John Lewis giftcards balance was used by others who I don't know

[stones1229]

I purchased two J&L giftcards total amount is 400 pounds from Sainsbury's, the day after purchasing, when I try to use the giftcards.,the balance was ZERO.

 

I called to J&L giftcard department, and they only can told me, it was used by one person, ordering and deliver to an address which is not my address.

 

And they refused to provide any further info to me.

 

I contacted sainsbury's ,  J&L , or actionfraud to report this issue, but no one would take responsibility or action.

 

I really don't know what can i do now, and can i still have my money back?

 

I still have the giftcards and shopping receipts.

 

Thanks a lot, it was last year and I almost lost faith..

 

 

 

[dx100uk]

you know the address the items purchased with the giftcards were delivered too?

this sounds like fraud to me.

 

how did you pay for the cards at sainsbury's - by a debit card?

 

what date did you purchase them?

[stones1229]

John lewis knows the address and the name but refused to provide to me. They only provide to the police, but there is no any action from the police...so I don't know, kind of give up. But still very frustrated about this thing.

 

I used a Sainsbury's gift card to buy John Lewis giftcards.

 

Oh, it's been a year, it was happened exactly end of last March. 

 

 

 

[BankFodder]

Well you haven't helped yourself by waiting so long – but I expect that you know that.

I'm not surprised that they won't let you have any details. I suppose that they think that it is subject to data protection – and it may well be.

I think eventually you will have to start a county court claim against them. I can imagine that they will defend and then you will have to convince a judge that it is more likely than not that you are telling the truth.
It may well be that if you start a claim, John Lewis will start to take it more seriously and look into it and then understand exactly what has happened.

I doubt whether it is going to reveal any information – but I think that the best thing you can do is to start information gathering by sending John Lewis an SAR.

I think you can make the SAR fairly specific and require that they disclose to you all information in any form relating to your purchase and then the subsequent expenditure/exchange of the gift cards number XXX.

You can get this request into them for Monday and they then have 30 days.

As I said, I doubt whether the disclosure will give you the information you want because they will decline at least that part on the basis of data protection but you may as well try.

If you want to do that – then come back here when you get some kind of result

[Manxman in exile]

Isn't it Sainsburys the OP needs to be dealing with and not JL?  The OP bought the giftcards from Sainsburys.

[BankFodder]

I don't think so .

 

Treat them as money.

 

They were used to buy cards from John Lewis so that there was a credit balance with John Lewis .

 

By the time that the OP tried to use the credit balance, it seems that John Lewis had allowed it to be used by somebody else

 

 

[stones1229]

Thank you for your comments!

I contacted Sainsbury's, they told me they believe it's not their fault but, they would investigate it, and no further feedback.

I contacted John Lewis many many times, they said they could not do anything unless the police told them to.

I contacted the police, they told me I only can get some help from actionFraud, who never helped anything, only a case number, nothing more, so it stuck here..

[Manxman in exile]

3 hours ago, BankFodder said:

I don't think so .

 

Treat them as money.

 

They were used to buy cards from John Lewis so that there was a credit balance with John Lewis .

 

By the time that the OP tried to use the credit balance, it seems that John Lewis had allowed it to be used by somebody else

 

 

 

?

 

But the OP has not bought any cards from JL - they were bought from Sainsburys.

 

Are you trying to say that buying the cards from Sainsburys is the same as buying directly from JL, and therefore the claim should be against JL and not Sainsbury?  Isn't the issue here the validity or otherwise of the cards sold by Sainsburys?  They appear to have sold to the OP giftcards which - according to JL - have already been redeemed.

 

I'm not sure you can treat a card or voucher like money in these circumstances.

 

Edited March 27, 2022 by Manxman in exile

[stones1229]

I actually checked the balance after my purchased from Sainsbury's, and it was there.

The day after when I was trying to use it, I found out the balance was gone to Zero.

This is so strange, I can't imagine why and how.

[dx100uk]

20 hours ago, stones1229 said:

I used a Sainsbury's gift card to buy John Lewis giftcards.

so someone gave your a sainsbury's gift card, you used that to purchase the JL cards in sainsbury's?

[stones1229]

2 minutes ago, dx100uk said:

so someone gave your a sainsbury's gift card, you used that to purchase the JL cards in sainsbury's?

