As per title - use them up online before they get around to stopping this - i think they will refuse them in store
EDIT: order is now available for pick up - so it worked ok if you got in early!
Update:
They no longer work online.
Original Post: Dick Smith Enters Trading Halt (Voluntarily Administration)
TRS gives you 60 days to claim so you should've bought the iPhone on the ~12th of November.
I didn't sleep well for a few nights after I found out the share price dropped. I was worrying that given the financial situation of DS, Apple might not be willing to provide them with further stocks. There might not be stocks for the color I wanted or any of the 64GB versions and I would not want to spend all my time chasing for restocks. As such, I might not have been able to redeem the gift cards. After all, I have never spent so much money on mobile phone before.
I warned just a couple weeks ago that DSE gift cards might be worthless. Not a very thoughtful Christmas present.
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/226624
Direct link to comment (https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/226624#comment-3315793) made 21/12/2015.
Was a good call !
As much as we may not like DSE, let us not forget how much of a force they were for the Church Of Eneloops.
For all the shops who could have failed, DSE is one of the ones I would have wanted least to happen.
I dont mind them.
Was it the massive discounting that made you "not mind them" in the first place? At one stage, they were just expensive, didn't offer any good service, and wouldn't price match. If they didn't discount would you still like them and/or mind whether they went bust or not?
i think it's always bad for the economy when an employer of this size go bust.
Not to mention ozb has got quite a number of decent deals from them in the past few years.
Yes i feel sorry for them
Apart from gift cards, of course there's obviously no warranty for anything you've purchased from DSE.
Except for manufacturers warranty. But a lot of DSE stuff is DSE brand.
Of course there is, manufacturers warranties still apply ?!?
Edit : You edited as I was posting ;-)
I wonder if purchases from DSE within David Jones warranty is covered by David Jones?
If the receipt says David Jones on it.
Just checked, receipt only says David Jones - no mention of dick smith at all.
Of course it is. When you buy an Apple product in Myer from their in store concession stand do you go to Apple for a refund? Nope you go to Myer.
As a few people have mentioned above, I have no idea why people buy gift cards in the first place. Buying a voucher worth $100 is OK, but hearing stories of people buying gift cards worth around $1000 is plain crazy and stupid.
calling ppl stupid is not very nice
People are stupid or living under a stone.. You take your pick.
Anybody watching the news would know that Dick Smith gift cards were risky. I had over $500 worth left of gift cards after I purchased my laptop but I wasn't going to chance it so I purchased a five or six hard drives and therefore got rid of my gift cards before they went bust.
They do it coz there are 10% off goft card deals, then they stock up with a mind to buy a macbook or iphone at 10% off in future
I reckon its stupid too tbh unless you are going to purchase immediately - its like leaving $1k in your wallet or top drawer, just not particularly clever or safe
Today i managed to use my $400 gift cards at move by dick smith.
At what time?
Around 12pm, in rush I had to buy mobile, not really happy to loose 400$ to gain discount on gift cards.
their system declines all of my gift card as the very nice staff help to try those gift cards and what i saw is the payment system declined the gift cards. around 2pm.
Yep. To anyone holding DSE gift cards. Contact your bank.
I feel sorry for the soon-to-be-retrenched staff who will be responsible for enforcing this. Please don't have a go at them for this, it's not their fault.
I'll buy gift cards from anyone 1¢ on the dollar.
My tip to everyone, do not buy online as well. Do not give dick money without having the item in hand coz there is no guarantee u will get ur purchase delivered
At least the next clearance sale staff won't broden everything. They won't have any money. #hopewedontbecometoopc
I bought some gift card using Qantas Cash card. Is there any possibility of getting it back?
I'm sad for those with gift cards. I'm definitely cautious about where I buy gift cards from after one of those bookstores went under a few years back - maybe Angus and Robertson (?) and my mum got stung with a useless $20 gift card.
A good reminder to use up the DJs gift card I have in my wallet though. Will get onto it. Definitely too much of a risk to just have sitting there for months unused.
Borders.
Surely the gift card provider hasn't paid dick smith yet anyway for the gift cards.
30 days terms you would think.
COles and Woolies need to do something to get our money back
Brought $300 from Woolies =(, I hope they can do something.
where did you bring it?
Well just did a quick check on New Deal - so happy not having to wade past all those DS worthless sales (couldn't call them bargains any more)what time wasters they been lately.
Where's their manager?
I want to talk to the Dick head.
If you pay for something online doesn't that become a deposit that they won't honour? I don't understand how they're continuing to trade online. I don't care how much something goes on sale for - trying to use gift cards is one thing but no way would I pay any money to Dick Smith today unless I was holding the product in my hands.
I always thought a deposit was when you only made a partial payment with the intention of paying the rest of the balance later on?
Yep, it is officially confirmed now that all unused vouchers are useless. I hope not many people still have them.
