Littlewoods reclaims £25 vouchers spent by users

by Jacquie Bowser, Brand Republic 26-Oct-07, 10:55

LONDON - Direct retailer Littlewoods has reclaimed money from customers who successfully used an unauthorised £25 online voucher to obtain discounts on items they bought from the site.

The online discount code was originally meant to be supplied to a small number of specific customers, but was distributed through chat rooms and consumer-saving websites, resulting in around 3,000 customers claiming a discount they were not eligible for.

Littlewoods initially honoured the discounts to all online shoppers who cited the code, before realising they were ineligible.

A spokesman for Littlewoods, said: "In accordance with clause 2.3 of our online terms and conditions we have re-charged the discount back to their accounts and have written to them individually to explain.

"We have informed Trading Standards in Liverpool who are satisfied with our actions. In addition, we are looking at a number of ways of ensuring this doesn't happen again."

James Gosnold, a customer who was forced to pay the £25 back, told the BBC that the situation had important implications for online trading standards.

He said: "Can you imagine buying something in a sale at a high street shop only to discover two months later that the sale price didn't apply to you? And that you didn't have the option to return the goods?

"Only they know how many thousands of orders this generated that most definitely would not have otherwise been placed."

Comments

Matthew Finch - 26/10/2007

This is an outragous decision by Littlewoods, and a PR nightmare! Not only will the 3,000 customers never purchase anything again from Littlewoods, it will seriously damage trust in the brand. The cost to Littlewoods of 3,000 customers claiming a £25 discount is minimal. They should be grateful for the free word-of-mouth publicity generated in chatrooms and message boards, and consider the number of new customers this has actually generated.

Tim Hill - 26/10/2007

If anyone has been affected by this, visit www.geteven.biz. This is a site set up by a vocal minority of people affected by this illegal practice. We are trying to get enough people together to take LW to court. POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!!

Fan Li - 26/10/2007

its not quite like high street sale, in fact its more like you photocopied someone's store gift card and redeemed at the cashier. I can imagine the disaster and unhappiness brought to those people who used that code as I would probably do the same.

Theo Chalmers - 31/10/2007

Surely the issue here is when the sale becomes final? Whilst it's most probably true that those who used the voucher must have been aware that it wasn't sent to them specifically, surely it is Littlewoods, who after all set up the scheme, which is obliged to warn users that it would not be honoured at the time of purchase, if that was the case. This is especially true because last Christmas many retailers sent out discount vouchers for online distribution. How long after the sale is complete can the seller claim extra funds from the buyer? An hour, a day, a year? And surely they must then give the buyer right of return if goods are still in saleable condition, and because of the delay caused by Littlewoods' own inefficiency, possibly if not in saleable condition, too? Whatever the outcome this is appalling PR and Littlewoods ought to have advisers who could tell them this before they alienate clients.