Curry’s refund to voucher rather than credit card

[user1460561714]

I’ve ordered 4 appliances from curry’s on line (value just over £1100) I paid £750 in vouchers and just over £400 on my card. I’ve paid in full and asked for delivery in June. I’ve asked if I can cancel one of the items - no problem they said (Value around £440) and for my credit card to be refunded. They are refusing to put the majority of the value credit back onto my card & saying it has to be approx 60% back in vouchers and the rest on my card. I don’t want the vouchers (they were bought specifically for this purchase through a work scheme) I want the vouchers to pay for the 3 items I still need and will take delivery for next month. Is there any way I can insist they refund the majority back on to my card and a small value in vouchers (was on their chat for over an hour trying to reason with them) or do I start a dispute with my credit card company? Any advice appreciated 😊I’ve told them to hold fire with cancelling the item off the order as I do not want vouchers- just checking my legal position and how to move forward please

This standard, they’re refunding you in proportion between vouchers and card, just as if you pay for something entirely in vouchers you’ll be refunded entirely in vouchers. It’s to prevent people cashing in vouchers, which is essentially what you’re trying to do here. When you bought the vouchers they will have come with terms and conditions which state they are not redeemable for cash.

Basically no you can't insist they refund to your credit card. They're within their rights to attribute the refund in proportion to the payment methods used.

Yes @ComtesseDeSpair has explained perfectly. I'm surprised you were unaware of this.

This is totally normal.

You paid x% in vouchers so you get the same % back in vouchers. You can't use vouchers then get a refund in cash - it's basically fraud.

So cancel the whole lot, get the refund on CC and vouchers, I.e. start again from scratch.

Order your three items and pay with voucher.

This

Cancel whole order.
Then re-order what you want using the vouchers. Seems like a no brainer if they want to be difficult... so can you!

You're not going to get cash for vouchers. They are in the right here.

Although I am never (willingly! I was forced to buy a laptop charger as my stupid massive public sector employer didn't have any to give me when my work one stopped functioning!) buying from Currys again. My dishwasher broke, and I needed a new one quickly, or I would not have gone there. I waited for well over an hour before I got the attention of a customer sales assistant. Picked one, paid for it, arranged delivery and installation. I made it clear that I was taking out a semi-integrated and replacing it with a freestanding.

So, delivery arrives. Guy comes in and glares at my hall table. "We're not going to be able to bring it in past that!" he hissed. Meantime he went into the kitchen, and announced they would not be installing the new machine, as I was changing from semi-integrated to freestanding and he didn't have time to do it (I had paid £55 for this service for convenience, plus £20 for delivery!) I pointed out that I had made the salesman aware of this. To no avail, of course.

Agreed they could bring it in through my patio doors at the back. So they did - and were about to leave it in the middle of my fucking dining room where I WFH!!! I called them back and said for £20 they could at least put it in the room it was meant to go in!!! They were just incredibly rude.

Stupidly I didn't check it over before they left, because there is a dent in the front of it and they wouldn't accept responsibility. Produced a photo taken from a dodgy angle that didn't show the dent. I was probably stupid but I gave up at that point.

You can't get through to the store when you call. I spoke to a customer disservice moron who hadn't a clue what he was talking about, and I had to go to the store to complain to the manager, and request the refund of the installation fee which I should have got automatically. Who was to call me back, and didn't bother his arse, so I had to go to the store again, where he showed me this photo that allegedly didn't show the dent.

Never again. I usually buy from independents where you can actually speak to a human being if you have a problem, but foo'ed up on this occasion.

Use the vouchers and buy whatever you still need somewhere else.

They're not being difficult.

When you buy vouchers, they're to use at that specific retailer - you can't use them, ask for a refund and get given cash instead. That's not how vouchers work.

She’s not asking for more cash back than she paid in though, so that’s not trying to redeem vouchers for cash. She ordered 4 things, paid for 3 entirely in vouchers and one mostly in cash. She’s cancelling that one and wants the cash back and any difference in vouchers. It’s completely stupid to make her cancel the whole order and start again to achieve exactly the same outcome of buying 3 items with vouchers and having a small amount left over on a voucher.

Of course and for good reason, but in this case the OP wants to pay for three items with vouchers and get the cash refund on the fourth item. She’s not cashing in the vouchers, she’s spending the vouchers on the three items she still wants and asking for the cash to be refunded because she has decided not to go ahead with purchasing the fourth item.

Of course, she can force this by cancelling the contract entirely and reordering the three items she still wants, with vouchers and not cash. That’s what I’d do.

It’s this exactly! Thanks for all your advice, opinions and experiences. To be clear, I’m not trying to commit fraud in any way or trying to be difficult and trying to trade in vouchers for cash! Looks like the only way forward is to do this - luckily I have a bit of time before I need the goods - but never again with curry’s - lessons learnt with their faceless customer (lack of ) service and computer says no attitude

@ATerrorofLeftovers believe me, I get what you're saying but it's standard practise in retail to do refunds like this when purchases have been made with a mixture of cash/card and vouchers/gift cards.

It's not Curry's being difficult so much as they're not going to refund a higher percentage in cash than you paid in cash, even when you're still buying other items:

@user1460561714 I get why you're frustrated but this is standard everywhere in retail.

It's not so much "computer says no" as "voucher refunds are better for the business so they're not going to give you cash if they can help it".

Yes quite, a bit of a win win for the retailer leaving you with no option but to buy more stuff from them 😫The voucher scheme with work saves you 7% by purchasing the vouchers from them - it’s not worth the hassle!

Well the reason for that being ‘standard practice’ in retail is because it advantages them! They get to ensure the customer spends with them and not elsewhere. It’s somewhat sharp practice, regardless of whether it’s the norm, in this type of scenario.

They’ll just get themselves extra admin in this case, as OP can easily cancel the whole lot and start again with the three items only.

@ATerrorofLeftovers well yes, of course they're going to do what gives them the most benefit - they're a business not a charity.

Doing a full refund and repurchase for items that haven't been shipped yet isn't really a big deal in terms of admin either. It only takes a few minutes:

@user1460561714 well yes, that's the whole point of vouchers and gift cards

@Runnerinthenight We had a similar experience - never going there again! For what it's worth, we've had a couple of great experiences with Marks Electricals. Excellent customer service!