I cannot believe this!

[BeautyLoungeSW]

Just a rant really lol!

Just had a phone call from a lady asking to book some treatments with a gift voucher that she was given July 2013. Our expiry dates are 3 months from the date of issue, which i advised so i said that i guessed the vouchers may be out of date. She said she didnt have the vouchers with her and that she thinks they didnt have an expiry date on. This is completely impossible, every gift voucher that is purchased has an expiry on with out fail. I advised this to which she replied, 'well i think that is very unfair'. I simply stated that unless the voucher is in date i will not be able to accept it. I know that sometimes you can make an exception if the client has been ill/ or any other valid reason for not being able to use them (which i have done in the past). I did not do this with this particular lady as she was extremely rude and asked me if i 'morally think that it is ok to not accept the voucher'. I said that it is salon policy and it is the clients responsibility to use the voucher within the specific time frame. She told me that her husband will be calling me to discuss further..... great!

How dare she be so rude and have so much self entitlement! I couldn't walk into Topshop with a friggin out of date voucher and demand to use it - they'd tell me to jog on!

I am always very accommodating to clients even the exceptionally difficult ones, however i have had too many people take advantage in the past and i am not putting up with it any more!

Have any of you experienced something like this before? And do you think i dealt with it correctly?

Thanks

 

[squidgernetball]

I have had an out of date voucher from Next and they honoured it.

We have now scrapped dates on our vouchers. We make it a bit of a USP - they don't expire - use as and when you want to. The money they paid for it hasn't gone out of date, so why would the voucher. My only exception to this is vouchers I do for charity donations.

I'm afraid I think that 3 months is a very short period of time to give clients to use a voucher. Her rudeness is not acceptable, but I'm afraid I think her voucher should be!

You may also want to have a look at the story of the salon that closed down because they didn't accept a voucher - if I can find the thread I'll put it up!

Vicki x

Found it!

http://www.salongeek.com/chit-chat/242509-never-underestimate-power-social-networking.html

 

[BeautyLoungeSW]

Thanks squidgernetball

I have just looked at that post- i don't think it compares to my situation. That woman lost her son, I would never ever refuse anyone who, as i stated in my first post, has an exceptional or valid reason to not be able to use their voucher. I am not as cold hearted as that by any stretch of the imagination.
The woman who rang earlier has simply not bothered to use her voucher and is now threatening me with her husband and she is being very rude. I was professional ( as always) with my responses to her questions.
I believe by not setting an expiry date on voucher you are setting your self up to be taken advantage of by some people. If this works for you then that's great, but I definitely don't think it is the way for my salon. If it was such a problem having a 3 month expiry, i would have complaints left right and center.
I have never had one client question the expiry time frame - if i had i would have reviewed this and changed it.

It was simply a rant as it annoyed me alot. I bend over backwards for clients but there has to be a cut off line at some point.

 

[Verve Designs]

See- I'm torn on this.....

Whilst I agree that some people are extremely self-entitled, and there's no excuse for rudeness, I can see it from her point of view as a consumer.

A few years ago I got a voucher for my favourite restaurant for my Birthday. At the time we had small kids so could rarely get out of the house to use it. However, we found baby-sitters in the end, only to find the voucher had gone out of date a week before. They wouldn't honour it. I've never been back and I've told all my friends and family about it- and they've never been back either.

I think the difference is, you're not TopShop (and that's a good thing) you need to differentiate yourself from "corporates" by being accommodating in my opinion.

I'm interested to know why you think having expiry dates on the vouchers protects you from being taken advantage off? The money is sat in your till regardless isn't it?

The times where I think small business like us should be "un-bending" is when clients foibles actually cost us money (i.e. no-shows and cancellations etc.), and though legally you're absolutely right that you can refuse, the fact remains that you've taken someone's money and they've got nothing back at the end of the day!

Harsh perhaps, but you can see it from their point of view?

p.s. This perhaps is pandering to rudeness (which maybe we ought not do) but if she's that type- would she be shy of spreading around a bit of bad-publicity?

Interesting to see that she didn't have the vouchers to hand though...that's a bit odd.

p.p.s I design vouchers for a living- and I rarely see them with 3 month expiry dates. It's a tad on the short side

 

[coco.]

