Consumer
Beware of Gift Card!
Bought something from Roman that I returned. Was issued a gift card for £55. Was told it was valid for 2 years (which is pretty standard). 14 months later tried to use it, to find it was invalid. I phoned customer services and was told the card was only valid for one year. I explained that I was told it was valid for 2 years and nowhere did it say one year. Got that wrong as although the envelope it was put in said nothing, in very small writing in the middle of terms and conditions on card it says “valid for 12 months”. Customer Services were very unhelpful and would not accept I had a valid case and would not honour the card. I asked for the call to be escalated to someone more senior and was refused and told I was not permitted to speak to anyone else and any further communications had to be by email. So I started emailing. Still didn’t get anywhere. Pointed out that theirs was the only company I could find that only gave a year to use a gift card, so having been told 2 years why would I doubt it. After several emails I asked for the complaint to be escalated again and was told this was not possible and they could no longer assist me in my complaint. I asked for a name of someone more senior and have never had a response. I looked on the internet and could find no number except the customer services number I initially tried. £55 to them would have been nothing but to me, being a pensioner (which I explained to them), it was a lot of money. I learnt my lesson the hard way: never trust what a sales assistant says, read terms and conditions all the way through (when you find them) and lastly never buy from Roman again. I cannot forgive them for being so hardhearted.
