Our sons bought us a Virgin Experience in May, which comprised a tour of the Buckingham Palace state rooms and a champagne afternoon tea at Fortnum & Mason.
The vouchers were clearly printed with the use-by date of 29 September 2017. On 16 August we went on the website to make a booking. Only then did we discover in the confusing booking details that we should have made it before 16 June.
Virgin told us it was unable to offer a palace tour or any alternative. After I had argued that a time-critical booking date should have been printed on the voucher and made clear at the point of purchase, I was offered a full refund as an exception.
The industry should adopt a clear standard for providing all relevant information on vouchers and not place responsibility on gift recipients to extract it from small print online. PF, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire
You are the latest in a line of disgruntled voucher recipients who have discovered, too late, that their gift will vanish Cinderella-like on the stroke of midnight at a date unspecified on the paperwork.
Expiry dates are a dubious condition imposed to ease company accounting and mean that hundreds end up spending something for nothing because recipients don’t activate their vouchers in time.
It is unreasonable to impose such a critical booking restriction without citing it on the voucher, and Virgin claims you were victim of an “administration error” with the tea and staterooms combination.
“All date-specific information like this is always included with the gift pack,” insists a spokesperson. “This was an unfortunate oversight, which we are sorry about, and have put further checking processes in place to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
The company is unable to say how many others have been deprived of the experience because of the oversight, but says anyone who complains will be refunded and unredeemed vouchers extended, so the state rooms can be visited when they reopen next summer.
If you receive a gift voucher, scrutinise the paperwork and web details to check for restrictions and try to redeem it as soon as possible.
If you need help email Anna Tims at your.problems@observer.co.uk or write to Your Problems, The Observer, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Include an address and phone number.
