Tony Hetherington is the Financial Mail on Sunday’s top researcher, taking on readers’ corners, uncovering the truth that lies behind closed doors and delivering victories for those left out of their own pockets. Below you can read how you can contact him.
Mrs WE writes: Buyagift has deducted £200 from my bank vouchers. There is no way to contact anyone except online and they don’t answer.
We have saved these gift vouchers so that my 81-year-old husband and I can get away for a few days.
I don’t know where to turn if Buyagift won’t even talk to me.
Lockdown: A reader’s £200 worth of Buyagift vouchers disappeared from her account, and then she couldn’t get help from the company’s online chatbot
Tony Hetherington replies: Buyagift is an online voucher company. No ideas for Christmas? Give friends a voucher to spend on all sorts of things, like restaurant meals, spa days or a hot air balloon ride.
Don’t know what to get a family member for that big birthday? With a Buyagift voucher they can drive a Spitfire.
If all goes well, of course. And at first glance there is no reason to worry. Buyagift is run by Experience More Limited, part of the Moonpig greeting card group.
But £200 worth of vouchers you had saved simply disappeared from your account without explanation.
When you tried to resolve this via Buyagift’s online chat service, you were first disconnected and then told there was nothing more that could be done. You also threatened to report the matter to the police as theft.
Then I discovered for myself what you had been dealing with. Buyagift’s website does not provide a telephone number or email address and warns: ‘We cannot respond to letters sent by post.’
There is a ‘contact us’ page, but this simply provides access to Buyagift’s own list of frequently asked questions. If a topic is not there, the customer’s question is meaningless.
There is a chatbot, but no matter how I tried to ask my questions, I got a question in response.
Did I already have a Buyagift voucher? No, I didn’t. Did I want to buy a voucher? No, I didn’t. Since I didn’t have any vouchers and wasn’t planning on buying any vouchers, the chatbot wasn’t interested in what I said.
Strangely enough, the customer service page then asked, “Was this article helpful?” The day I tried to use it, a footnote said, “916 of 8,960 found this helpful.” So over 8,000 people tried to understand Buyagift’s FAQ and chatbot, but they got nowhere!
However, 24 hours after you threatened to call the police, a Buyagift customer service representative sent you a message saying: “Our mission is to bring happiness, and I see we have fallen short on this occasion.” . He gave his email address so I could get the details from his company’s press spokesperson.
And to my surprise, he responded.
I wish I could say this was a real turning point, but Buyagift could put the mafia’s code of silence to shame. I have set out all the details of your complaint and I have added my own question about why Buyagift made it so difficult to contact them.
Despite another push a week later, Buyagift has not commented or answered questions.
I also wanted to ask the company about a check I had done on the court files, which revealed a number of judgments against the company listed as ‘unsatisfied’.
This means that the company has not paid off its debts quickly, or has never paid at all.
However, there is a happy ending for you. Although no explanation was given, the customer service representative recovered your missing vouchers.
You said to me: ‘Thank you very much for your prompt intervention, which led to a very satisfactory response.’
A good result, but there is no reason to assume that exactly the same problem will not occur again.
If you believe you have been a victim of financial misconduct, please write to Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, 9 Derry Street, London W8 5HY or email tony.hetherington@mailonsunday.co.uk. Due to the large number of questions, personal answers cannot be given. Please only send copies of original documents, which unfortunately cannot be returned.