# Gift Cards from Lifestyle - Beware



## jasconius (22 Jan 2007)

My niece was given a €200 gift card for Christmas and she lost it.
However she has the receipt and card number.
When she brought the documents to Lifestyle they would not replace it even though they could see electronically that the card had not been used. Lifestyle claimed that she could have found the receipt and card number and hence were not going to replace it.
I assume that the voucher will expire in 12 months but even then Lifestyle said that they would not replace it. Head Office said that it is not their policy to replace gift cards.
What do we do?
You can track these cards on the Internet via the receipt and it has still not been used 3 weeks later.
If you went to a bank and said that you lost a cheque, you can get the cheque stopped and an alert put on the account number, but with these cards it seems to be one way traffic in favour of Lifestyle.

Anyone had any experience of this? Or suggestions as to how to remedy the situation.


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## colin79ie (22 Jan 2007)

Contact the consumer rights organistion. Try www.consumerconnect.ie


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## tiger (22 Jan 2007)

It sounds like there's no way for them to block or cancel the old card.


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## jasconius (22 Jan 2007)

That's right

It seems that with franchises etc, all the stores are not linked up on line, so someone can find the card and go somewhere else with it. 
Very frustrating and a lucrative money earner for them, particularly as my niece has the receipt and can see online that no redemption has been made to date.


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## sandrabing (22 Jan 2007)

I work for company with giftcard system, when they are sold or redeemed this information is transmitted through the internet to a mainframe computer in Head Office. We have the facility ourselves instore to input a card number into our computer and obtain a statement of all transactions on the card (this would include transactions in any one of our stores over the country). If a card is reported lost and the customer still has the card number, we can check up that it has not been used, cancel the card and reissue a new one.  We also have a number of franchises and they operate under the same system since they trade under the same name and report to the same Head Office.
It actually _is_ that simple and dont let Lifestyle get away with it.


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## jasconius (22 Jan 2007)

Thanks Sandra

I take it then that I should contact HO rather than the branch.


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## sandrabing (22 Jan 2007)

If you have spoken to the most senior manager in the store and are getting nowhere with them, contacting HO is probably your best option. Good luck! let me know how you get on


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## ClubMan (22 Jan 2007)

According to the [broken link removed]:


> *If a consumer loses a gift voucher what rights do they have ?
> 
> *
> If a consumer loses a gift voucher they have no entitlements.


A store may unilaterally decide to help the consumer out but there is no legal obligation on them to do so.


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## jasconius (22 Jan 2007)

Got hold of a voice of the phone in Lifestyle.
She repeated the mantra of no refunds.
They have only  recently introduced this scheme  as opposed to the  old  paper  vouchers. 
As regards franchises, they don't have any.

She finally agreed to look into and get back to me on Wednesday - though she did not request any details.

If she does ring back, I would put the chances at  say  1 in 20  of success.

I think my only hope is to appeal  again to  their  corporate  image  and goodness of their cold hearts.

Will let you know of any progress.

Who owns Lifestyle anyway - is it Tesco?


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## Guest111 (22 Jan 2007)

I'm playing devils advocate here but why do you think they should help you out?
Your niece should have taken more care of the €200 voucher. It's like losing €200 Euro cash...not traceable.
The mistake Lifestyle have made in this case is the way they treated you when you asked if anything could be done.


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## The_Banker (22 Jan 2007)

jasconius said:


> .
> 
> Who owns Lifestyle anyway - is it Tesco?


 
As far as I know, when Tesco bought Quinnsworth they were not too interested in the Lifestyle chain so there was a management buyout of the Lifestyle Chain so they are an independent company.


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## jasconius (22 Jan 2007)

Andy

We have the receipt for the €200 which also shows the Card Number. 

I do not accept that it is not traceable - it is traceable back to my niece who holds the receipt.

Besides why should she just write it off and leave €200 with Lifestyle

Would you?


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## sandrabing (22 Jan 2007)

AFAIK they are not obligated to reissue another giftcard. With the old paper vouchers they were just like cash and if you lost them that was your own fault. 
Since these are electronic and traceable there is a certain amount of goodwill involved in various companies with regard to replacement.

When you say that the person you spoke to did not ask for any details do you mean they did not even request the card number ? If they did not ask for that I would suspect you are been given the runaround.


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## BlueSpud (22 Jan 2007)

Consider throwing a wobbler in their store at a very busy time, telling your story out loud at the counter repeatedly, but refrain from nervous twitching.  Might make people considering a voucher to think again, and Lifestyle might entertain you to shut you up.


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## ClubMan (22 Jan 2007)

The bottom line is (as I posted above) that they are under no obligation to honour lost gift vouchers regardless of whether or not there is information corroborating the original purchase. By all means keep at them to see if you can get them to honour them but they are perfectly within their rights not to.

Update: actually ConsumerConnect make it sound a little less cut and dried than the _ODCA _do!


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## Guest111 (22 Jan 2007)

jasconius said:


> Andy
> 
> We have the receipt for the €200 which also shows the Card Number.
> 
> ...


 
It depends whether they can cancel the lost voucher...that's the salient point. I think the real issue is Lifestyle messing you around and not having a concrete policy in place to deal with enquiries like yours. From their point of view, letting you know they could track the voucher was a mistake. Had they just said "we're really sorry, but it's as good as cash" you wouldn't have an issue.

Personally if I lost a voucher I wouldn't pursue it.


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## Sue Ellen (22 Jan 2007)

If they come back to you with a negative reply I would track down the name of the M.D. and shoot off a letter appealing to their good customer service policy by explaining that she finds the loss of €200 extrememly upsetting. 

As a last measure I would make the offer to let the voucher run until the end of the year and if you/they can see that it has not been cashed would they consider reissuing it on the expiry date. Worth a try IMHO.

Best of luck with your endeavours.


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## jasconius (24 Jan 2007)

I should have been a gambling man and put €5 on at 1 to 20!
Lifestyle did call back back and said that while their policy is still no refunds, they are prepared to look at this particular case with a view to cancellation and reissue, if we can come up with the original receipt of purchase (and this we have)!!!

While I am not standing over the chickens with an abacus yet, it is pleasing to note that this is a fair offer by Lifestyle, though not as generous as Sandra above has indicated.

Will keep you posted

Caveat Emptor!


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## NCA2007 (2 Feb 2007)

Hi Clubman
If you have any specific queries or difficult ones, forward them on to me as I'm connected with the National Consumer Agency (NCA).
Regards
Jay (NCA2007)

Link to National Consumer Agency website - Gift Vouchers
http://www.consumerconnect.ie/eng/Hot_Topics/Campaigns/Gift Vouchers/


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## giddyup (3 Feb 2007)

Lifestyle are owned by Stafford Holdings - bought late '05 for €40m.


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