What’s got your goat? A voucher that can only be redeemed with cash

Monday, 25 March 2024

A Christchurch woman was left disappointed when she took her daughter to Silvermoon Merivale to use a $30 voucher but was told she would have to fork out $30 to redeem it.

The voucher policy came into place after Silvermoon Jewellers announced it was going into liquidation earlier this month.

However, the liquidator said it was a “much fairer and palatable circumstance than what typically happens”.

The voucher

Michelle Terry’s 12-year-old daughter picked out a ring she wanted to spend her Christmas voucher on but was told she needed to spend the equivalent amount in cash.

Terry and her daughter walked out of the shop empty handed, but Terry said she would probably “bite the bullet” and spend the extra $30.

“She was a bit disappointed, you know, so I’ll probably cough up the extra money so she can spend her Christmas voucher,” the mum said.

In a message on its website, Silvermoon Jewellers said : “We have made a special arrangement with the liquidator, that Silvermoon Gift Cards can now be redeemed under specific conditions: customers must match the value of the gift card with an additional spend in the store.

“For instance, if a customer holds a $20 gift card, they will need to make an additional purchase of $20 or more to utilise the gift card. We encourage you to utilise any outstanding gift cards or vouchers at your earliest convenience.”

What the liquidator said

Bryan Williams of BWA Insolvency Ltd, who is the appointed liquidator, said the gift voucher policy was fair.

“In the morass of activity that’s post liquidation, it was a short term policy that was put in place because it looked like a much fairer and palatable circumstance than what typically happens.”

Someone with a voucher would typically just be given an unsecured creditors claim form to fill in, he said.

Once a claim had been made, the customer was able to receive any dividend payments from the sale of the liquidated company’s assets.

However, while voucher holders were preferred creditors, they were quite a long way down the list and it would be “very very unlikely” they would get anything at all in the liquidation, Williams said.

“There is not too much discretion that I have as liquidator, it’s an environment of black-letter law. But on the other hand, if I can bring about an outcome that is less abrasive than the more abrupt ‘don’t care attitude’ that is so often the case that caries on with liquidations, than I am certainly inclined to do so.”

What can people with vouchers expect?

Ewa Betkier, MBIE principal advisor of consumer services, said when a company was closing down or had gone out of business, you could normally expect to lose money if you had unused gift vouchers.

“Where the business has gone into liquidation, we suggest consumers contact the liquidators to make a claim.

“In this case, as the liquidators are offering a special arrangement to retain the value of the gift cards, we suggest that cardholders consider what the best option for them would be and act quickly as circumstances may change.”

If the voucher was paid for by credit card, an application for a chargeback could be made to the bank to get a refund.

This story is part of Stuff’s What’s got your goat, NZ? series, which examines the issues on the minds of our communities. You can contribute here.