Don't shoot me down here but I would expect a voucher to have a 12 month valid date from purchase.
3 months seems quite a short time limit.
I understand that it says on the voucher about the 3 months but she may not of realised and was saving it for a special occasion so was a bit annoyed about it during the telephone conversation as she wasn't expecting to be told she couldn't use it!

 

[virtues2011]

I agree with both posts on this thread. You've had the money. I wouldn't hesitate to honour the expired voucher. I am also in agreement that the negativity of refusing the voucher probably will cause more harm to your business than good.

Sent from my GT-N7100 using SalonGeek mobile app

 

[libbylou]

i NEVER put an expiry date on a voucher , i think you should honour it as you did take the money. i had river island vouchers for christmas they have no expiry on them.

 

[ChicaHolly]

I think you should have honoured it, the only reason she got cross and said it was unfair is because you didn't honour the voucher. If she had been able to book in now and have a lovely treatment with you, you may even have gained a new customer from it. Plus if I was the person who spent the money on the voucher, I now wouldn't want to use you again. I don't mean to sound harsh but is not honouring it really worth the hassle?


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[happyfeet]

This is a tough one. Yes completely wrong for saying her husband would be in contact. Oooh I don't know. I would honour it myself but I would clearly point out what your terms are but say on this occasion only, as a gesture of good will, you will honour the cert.

On the other hand take a look at the thread I think it's called Gift Voucher Problem! where a geek spoke to Trading Standards and they took a difference stance to me. Worth a read. Xxx

Edit: http://www.salongeek.com/biz-geek/245191-gift-voucher-problem.html

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[Redduck]

My vouchers have 12 months on them to encourage people to use them. However, I always honour them after this date. Several clients have become regulars because I let them use their voucher after the expiry date.

Vicki (squidernetball) - I really like the idea of no expiry date. Where would you stand if you closed your business? Is this in your terms and conditions or am I overthinking it

 

[Missy106]

Youve taken the money so you should honour it. 3 months is a short space of time maybe you should think of not putting an expiry date on them. In my old salon we never had an expiry date on our vouchers as people might want to wait for a special occasion to have their beauty/hair appointment

 

[virtues2011]

My vouchers have 12 months on them to encourage people to use them. However, I always honour them after this date. Several clients have become regulars because I let them use their voucher after the expiry date.

Vicki (squidernetball) - I really like the idea of no expiry date. Where would you stand if you closed your business? Is this in your terms and conditions or am I overthinking it

If you closed your business, then the customers would lose. Not a lot you can do about that I'm afraid. Look at all the money that has been lost when the big pensions companies enter receivership. If you're not limited then you wouldn't enter administration so you wouldn't be so privileged as getting 0.5p in the pound! like everything it is a chance you take. You are very much overthinking it Redduck..:lol:

 

[Verve Designs]

My vouchers have 12 months on them to encourage people to use them. However, I always honour them after this date. Several clients have become regulars because I let them use their voucher after the expiry date.

Vicki (squidernetball) - I really like the idea of no expiry date. Where would you stand if you closed your business? Is this in your terms and conditions or am I overthinking it

I think that's a good point. I think it depends how the business ended. If you just closed the doors....that's it!

If someone took it over they might potentially have to honour them.

However if your business got into trouble financially and you went bust anyone with a gift-voucher would become creditors were you a limited company (though they'd never get the money back)

I'm not against expiry dates per se (as they do protect against things like that, though in reality It'd never be a huge problem at all) but I think we have to be sensible with them.

I encourage our staff to be as professional as a corporate business, but be as empathic as a small local business.

I think it's best to evaluate what a gift voucher actually does. Not only does it (obviously) give someone a choice of services at a pre-paid value, but it also gives lots of chances to gain new customers and then retain them- so why jeopardise that?

 

[virtues2011]

This is a tough one. Yes completely wrong for saying her husband would be in contact. Oooh I don't know. I would honour it myself but I would clearly point out what your terms are but say on this occasion only, as a gesture of good will, you will honour the cert.

