Is It Possible To Get A Refund For A Gift Certificate And How To Do It Correctly

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 12:53

Is it possible to get a refund for a gift certificate and how to do it right

Gift certificates are becoming an increasingly popular solution to the problem of choosing a presentation. Most often, colleagues, friends and other not the closest people who are not sure what to give as a gift are resorted to. But what if you want to return the certificate? Let's consider this card from the point of view of consumer rights.

How to return a certificate

By law, a gift certificate is a prepayment for a product or service. The person who buys this card deposits to the seller's account the amount corresponding to the face value of the certificate. The refund procedure does not differ for electronic gifts and ordinary plastic cards.

If you bought a card

If you bought a certificate, and then changed your mind about giving or using it, the fastest way to return it is by agreement with the store management. You will need a sales receipt to return. At the same time, the store is not at all obliged to meet you halfway, therefore, it will not work to force the management to return the money.

If you were presented with a card

It will no longer be possible to return the certificate by check - you simply do not have it, and the refund will not be made to your bank card. But even in this case, you can get money from the seller in exchange for an unused gift.

Purchase and return

Purchase a returnable item for the amount indicated on the certificate. Then return it within 14 days. All you need is a check. The store will be required to return the money, not the certificate.

Certificate expiry date

Wait until the certificate expires, and then contact the seller with a request for a refund. From a legal point of view, you (or the other person who bought the certificate) made an advance payment, but did not use the seller's services for the specified period. This means that the sale and purchase agreement was terminated. This method can be difficult because it is rarely used, and stores are not used to parting with profits so easily. You may have to go to court. In this case, you can refer to Part 1 of Art. 1102 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.

According to this document, if a person (including a legal entity, which is the store) did not receive money as a gift, without providing any service, then he is obliged to return the funds to the victim (who in this situation will be you). At the same time, an important addition is that the return must occur regardless of whose fault the service was not provided or the goods were not sold.

Surrender

Buy something small and pay with a certificate. The seller is obliged to give you change in regular money. Unfortunately, often cashiers, at the direction of the management, offer to buy something so that the funds on the certificate do not burn out, and then refuse to give you change. In this case, you can safely call the store administration and demand change.

If the cashier refused to give change in money the first time, you shouldn't pressure him and swear - it's better to calmly ask to call the administration, on which the solution of the issue depends

Underwater rocks

Of course, sellers will not be so easy to part with their profits, so it is worth considering some of the pitfalls that await the consumer who decides to return the money for the certificate.

According to the law, when returning the goods, the seller can withhold a part of its value if the purchase has already lost its presentation. The same trick can be tried with a certificate. However, it should be borne in mind that the retention of funds is natural only if the seller provided documentary grounds for this.

Some stores have “special conditions” for obtaining and using the certificate, which states that if the purchase amount is insufficient, it is not obliged to issue change, and the withheld funds will be a penalty for incomplete use of the denomination. However, in this case, different conditions of the same public offer are obtained, which is easy to recognize as a violation of consumer rights.

Even a gift certificate may not be the best gift. But now we know that it is possible to return money for it, and without any particular difficulties.