Dick Smith announced on Tuesday morning that advisory firm McGrath Nicol had been called in as administrator, while Ferrier Hodgson was appointed as receiver to try to claw back debt owed to the company's creditors.
In a blow to customers, Ferrier Hodgson said it would not honour outstanding gift vouchers or refund deposits paid for goods.
"Affected customers will become unsecured creditors of the group," the firm said in a statement.
http://www.theage.com.au/business/retail/workers-scared-vouc…
blatant theft, probably even fraud…if an individual borrowed unsecured money from a bank and declared bankruptcy, it would be fraud…. i hope the gift card recipients are preferential creditors, but i doubt the law gives preference, for unsecured creditors…
i hope the gift card recipients are preferential creditors
No. Confirmed yesterday all gift card holders are unsecured creditors.
actually illegal for dick smith to pay them out… it is viewed as preferential payment to a creditor…other creditors could request them be clawedback
guess if i gave you a credit for $10000 at my pet shop, with the only intention to pay off a supplier, then next day go into VA, it would be IMHO fraud, but anyway, is what it is, wtf do people buy gift cards anyway…
if you want discount in something, get the giftcard the day u buy it as an email.
if you want to give someone a gift card for xmas, just give them cash, or tell them when they goto the shop you will come with them…..
other than the fact what happened they are easy to lose
Not theft, not fraud. Totally legit and will in keeping with the Corporations Act, amongst others.
used all my gift cards yesterday. no issues
this was in Sydney city stores, had to goto 2 as the first one didnt have stock of the item I wanted
Can you apply to get your money back through their receivers?
yes of course, but you wont get anywhere near full value
Not worth the effort - your well behind priority of staff, shareholders and operational debts (advertisiing, power companies, ISPs etc)
Yes, but way back in line. I would suggest under 1% chance of getting anything at all.
1% chance of getting 1c in a dollar too…
Word on the street is DSE is gonna have one more bargain sale thanks to the receivers.
EVERYTHING must go.
Buy in store only, obviously.
No retail warranty, obviously.
** gift cards excluded **
order is now available for pick up - so it worked ok if you got in early!
might be worth popping into DSE regularly to see what's up.
They'll be clearing out everything soon. Might be the best DSLR bargains eva… if they actually have any inventory.
My ipad pro ordered on 23rd Dec $999 !! is still shown as 'Processing'. It was paid online using Gift Cards.
It did say normally take 7-14 business days to deliver, so it is going to be a very painful wait….
Just hope Apple is still supplying them.
Well this will divide the OzB community…Thankfully I don't have a giftcard and am not in this position. However, I have been in the past. Simply walk in, grab goods to the value of the gift card, walk out. If they don't want to accept payment, then so be it. Just because FH can legally steal from you doesn't make it right. Even worse with all the DS giftcard promotions that have been running very recently. They new they were going into administration and have shown no respect for anyone.. blatant careless greed. No employee is going to side with the company. Be pleasant and say thanks etc to the staff. Even tell them exactly what you are doing if you want. Just remember it isn't the employees fault and they also know it's not the consumers fault. I wish you all the best..
That's theft.
It totally is…on both sides. Except sadly the party who has legitimately put their hard earned on the table is seen in the wrong…
Yeah lose not just the value of the gift card but also your job, future possibility of work, and legal costs. Extra nice touch admitting your guilt to staff who are undoubtedly having a bad day. Order today and will throw in a night in a police cell and a visit to the nice judge too. Great idea. Right up there with repeatedly punching yourself as hard as you can in the privates.
I hear you, and technically true. But the fact that someone on a massive salary can happily shaft the average mum n dad's, grand parents on pensions etc.. especially running gift card promotions over Christmas knowing in less than 2 weeks they won't need to fullfill their obligation doesn't sit well with me at all. I work in collaboration with the Police every day. Ask them what they think about it if you want. All I can say is they are human working class people too. Its a sad world to me when we think it's OK for corporations to do as they wish when the rules were written by them. Giftcards should be refunded immediately & it should be law. They shouldnt be considered the same risk as an investment and not part of a creditors calculation. But until then, as a big fat guy once said "Don't get bitter, get better". How u do that is up to you. But don't get angry at the workers, they have been treated with mushroom respect.
The directors did not know before Christmas that they were insolvent. The call to bring in voluntary administrators was made at a board meeting called especially because the directors discovered they were screwed.
If they did in fact know that they were insolvent before that meeting, the directors become criminally liable, so it's vanishingly unlikely that your conspiracy theory would be correct.
However, there is possibility making the rounds in the financial community that the timing of the receivership filed for by NAB and HSBC was deliberate to encompass the maximum number of gift cards purchased before they could be redeemed since they knew gift card holders were unsecured creditors far below them on the totem pole.
