Aibu to think Dunelm are unreasonable?

[LadyGodHelpUs]

On Saturday I bought £217 worth of stuff from Dunelm. I paid £40 using a gift card given to me as a Christmas present. The rest I paid by card.

Today I returned £97 worth of things. They insisted that £40 had to go back on the gift card.

I wasn’t made aware of this or I would have carried out separate transactions. I didn’t sign anything and it didn’t mention this on the back of the receipt where it said refunds would be no problem within the set time period.

AIBU that this is unfair practice?

Why are people finding that so difficult to understand?

I think it's because that's not what happened.

It's very clear that's the outcome she wanted, though. It was assumed throughout that the gift card wouldn't re-enter the picture once it had been used, which was incorrect.

I understand exactly why this is shitty of Dunelm, but it's their policy as to how they refund people and so they can do whatever they like. There is no legal right to a refund at all when buying goods in person, and if a refund is offered, the retailer gets to decide how to give the money back. They can offer the entire balance as store credit if they want to.

Told ya so 😂😂

goes and sits quietly in a corner with a D hat on

There is a right if the terms of sale include something telling you you can return, which OP says Dunelm had. This isn’t a matter of them doing her a favour by allowing her to return and so her needing to be happy with whatever they are prepared to do. She bought with the expectation she could return because they enticed her to buy with the promise she could do so.

At issue is the wording about any refund going to the original payment method and whether, with mixed payment, such a statement should allow the customer to choose, or not. Which sounds like a question for a court, not something a bunch of people on the Internet can reasonably pass judgement on.

yanbu, I’m peed off with them too.

Bought curtains online at the weekend (free postage), then literally 5 mins later found there were matching cushions available. Went to buy a cushion too and postage was £5. Bought the cushion, but contacted customer services to ask if postage could be combined / I could get a £5 refund. Nope. So I asked to cancel both transactions, with the intention to re-purchase them in a single transaction and save on postage. Nope, couldn't do that either. Even though it was 10am, and I’d bought them at 10pm the night before, nothing dispatched or anything yet. Most unhelpful. Robbed me of £5 basically. Annoyed to say the least!!

Anyway, rant over. Ynbu!

Standard practice, you pay with a gift card you’ll be refunded on a gift card. The Ts and Cs of the gift card will have mentioned ‘No cash alternative’. The fact they refunded you anything at all is only down to their company policy. As far as law goes, they have to stick to their policy, but their policy could’ve been no refunds and no exchanges. Only exception is faulty goods or goods not fit for purpose. ‘I’ve changed my mind’ can legally be met with ‘sorry no refunds no exchange’ if they had a no refund policy, which many places have.

If you’ve ordered online you have 14 days to return for a refund. It’s classed as sold unseen and trading laws state you have 14 days to return items sold unseen (online).

Thanks. I don’t think that applies to postage though? I do actually want the curtains and cushion, I just resent paying the extra postage, even though they will be arriving simultaneously with the same courier.

Yeah it probably won’t refund your postage tbf, just the items.

So much lack of understanding here!

I worked in retail for 10 years in 5 different chains.

Every single one would have refunded the original payment method and treated the credit card as first refund. Gift card would have only happened if the refund was large enough to have HAD to include that as payment.

As a consumer I've also had this experience. TK Maxx and Debenhams both used my card before gift card for refund.

And on another recent point - if you return an online order IN FULL you can also get the cost of postage refunded. They may however charge you to send it back.

I don't think Dunelm or the OP were being unreasonable really.
OP had an expectation about how things would work but didn't check.
Dunelm did what they do.
There are ways around the issue which the OP didn't employ.
It's all a non-issue really.

Well no to be fair that was your own error 😂

Immoral is probably too strong a word. Essentially it feels like that practice is abusing the flexibility afforded to you by a generous returns policy. It might be legal and I know lots of people do it, but buying something knowing there will be a return just doesn't sit well with me,

It was my error, but an easy one to make and they made it impossible for me to put right.

I usually never look beyond John Lewis, and I have had this exact situation with them (part payment gift voucher, part payment card) and they didn’t refund we a gift voucher as they are not complete arseholes who have to force customers to use their shop.

John Lewis has its flaws, but they don’t go as far as indulging in this sort of nonsense (even though many say on here that what they are doing is illegal!).

Immoral is probably too strong a word. Essentially it feels like that practice is abusing the flexibility afforded to you by a generous returns policy. It might be legal and I know lots of people do it, but buying something knowing there will be a return just doesn't sit well with me,

Shops don't offer a generous returns policy as a form of community service🙄. They do it for commercial reasons and the bottom line is they get more income from customers when they can take something home, have a think and are free to return it later. Everything they offer is with their (and their shareholders) best interests in mind. Some shops will be exchange only for sale items or have shorter return period because they don't want the stock back - this is nothing to complain about if they have communicated it.
So there is no need to have the moral high ground about returning something if an individual chooses to try 2 sizes

Perhaps read the OP properly or just don't comment at all.
Not a single one of your points are relevant to this situation

I worked in retail for years and i think it's ridiculous. There isn't anything you can do about it, but it's annoying.

@Pixiedust1234

At least you are gracious about it!

But it is though, who kicked sand in your vagina?

@Teddysbackyard66

Standard practice, you pay with a gift card you’ll be refunded on a gift card. The Ts and Cs of the gift card will have mentioned ‘No cash alternative’.

OP buys £217 worth of goods. Pays £40 on gift card and £177 credit card
Returns goods worth £97

Therefore total spend at Dunelm after returned goods is £120.
Gift card was just £40 therefore full value has still been spent at the shop and NOT exchanged for cash.

The fact they refunded you anything at all is only down to their company policy. As far as law goes, they have to stick to their policy, but their policy could’ve been no refunds and no exchanges. Only exception is faulty goods or goods not fit for purpose. ‘I’ve changed my mind’ can legally be met with ‘sorry no refunds no exchange’ if they had a no refund policy, which many places have.

Company policy is that refunds are accepted so you wasted your time typing any more. As you yourself said, law is that they have to stick to their own policy. What their policy could have been or what other places have has no relevance to this discussion.

Comprehension isn't your strong point I take it?!

Is there any need for all that? What’s wrong with you Prescribing? She was telling the OP the retail laws, how is that not relevant? You just sound like an argumentative idiot tbh.

As others have said, it’s because people will buy stuff using the gift card then return the stuff for a cash refund.

Still, the onus was on you to check you had everything you needed. Most places don’t refund delivery costs, which is pretty common knowledge. You can’t really blame dunelm for your error 🤷‍♀️