How would you handle this?

[Boop]

A girl bought a voucher from me in Jan for a friends birthday. I put an expiry on there for 31July. Due to personal cicumstances I am moving county and gave 3 weeks notice for my rented room in a hair salon. I also txt the people who had vouchers to redeem. I asked the girl who bought this particular voucher to get her friend to contact me to book. I offered her the choice of 2 coming saturdays (only work in the salon on this day) and she for whatever reasons couldnt do either. I then offered her my last Saturday which I knew all my regulatscwould also be booking. She took over a week to reply to me and by then my spaces had filled. ive told her i will contact her if i get a cancellation.
The girl who paid for the voucher is the salon owners friend and now she is asking me if I can do this girls appointments in my house one evening. I work in an office and dont get home until 6.30pm , live in a one bed flat and am packing to move 2 hrs away in 2 weeks.

I think I have more than tried to accomodate this girl and Im not sure why she left her voucher so late to use in the first place.

how would you move foward with this?

 

[Boop]

I forgot to mention thaty last day is 20th July and the voucher expiry 31st so in effect I am cutting in short but as I only work Saturdays it is only by one day.

 

[Faylizzie]

Hmm tricky, how much or for what treatment is the voucher? Xxxx

 

[Boop]

£40 and two treatments/two hours work

Thanks for the quick reply x

 

[izzidoll]

I'd refund.

I always keep my voucher money seperate and it doesn't go through my business until it gets used.
In this instance when you are giving up your business and you can't fit someone in even though they are awkward then the right thing to do would be to reimburse them.

 

[Faylizzie]

I agree with izzidoll, id either offer to do the treatment at their house if I could not do it at my own, or refund.
I think otherwise you may get hassled so to save from the stress of that I'd do whatever I could to get it out the way and over an done with otherwise it will only cause you unnecessary stress
Xxxx

 

[adamlea87]

I would refund too..

 

[Boop]

Morning, thanks for all your replies. I probably will end up doing this. Would you refund the girl who the voucher wss given to? just checking.

I begrudge doing this a bit though because I feel she has had 6 months to use it and Im only finishing one working day earlier than the expiry and also I dont know this person but had her contact me and offer her 3 different days as soon as I found out I was moving and she didnt want the first two then when I offered her the last day she didnt respond for 10 days so by thst time the appointments had all gone. I contacted all my clients when I found I was moving and they have all managed to book in from the 3 dates given so why not her? The vouchet clearly states the expiry and also that its not redeemable for cash.

 

[Boop]

Any more thoughts on this please?

 

[essentia]

I would call her and try and fit her in somehow. Normally I would say that you have given her plenty of notice but as you are only available on Saturdays, it may have made it difficult for her to book? I no longer offer vouchers as I think they are a headache although I have 99% honoured them even out of date.

 

[squidgernetball]

There has been many threads on here about the expiry on vouchers. I 'encourage' people to use a voucher within 6 months, but as cash doesn't expire, I wonder how legal it is to say a voucher expires. I don't know the legality, but I have honoured vouchers long after their expiry date. I'm afraid I would either risk it, and clear off, as you've told them you're going anyway and see if they pursue you, or just give the refund (to the owner of the voucher) and leave with a clear conscience! Good luck with you move,

Vicki

 

[Lady Murasaki]

I would refund the person who bought the voucher and then they can buy another gift of their choosing for their friend.

My reason for this is that the person buying the voucher wanted them to have beauty treatment not £40 cash, so I would approach then first to see what they wanted do regards to a refund

 

[skatingbeauty]

I would personally feel that if I had given her plenty of chance to book it in and she hasn't got back to you quick enough and the fact that it expires a week after you leave anyway... I would say sorry but those are the times I am available. If she wanted it enough she would be able to make one of those appointment times you offered her!

 

[TarasTalons]

Has she said that she would or would not be able to make that last Saturday that her voucher runs out on? If not then even if you weren't moving away what would she have wanted you to do to accommodate her appointment before her voucher expires?

I don't know what I would do in that situation and have no idea about the legalities etc but if you feel like you should refund or make sure the girl gets her treatment, is there not someone local who you treatment swap with where you can transfer her voucher too and extend it for a month or three months etc?

Anyway, my advice is double check the legalities of it and then abide by that, if there are no legal restrictions then do what's right for you and your business

 

[izzidoll]

It is her voucher, she was given it as a gift, she should get the refund and can go to another salon if she wants for the treatment.

I don't think fair notice was really given as okay 3 weeks sounds good but if you only work 1 day a week technically its only 3 days notice.

When all is said and done money has been paid for treatments that cannot be obtained, therefore a refund to the holder of the voucher is all that can be done.

Good Luck with your move, refund and concentrate on the new possibilities ahead of you :hug:

 

[Cheshire_Gal]

Definitely refund.

 

[babychops]

I would also give her a refund so there will be no hard feelings. I don't think you gave her enough notice really as you only gave her the option of 2 Saturdays, a gift voucher is for the person to use when they please. It's not her fault that you are moving. X

 

[LBR]

Yes I agree, she should have used it by now but as you can't fit her in then I would refund it to her, the person with the voucher, not the person who bought it.

The only reason I put end dates on vouchers really is to get them to come and get a treatment done asap, and then hopefully getting a good client out of it.

 

[Boop]

Thank you for all you replies on this.

I gave the girl who paid for the voucher the money back. Against my will really because although I gave her friend the choice of 3 Saturdays, she had had 5 months previous to this to use the voucher. She would have only had one extra Saturday to come before it expired, so although I believe she wouldn't have used it, I also see that something has been paid for and nothing got in return so that's what made me refund in the end.

Many thanks for your opinions and advice x