short changed by 34p would you bother to complain?

[enrich100]

I have realised that a company I deal with online has given me a refund 34p less than what it should be. I already emailed them pointing that the refund was short.

I used a gift voucher with this company and instead of adding the discount at the end of the invoice they reduced the value of each item to reflect the value of the voucher (in other words 1 item costing 69p was priced as 35p) when they could not supply the item they refunded me the discounted price

I argued that they should have refunded me the full price not the discounted price (the discount being my voucher), their responce was that they refunded me the invoiced price.

my question is
a) Am I right or wrong?
b) Would you bother chasing them for a 34p refund ? (to me it not the amount its the principle)

[FionaH]

You may well be right but for that amount I wouldn't bother personally

[taff]

If you haven't ended up with the same amount of money in goods plus refund,they're wrong, you're right.

It's a bit late for me trying out my maths though, so don't take it as gospel

[di]

Sounds like you're right...but I failed my Maths 'O'level five times,so I could verypossibly be wrong.

Would I bother reclaiming it?....Life's a bit too short!

[zazen999]

Should you be asking for a 34p voucher, as I'm presuming that the 34p was the portion that was covered by the voucher?

[Nicos]

Ha! - good question!
Nope- I would have thought that they should have given you back the cash of the value of what you could have bought with it- or another voucher for 34p.

34p isn't worth the phone calls and frustration, but if they are purposely short changing a lot of peeps then they should be questioned. E-mail being free- I'd be questioning their policy, not your short fall!

Was there small print in the 'terms and conditions' ... they may well be in the right!!

No-one likes to feel they've been 'had', no matter by how little.
It's all down to whether you enjoy a good 'discussion' or prefer just to move on!

Personally I'd just be chuffed with my other savings!!!

[smallblueplanet]

Lol! It is the principle of the thing.

Say they were doing it to every customer? (Like the Halifax did closing accounts with very little in them)

If its the company I think it is a similar thing happened to me a couple of weeks ago. I ordered 4 pkts of seeds & used cash and a voucher to pay. When they turned up one pkt was out of stock. Now because I'd had a 10% off code as a 'returning customer' they'd not only worked out the refund due for the missing pkt wrongly, but they also refunded me in cash and a voucher.

Needless to say although the voucher was only for £1 (and the pkt cost £1.49) I rang them up and demanded a full refund in cash only! They agreed to refund the £1.49 (I kept the £1 voucher & the 34p from the previous 'refund too as they never asked for it back) and I was happy. (Although I had to ring an 0870 number I did it on the weekend when such calls are free on my BT call plan.)

Was it worth the hassle, not really but why should they 'get away with it'?

To my surprise about a week later a £5 voucher with a letter of apology dropped through my letter box! So well done *&*

[annacruachan]

Unfortunately you've had your say and got nowhere, enrich. 34p doesn't seem worth pursuing, but I would let this company know that they have lost a customer by their mathematical sleight of hand. You might also let them know that you will advise others of their underhand practices. Even if this does not have the desired effect you will be basking in a glow of superiority!

[Alison]

No, life is too short to worry about 34p.

[organic]

Can't quite wrap my head around this but...

If your voucher was (say) equivalent to £5 cash then it's not a discount - it's part of the payment.
If your voucher was for a discount then they are absolutely right to refund the discounted price.

From the original post it's not abundantly clear which case this is, but just pick whichever answer fits as I'm confident enough in them both.

In other news - I'm deeply suspicious of gift vouchers and the likes. It strikes me that it's all too easy for a company to say "we're not redeeming them any more" or "we're redeeming them at half value" - and in this time of recession, receivership and the likes I wouldn't risk putting a penny of my money into a company without getting actually goods in return.

[Flummery]

For under £1 I wouldn't fuss either way - if they owed me, well, what's 34p? Cost you that for a stamp. By the same token, if they did themselves out of 34p in my favour I'd not let on either. For over £1 I'd take issue - or refund them. Bit arbitrary, but then, I am!

[enrich100]

Should you be asking for a 34p voucher, as I'm presuming that the 34p was the portion that was covered by the voucher?

Yes it was the voucher percentage that was not refunded

Ha! - good question!
Nope- I would have thought that they should have given you back the cash of the value of what you could have bought with it- or another voucher for 34p.

Thats what I thought

Unfortunately you've had your say and got nowhere, enrich. 34p doesn't seem worth pursuing, but I would let this company know that they have lost a customer by their mathematical sleight of hand. You might also let them know that you will advise others of their underhand practices. Even if this does not have the desired effect you will be basking in a glow of superiority!

I know but I love baiting customer care teams who can't be bothered to check their own records + I have time on my hands at the moment

Can't quite wrap my head around this but...

If your voucher was (say) equivalent to £5 cash then it's not a discount - it's part of the payment.
If your voucher was for a discount then they are absolutely right to refund the discounted price.

the voucher was a £5.00 gift voucher not discount voucher (checked the small print)

The silly people wrote back to me saying that their system shows no record of a discount or voucher being used (It is written on my order confirmation statement that a £5 gift voucher was used if they cared to check their own records), so I sent another email to them saying I would happily accept a £5 refund (or voucher) as by their recollection of events they had not honoured the voucher but they have now cancelled the vouchers code.

Just so you know I don't pick on all customer service reps, only the ones that don't do their job properly only the lazy or incompetent people

I was wondering if Nicky Campbell would cover my lost 34p story on Watchdog???