Help, shops given wrong top up tariff

[charlie82]

Hi. Really not sure where to post this, but hope someone can give advice.

My brother (who's 17) bought a top up card yesterday for £10 with Orange. When in shop the lady repeated back to him "£10 Orange top up", which he replied yes to. Since arriving home he realised she'd given him £10 for Vodafone. My brother went back to the shop today and asked them to exchange it and they said no. They say it has to be within 10 minutes of purchasing it. He then asked to speak to a manager and again was told no, so he asked again and the lady said oh I'm the manager. My brother then walked out of the shop. Sorry to be a bit long winded. Is there an official policy about returns on top up vouchers if it was their mistake? What is the law? It there 28 days to return a purchase etc etc. Please let me know asap, so I can deal with the situation accordingly. Many thanks.

[NoMercy]

If it's their fault, he needs to be more assertive. I'm sorry that I cannot be more specific or helpful.

[dotty.]

There's no such thing as a top up card, it would have been a voucher printed on the till roll, the voucher has a pin number on it that you would key into the phone to activate the voucher, most retailers selling mobile phone top up vouchers offer a 14 day refund policy as long as the voucher has not been activated, they would need to contact the network to verify the voucher has not been activated. It probably depended on which store your brother used. Does he still have the till receipt?

[stokemaveric]

mmmmm tricky 1 this...is there not a family member who is on vodafone who needs a top up so that they can do a swap...if you know what i mean charlie82?

[welshlibranr]

Charlie maybe you could go back to the shop with your brother, and point out that it was indeed their mistake, and that they should rectify it, if you're insistant then you should get a result!..........hope you get it sorted!......

[dotty.]

There's no need to make any comment about any mistake just say it was the wrong one , it's not been activated and you want it decredited, the staff should know how to do that. They then sell you the right one, they will need to verify the voucher has not been activated which is part of the refund process anyway.

[tamborine]

the receipt has the name of retailer & code no. The retailer taps in the code & receipt number on the phone machine to credit the receipt. It can be done so long as the phone business is trading = indefinitely.

show the assistant how its done, she should be grateful for the knowledge.

[jno]

what would be the problem here? Why wouldn't the shop just exchange?

[stokemaveric]

or if all of the above fail your brother could use the house phone......

[charlie82]

Dotty- Yes it is a printed voucher with date and time etc on it. It had a code on it, but obviously he cant use it coz of wrong network.

Stoke - Unfortunately not. I'm vodafone but contracted.

Welsh - Yes, I'm going to go on his behalf. Im far more assertive, so fingers crossed. If not, then I shall take a note of staffs full name etc and write to their head office. I know it sounds a bit ott, but its a third of his weekly income. Well...and principle.

Thanks for your answers guys.

[dotty.]

which store is it? I would by pass the store and ring their customer service instead.

[charlie82]

ok, will do, thanks.

[stokemaveric]

seriously its a lot of money if the guy is on a low wage or a student and he needs his mobile for txts and the like good luck charlie and go get em girl....

[tamborine]

Tesco would do it, for goodwill. It can be credited & exchanged by any voucher retailer.

[ummmm]

You buy an Orange top up, leave the shop, ring your mate who's on orange, give them the pin, walk back in the shop and tell them it's the wrong network and get another voucher.

Things like that happen....

[netibiza]

This is the reason I always ask the shop assistants to actually do the top-up!!

[tamborine]

ummmm....that scam would show up when the receipt was keyed in for credit, or would be null & void to the user - which ever came first.

[ummmm]

I've seen someone do it and it worked...