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?

It might be obvious to you as you’ve worked in retail, but as a customer it’s not to me. I would imagine it wouldn’t be too hard to argue otherwise based on that statement (especially if you do just threaten to return everything and repurchase in line with their own T&Cs).

From my perspective as a customer, how I’m treated is the deciding factor of whether I’d shop there again. In this case, yes I’d have to use the gift card again but I’d be careful to use it only one transaction worth £40 to avoid this happening again. And I’d remember that if I ever received another gift card.

In stores like JL (and Sainsburys I think from memory) they refunded my cash first and I shop there very regularly. Good customer service goes a lot further than forcing your customers hand to remain a customer.

You have to refund onto original payment method - it’s standard practise

@Headabovetheparakeet I know my response to you wasn't about the OP. It was a response to you saying you wouldn't shop at a shop that would never give a refund.
But that's the point - they don't actually have to if they don't want to (legally). But of course 99% of retailers do - to keep people like you happy.

Exactly. Reputable stores will try to make you choose to shop there again, rather than forcing you to shop there again by fobbing you off with a gift card.

They do have to refund - legally - if they publish a policy that says they will, which 99% of stores do.

Yeah but the issue here is that she spent £217 on goods and returned £97 worth of goods. She paid £177 cash/card and £40 with the gift card.

Its a question of what is considered first. The gift card or the cash.

It is legal but actually pretty stupid. If you want a workaround you could just return all of the stuff you bought, get all your money back, and then buy what you want again using the gift card.

It happened to me OP and after a lot of back and forth they did refund me the cash, but it took a lot and was a long winded process. Depends how much you care. You'll get it back if you want to.

Not read the entire post history but how about returning everything you bought. Then buying the things you want using the car again. Then the balance with cash.

Arse about way of solving them being arseholes

George at Asda did this to me. I had a £10 gift card, spent over £100, then returned an item for £15 and Asda put it on the gift card. I'd since disposed of the gift card and it was annoying. I won't shop there anymore now.

So they should make an exception because of this? Why purchase all that stuff if you returned it anyway?

@whataboutsecondbreakfast

So you think the policy makes op's issue clear but also say that it doesn't cover it as they don't have to? Which is it?

People like me. 😂😂😂

And what was the original payment method for that portion of the transaction?

@Face2facet yes of course 🙄. If that is there published policy them they have to stick to it.
Parakeet was saying she would never shop at a shop whose policy is not to refund cash. That's fine. Her choice.

@Headabovetheparakeet yes "people like you". You said you wouldn't shop at a shop whose policy is not to give cash refunds. But shops want customers to shop there so they (99% of them) do offer refunds.
You want the choice to be able to return something. Most retailers will do that for you even though really they don't want the stock back. They do it to keep people happy and return as customers again.
So indeed "people like you" 🙂

@Needmorelego m

So really you could say 'people' if it applies to 99% of people. 🙄

I'd have done this too.

As far as I know it is standard practice. Otherwise everyone would try to 'cash in' giftcards via a refund.

@Headabovetheparakeet the 99% was referring to the retailers. Not the customers.

Is there any need to be horrible and accuse me of demanding an exception? I was explaining why I cannot get to shops often.

How do you get that from the original post? The op has spent way I excess of the £40 on the giftcard. She is not cashing in at all

Yes but you see then next week you return the other lot and request it in cash. They say you already got some in cash "No I didn't".

And if it works for £40 next time its £100. Not necessarily your £100 either, but £100 you got some other poor bugger to buy in a gift card scam.

No. If the OP got her refund back to her debit card no one will be worse off. The shop has its good back to sell again at the same price to another customer. Op has spent her giftcard and kept what she bought with it. No one would have lost out.

You are actually crackers if you consider it immoral to buy more than one size of trousers. What did you do when all of the changing rooms were closed?

It does seem a bit mean however they would be within their rights to not refund anything if you'd simply decided you didn't like the goods. Bit sneaky though so YANU to be peeved.