@Kyanar: Sounds good on paper and probably helps them to sleep at night. But I think we all know not one person in that boardroom would have been surprised by the result.The banks & directors know what they are doing. The fact that a company can sell giftcards on the day they are pulling the pin tells me our legal systems are up the snake. Refunds up to the insolvent status sounds fair to me. Directors salary should be the last part of the chain.Anyway, whining won't change anything. I hope those who have been wronged find a way to make it right. Goodluck
I ordered online a day before voluntary administration. And picked up on the afternoon of the voluntary administration announcement.
I check DS website, they are still accepting orders on-line, but they will not be able to fulfil the order.
Is this a kind of on-line fraud?
Take the money but not deliver it.
Absolute joke they are still taking orders online.
Someone should be stoping this
Yeah, I hope enough people know about this to not do it. How are the stores handling it? Are they simply making sweeping discounts?
I have 400$ worth of gift cards. x-(
Lets see whether they are going to change their decision on 14th January or not.
Or else I need to claim this 400$ under DONATION term TO DICKSMITH during claiming tax.
Anyone with gift cards should register as an unsecured creditor - you probably won't get anything, but at least you get to vote:
http://www.mcgrathnicol.com/assignments/dick-smith-group-com…
http://www.mcgrathnicol.com/app/uploads/Circular-to-Creditor…
http://www.mcgrathnicol.com/app/uploads/Dick-Smith-Holdings-…
http://www.mcgrathnicol.com/app/uploads/Frequently-Asked-Que…
How to register as an unsecured creditor?
Read the first link. You can fill out the form and send that to the company administrators.
Thanks.
Ask your banks for charge back and if you have paid with cc, you could try to ask your cc company to get a refund . Here is link for it : http://www.afr.com/business/retail/customers-with-dick-smith…
Also, a gift card app company probably able to help honour your gift card
http://www.smartcompany.com.au/finance/49440-gift-card-app-a…
The gift card app company will only help you if you bought the gift card through them
I am sure you are trying to be helpful but read your second link because your wording is misleading due to omission - there's no point giving people false hope :-(
It's already been discussed in numerous OzBargain threads including this thread dedicated to it, that the company is only honouring the gift cards purchased from them directly.
If you think about it logically it would be suicidal for their business to honour gift cards purchased from others such as Woolworths/Coles.
Just spoke to Commonwealth Bank and they can only issue a chargeback if the gift cards were purchased through a credit card or the credit option on a debit card. Unfortunately I paid with the savings option and am now $700 short :/
The company had a "go for broke" fire sale in December. Any one who purchased gift cards after this point were really not thinking clearly!
that's the way! It's always the victim's fault for letting themselves be a victim. So for all the Grannies and Granddaddies out there who bought their grandchildren a DS voucher for Christmas, it's your own damn fault. You were obviously not thinking clearly and let this be a lesson to you. BUYER BEWARE, CAVEAT EMPTOR and all that jazz.
Let me guess "Evangelionn", you weren't affected by this and therefore don't give a stuff about others?!!!
Interesting article and NSW Fair Trading has said watch this space re whether or not DSE gift cards will be honoured - http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-06/knight-dick-smith-and-…
I must admit my inbox is nice and clean this week. No more daily DSE spam.
http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/retail/coles-has-agr…
Coles now accepting them!
Another awesome win for consumers
I bought a Laptop from the Ebay Dicksmith Store, paid the money and never received it. I sent several times an email asking when the laptop will arrive and never got a reply, only a reply saying that due to large volume of emails it takes longer until they can reply to me. Finally the Dicksmith store replied to me with the following after about 6 weeks of purchase:
'We have reviewed your order and contacted the store, it appears that your order was cancelled on 13 January 2016 and a refund request was sent for processing.
The store also informed that they have got two display items and there are no plans to replenish the product.
Regarding your refund, due to being under receivership we cannot issue refund for products purchased before 5th January 2016. You may submit a claim as an unsecured creditor to the Group’s Administrators, McGrath Nicol.'
I submitted this claim as unsecured creditor last year in February 2016. I asked a few times via email about an outcome and was asked to wait. Today I called McGrath Nicol and they said its very unlikely I will receive a refund. Then I contacted ebay and they told me they cannot help as their refund policy is only a 30 day timeframe after purchase.
So it looks like at this stage, there is nothing I can do. I lost the money without receiving any product. I find it shocking that apparently unsecured creditors do not receive their money back. There were court cases and I wonder how that outcome is manageable with alignment to consumer laws?!
I am posting this here and appreciate if anyone has an idea what else I could try or to inform me how that is legally possible?
Thanks
Planned to buy an iPhone 6S 64GB and claimed TRS for a trip leaving on next Tuesday (the 12th of Jan).
Brought $1150 gift cards (worth up to $1265) from the Coles October bonus value deal https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/215665. Then came across the news that DS Holdings' share price plummeted almost 50% in the last week of October. Did some research online and found out the business was heading into trouble. Was quite nervous at the time. Decided to give up the TRS and went into the shop a week later and got the iPhone.
I could have been able to claim the $111 TRS. But I could also have lost $1150.