On the other hand take a look at the thread I think it's called Gift Voucher Problem! where a geek spoke to Trading Standards and they took a difference stance to me. Worth a read. Xxx

Edit: http://www.salongeek.com/biz-geek/245191-gift-voucher-problem.html

Sent from my GT-I9300 using SalonGeek mobile app

Trading standards only provide information on what is acceptable, they won't tell you what a detrimental effect this can have on a business. Interesting read.

 

[BeautyLoungeSW]

3 months expiry has always worked for me - never had any problems with people getting their appointments before it expires. Extentionize - I feel you will get taken advantage of for exactly this reason alone. If you honour expired vouchers all the time word will get around that your a push over and people will treat you like this. Maybe its just my experiences that have made me over protective when it comes to things like this. Like i mentioned before i am very accomodating to clients and I always ensure that my clients know i will always go above and beyond for them. That being said, there are some p - takers out there who expect you to to roll over and take it - no i am not topshop but i am a small business who needs to put these things in place regardless of the size of my company.

 

[LaLa78]

I'm afraid I would honour it. Unless you are ultra busy right now then it isn't really affecting you as you have had the money already.

I used to do a card scheme where customers would pay for 4 tans at once. They were supposed to be used within 6 months but I had quite a few people who would book in then at the end get the card out. This was sometimes a year later, but I always did them so they would come back to me in the future.

 

[siana]

The thing is, if I get a gift voucher, I check how long it lasts and use it within that time frame. Different places and businesses have different policies. There's a salon up the road that does only 3 months on the vouchers and I've seen one of these and the expiry date is there, on the front of the voucher for all to see.

I work from home, alone, and had a 12 month life on my vouchers and people still couldn't use it within the time frame or will phone just after expiry. Most of these people won't ever come again, and to be honest I've been messed about something rotten by quite a few people with gift vouchers (booking prime slots and not turning up, then demanding another appointment). For that reason, and a few others I won't go into now, I've actually stopped doing gift vouchers because I felt they were more trouble than their worth!

So, I would personally honour the voucher to avoid bad feeling. But like I said, I got so fed up I've taken myself out of these situations for good! A bit radical I know, but I'm so much happier!!!

 

[Balance Andover]

I'll always honour a gift voucher, I date them for 12 months.

I also don't class the payment taken for a gift voucher as 'mine' until it's redeemed.

 

[virtues2011]

Beautylounge, please forgive me here but it seems you have clearly made your mind up, by reading your replies to your own thread you feel that you have done the right thing, which of course is your prerogative. I'm not sure what your thoughts are behind this thread as I read that you feel we are all wrong here, are you a little disappointed with us saying we would honour the vouchers??

 

[squidgernetball]

Thanks squidgernetball

I have just looked at that post- i don't think it compares to my situation. That woman lost her son, I would never ever refuse anyone who, as i stated in my first post, has an exceptional or valid reason to not be able to use their voucher. I am not as cold hearted as that by any stretch of the imagination.
The woman who rang earlier has simply not bothered to use her voucher and is now threatening me with her husband and she is being very rude. I was professional ( as always) with my responses to her questions.
I believe by not setting an expiry date on voucher you are setting your self up to be taken advantage of by some people. If this works for you then that's great, but I definitely don't think it is the way for my salon. If it was such a problem having a 3 month expiry, i would have complaints left right and center.
I have never had one client question the expiry time frame - if i had i would have reviewed this and changed it.

It was simply a rant as it annoyed me alot. I bend over backwards for clients but there has to be a cut off line at some point.

Hi hon
Just wanted to say that in no way was I comparing you - my point was more to the power of negative publicity - over a gift voucher.

I have had expiry dates on my vouchers in the past and have had clients phone to say they had just found it, it expired 6 months ago, but can they use it. I grit my teeth and say "Of course you can". This has been an existing client and has happened on several occasions. It generates good will. Totally pi**es me off, but generates good will!

Redduck - you're definitely overthinking it - or I'm underthinking it. The answer is I have no idea. I would imagine it would be the same if you sold one with 12 months on it and the business folded after 2 months. We've just become Ltd, so at least the house is safe lol!!!

Vicki x