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“First & LAST time!”

written by on 16/09/2017

Sadly you can't give no stars! I decided to buy a driving experience voucher as a Christmas present for my boyfriend last year. I started looking through the options on WHSmiths website and decided on a half day rally session – the fact that it was available to use at Elvington, North Yorks. was a big part of this decision as this is within a reasonable distance from us, only a couple of hours each way. Voucher arrives – and it is from activity superstore – looks legit.

Shortly after purchasing the voucher my mother became seriously ill – so ill that she almost died and spent 5 months in hospital. Fair to say that using the voucher was not top of our list of priorities at that time. And anyway, it had a 12 month validity period so there should be no issues right? Wrong.

We finally got round to booking the experience in May – activated the voucher, got the voucher number and phoned the company that ran the experience to book a date. It was at this point that we were told that the experience was no longer offered at Elvington – it would have been nice to have been notified about this! We were told that the next closest location was near Prestwold, Leic. – over 3 hours each way – and it would not even be the same experience. With this distance it would definitely have to be an overnight job, so not ideal. The woman I was speaking to from the driving company said she would deactivate the voucher so it was no longer on their system so I could look into getting a refund if I wanted to. At this point we’re still thinking, it’s alright, it’s well within the validity period so we have time to consider whether to try and get a weekend to do it or look into changing it/refunding it.

Extended busy periods at work (summer and shooting season – my boyfriend works in hospitality) meant we were unable to get the time for a whole weekend off work together to use the voucher. We are now into mid-September and have realised we will not be able to use the voucher by its expiry date of the beginning of November. We decide to see if we can get a refund and use the money on a different voucher/experience with the same company.

So I recently rang activity superstore’s customer service – still well within the validity period of the voucher – to explain the problem, only to be told that they are not willing to refund it. According to AS, any refund is the responsibility of WHSmith who have a 28 day policy, which is useless for products that are highly likely to be bought as gifts. However, the voucher is activity superstore’s, therefore refunds are surely their responsibility? Apparently, my only options are to either pay another £20 on top of the £130 I’ve already paid for the voucher, to extend the validity date by 6 months, or exchange it for another experience. I was told that if the cost of the voucher I exchanged it for was different to what I’ve already paid, I will have to pay the extra or they will refund the difference if it is cheaper. SURELY IF THEY CAN REFUND THE DIFFERENCE IN AN EXCHANGE THEY CAN REFUND THE VOUCHER?! Here’s the catch though – if I choose to exchange the voucher, the new one will still have an expiry date of the beginning of November this year – ABSOLUTELY USELESS!

I was considering paying the extra to extend the voucher – but having read so many of the previous reviews we have decided not to do so. I am not just going to knowingly let myself be persuaded out of more money! I just wish I had done more research on the company before I bought the voucher – it would have saved me a lot of frustration and money!

It is shocking that this company can get away with refusing refunds – especially on vouchers within the validity period. It is even more shocking that well-known, respectable companies such as WHSmith, Argos and Debenhams are willing to sell AS vouchers considering the bad reputation it has clearly garnered (read some of the other reviews – some of it is beyond belief!). I will never be using this company again, and we will be making sure all our family & friends know to avoid them as well.
ESSENTIALLY – AVOID USING ACTIVITY SUPERSTORE AT ALL COSTS – unless you like being taken in that is!