 

Actually it is my wife's company's benefits, every month company pays hundreds pounds into this Sainsbury's giftcard which i have already registered.

So i usually buy some JL giftcard for shopping grocery online, cause sainsbury's giftcard can't.

[dx100uk]

1 hour ago, stones1229 said:

I contacted John Lewis many many times, they said they could not do anything unless the police told them to.

how did you contact JL, is this all in a provable written format ? say re the above and all other comms or by phone with no recording?

 

yes your target is JL not sainsbury

 

 

[stones1229]

I called their phone number, also email. I also get contact with JL on twitter.

But no matter what way, they said it's not their fault and can not do anything unless the police ask them to.

[dx100uk]

not answering my question....

 

have you provable written comms that saying in WRITTING they wont do anything until the police get involved?

 

 

[stones1229]

I only got email ,is it written?

Quote:

This job falls to the police who through a freedom of information request can see who placed the order and used the gift cards, they do this by visiting the johnlewis.com website and click on the ‘Our Privacy Notice’ page at the bottom of the webpage. 

I really am sorry that they have not been able to resolve you enquiry so far and I wish you all the very best. 

 

 

 

 

 

[dx100uk]

police doing an FOI?? what are they dribbling on about?

 

ok time to start a fresh IMHO.

 

send JL an SAR 

get all the data they hold on you.

 

as you've used their gift card for a good while, they know who you are and where you are so should have a good amount of data on you and each use of the card.

it  will also give you the benefit of being able to see what they have written in their customer communications log too.

 

dx

 

[stones1229]

Thank you DX.

Will print one SAR and sign and send it to JL.

[Manxman in exile]

On 27/03/2022 at 02:24, stones1229 said:

I purchased two J&L giftcards total amount is 400 pounds from Sainsbury's, ...

 

 

So in order to clear up some confusion for me, are we saying the OP did not in fact buy the JL giftcards from Sainsburys?

 

(Sorry if that's a stupid question, but I never use or buy gift cards or vouchers myself.  It seemed a bit odd to me that anybody would buy JL giftcards from Sainsburys, but it also seems equally odd to me that anybody would use a Sainsburys gift card to buy JL gift cards.  Am I being hopelessly stupid and missing something obvious?)

[dx100uk]

On 27/03/2022 at 23:28, stones1229 said:

 

Actually it is my wife's company's benefits, every month company pays hundreds pounds into this Sainsbury's giftcard which i have already registered.

So i usually buy some JL giftcard for shopping grocery online, cause sainsbury's giftcard can't.

 

[Manxman in exile]

Sorry - but I'm a very linear person and need things spelling out to me as in "Point 1... point 2... point 3... " etc, whereas I think you are assuming I should understand something that really doesn't make sense to me.  I'm afraid just repeating what the OP posted previously isn't really helping me.

 

I think I just need a straightforward answer to a simple question like "So it's possible to use a credit balance on a Sainsburys gift card to buy a JL gift card?"   The answer to that might seem obvious to many people but it isn't obvious to me.  I have always thought that a credit balance on a Sainsburys card could only be used to purchase goods and services from Sainsburys.  I wasn't aware that one could be used to buy goods and services or gift cards from a third party, or that Sainsburys sold JL gift cards.  It seems to sort of defeat the purpose of a gift card as I understand it, which is to tie you in to that supplier.  

 

But as I say, I'm not at all familiar with buying or using gift cards so maybe that's why I'm at a loss... ?

[dx100uk]

 

a gift card allows you to buy products in the store the giftcard is named for.

should that store sell other giftcards as part of their retail trade is up to them.

thus you can ..

 

if your logic were correct you wouldn't be able to buy amazon gift cards in sainsbury's then...

[Manxman in exile]

As I don't buy anything from Amazon and as I don't use or buy gift cards myself, I wouldn't know ...

 

But thanks.

 

 

[mantis shrimp]

Is there any chance of persuading Mrs Stones' employer to provide this bonus as a John Lewis card or voucher? 

[The GodMother]

Actually Dx is incorrect. 

I state that as some gift cards say you cant buy certain things with them or use them if they are in your basket. EG Alcohol, tobacco or tobacco related items, DVDs. You can only use the to buy food/soft drinks. 

 

[dx100uk]

did a say everything...nope ..mute point GM ...not really worth bringing up...