Newspaper subscription vouchers and delivery

[Butterpie]

Hi,
I hope someone can help us here.
We subscribe to the Guardian- we have a Direct Debit and they send us vouchers, which we then give to the shop, who deliver the paper to us and charge us a delivery charge of about £1.50 a week.

I came home from shopping the other day to find a man waiting on my doorstep, angrily saying he was from the papershop, and we owe him money. I went inside and found the latest voucher booklet to give him (we were a couple of weeks late in giving it to him). He said it isn't enough- we owe him £66 as we haven't been paying for weeks.

Now, we know that we have given them the vouchers. He swears that if we had, the shop assistant would have put them on the computer in front of us, which has never happened (in fact, the shop assistant tends to look really baffled and say they have to ask the manager when they come in as they don't know what to do). We gave him £15 and the vouchers, and said we would ask the Guardian subscription office. The subscription office can't help.

What can we do? We don't want to pay twice for our papers, but this man was quite intimidating, especially since he waited for me and hassled me when I had my baby in the sling and the toddler in the pram, outside my own house. He made me empty out my pockets to show him that I had no more money on me.

Hmm, apparently the papershop man wants us to go in tonight and pay the balance. Apart from me not having any money till tomorrow, I don't want to give him the money that we don't owe him- any ideas? I might go and cross post this actually, as it is now pretty urgent.

If I were you I would refuse to pay, threaten to report him to the police for harrassment and tell him that if he sues, you will counterclaim for the £15 you paid him on the basis that it was paid under duress. I would also cancel the order with him and find another paper shop.

I would also go back to the Guardian subscription office and ask if they can confirm that the vouchers have been cashed by the newsagent. It doesn't prove anything if they say they haven't been, but if they have it destroys his case completely.

We subscribe to the Daily Telegraph on a voucher system. I usually go in every few weeks and pay ours it is a bit extra as we have the local paper also delivered once a week and our delivery charge is £2. 29 we are in Essex. I will admit at first the sales person in the newsagent didn't know what to do, but now they scan everything. They look up our account on the computer and then scan the vouchers and tell me what I owe. Our vouchers have my name printed on them and also the subscription number so I am sure whoever deals with them should be able to find out if they have received them back. Meant to say our newsagent belong to a multiple and not an independent one. I hope you get this problem sorted out soon.

He asked you to empty your pockets?

That's disgraceful.

Most small newsagents pay a wholesaler - can you not find out who this is and ask him to check his records re vouchers accepted? There can't be that many people using Guardian vouchers.

We pay by vouchers but get tear off receipts to show we are paid up every month tucked inside the paper. Ours aren't scanned because the till is too old.

I'd be fuming at this.

Re Newsagents not crediting prepaid Vouchers

Although we have given our Guardian vouchers to our local newsagent (since March) they present us with a bill which takes no notice of our vouchers & demands full payment.
Our local newsagent has now closed & demands now come from another remote agent within the same group.l have written letters explaining that their demands should be for delivery only & have enclosed a cheque covering this.
We were not given a receipt for our vouchers so have no proof although the paper is still delivered each morning - followed by another bill each week for the full amount .
I intend to change suppliers when my new vouchers arrive, but ask whether other voucher holders find the same problem & whether the guardian keeps a record of if,& where vouchers are credited ?
GeoffD392

The guardian wouldn't know which vouchers are cashed, unless you are on the new digital voucher which i believe is launched nationwide any day now.
The old paper physical vouchers are not really good for anyone, very old fashioned and slow and not efficient at all.

Thanks johnd2 - I’ve just been told the same by the Guardian - let’s hope the new digital vouchers you describe cure the problem
I’ll be insisting on a receipt anyway when I hand over my next lot - once bitten - - -

Yes i can see the subscription card (digital voucher) is available for new signups on the web site now. If you are an existing customer you would have to either cancel and sign up again, or wait until they are all switched over which would not be this year.