if I can transfer the two vouchers for one worth £100 but she said no.

I spoke to the "manager" who said the same thing.

Shocking customer service and so frustrating - but what can I do now though? Any ideas / advice gratefully received

I had the same issue with Mothercare and one of those high street shopping gift cards. I found it a really frustrating experience.

What a ridiculous policy. It would put me off buying from them in the future. Fair enough if it was a discount voucher, but not gift vouchers, which should be treated the same as cash.

"Shocking customer service" is not just rudeness IMO, it's running an operation where "the computer says no" has more sway than common sense.

It is not shocking customer service to have clearly defined T&Cs as to gift voucher use and to refuse to change that because you don't agree with the policy.

When the computer says no, those of us at shopfloor level have very little ability to override that regardless of how nonsensical the rule is - and I am not risking my job by breaking the rules/policies just because you don't want to adhere to the T&Cs.

I work in supermarket customer services and sometimes people come to me with issues and whilst there may be a logical and/or straightforward solution (to their eyes) it is not something I am allowed to do through the store policies and/or the law. Ideally I try to do what I can to "circumvent" the rules in order to help the customers but even that has limits and there are some rules I cannot break no matter how much I want to because it just isn't possible.

EG if a customer comes into the store and wants to return an item that they bought from us online, technically it has to go back through the same online system they got it from in order to process a refund ... however, if it will scan in on our computer system then theoretically I can return it for store credit the same way any other receipt-less returns are processed and I am more than happy to "circumvent" the rules in that case.

However, if they make a return that was originally paid on a debit card then there is no way for me to authorise a cash refund ... even if the customer shows me the debit card (to prove they did buy it and it is theirs) but wants the money to use straight away on their shopping, I cannot authorise it no matter how much I want to.