Trade in your worthless Dick Smith gift cards for up to $25 in Kogan vouchers. You have to snail mail it to Kogan by 1 Feb 2016. No minimum spend it appears, but cannot be used to pay for shipping.
Mod: See forum topic for all discussion and links to related deals.
The ONE voucher thing sounds like it might suck for some people
get your friends and family to do it too
Really. How different is it from a $25 HN online voucher that you dont need to jump hoops over to get?
Non sequitur.
Kogan is less of a jerk
@bchliu: Gerry Harvey described giving money to the homeless as 'a waste'. I don't know much about ruslan. Could he really be so awful?
@mnermner: Depends on how you view it. If you give homeless money, they may not use it in the best interest of their own well being. However, if you use it on sustainable, replenishable organisations that are genuinely interested in their well being, then it would be the better option. I think you've taken things out of context here on both Gerry's comments and arguing ethics and morality in a bargain forum.
@bchliu: then again, I've seen that attitude many times on oz bargain, so i shouldn't be surprised by this ^^
It should have been illegal to sell any at all (eg before Xmas,etc), since they would have have known that voluntary administration was pending, as this kind of thing doesn't just happen over night.
Think of all the people who had yet to use their gift cards as well as the people who got them for Xmas presents.
No I don't have a (now) useless GC, just feel sorry for those that did, this is f**ked up.
agree, they had a plan to steal from their customers, all planned well.
IT IS A TRAP.
Agreed, but at what point should they be banned from selling gift cards.
When you know theres a real risk they cant be honoured? Its certainly convenient it happened just after Christmas, gc's are a popular gift.
That's what I mean, when is it a real risk? It would be good if some independent body could decide when it is a risk to sell them, but it could be really bad for business too as gift cards can bring in a lot of money.
gift cards can bring in a lot of money.
That was the point - until gift card is used, it's pure cash for the company. Dick Smith cashed up as much as they could prior to the announcement.
I know, I'm saying what is the standard that would make a company not be able to sell gift cards? Selling gift cards at a discount could help solve cash flow problems.
I wonder what would happen if they had sold them at 50% off. They couldn't just refund the money.
I wonder what would happen if they had sold them at 50% off. They couldn't just refund the money.
too suspicious - they'd immediately lose all credibility.
I read it was a conscious decision by the banks to do this, realising that there was inventory still there, nd a lot of cash drawn in via giftcards, so it was the best time (for them) to wind up the company as they had all the gift card money "in the bank". Dick Smith may have had an inkling this could have occurred, but unlikely their staff did. It was all the banks doing, that is where the anger should be aimed.
Shouldn't the anger be aimed at mismanagement by DSE that lead to the current state of the company? It's hardly the bank's fault that the company had made some (in hindsight?) unfavourable decisions regarding strategy that led them to voluntary administration.
I know if I'd lent someone a lot of money and heard that they weren't going to be able to pay it back, I'd be knocking on their door at the first sign they'd come into some cash.
Went into their Doncaster store last night and to be honest, I fail to see anything that I'd want to spend a GC on (if I had one and could use it)
$25 for your legitimate personal details :)
Wonder what ol Kogan is going to do with them?
Throw them in the bin. This is a ploy to gain customers.
Yep this is guerrilla marketing 101. It'll cost way less than an advertising campaign, and it'll net them a tonne of good press for very little effort.
I saw something saying NSW Fair Trade is investigating the cancellation of DSE giftcards and there is some dispute in play.
Would be very interesting if DSE is forced to honor them in some way and Kogan has snagged them.
How would they be forced to honour them? Customers are unsecured creditors. They are pretty much last on the list of people with their hands out.
Maaaaybe the ACCC or ASIC would get involved if it turned out the DSE was attempting to induce ppl to buy them (their 10% "extart value" sales) knowing they were going out of business. Even then, what about suppliers and employees owed money?
@Mr Wowtrousers:
No idea what processes are going on, just saw ABC article this afternoon that implied fight wasn't over.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-06/knight-dick-smith-and-…
To speculate how about if DSE thought there was a strong chance of receivership, then they didn't sell giftcards in good faith, there is no meeting of minds and contract of sale is void. Maybe moves gift card holders up the receivership food chain?
Again all I have is an ABC article implying the giftcard situation is still grey.
@Mr Wowtrousers: if they can prove that the directors will be jointly responsible to repay the gift card holders not the suppliers as the cut off would be before and after knowing the company was insolvent.
Maybe. If find it hard to believe they weren't in trouble with their suppliers and printers / paying wages and super until after they sold their gift cards. And which people with gift cards will get their money back? People from 11mths ago when things were ostensibly okay or only those that bought them around Christmas time?
I honestly wouldn't hold my breath, but if people get anything back, that's great.
I doubt Ruslan Kogan would throw them in the bin… he'll add them all together and become an unsecured creditor of Dick Smith. Probably won't get anything back but he might…
Smart move by Kogan! Cheap marketing, creates goodwill / positive perception, gains a lot of new customers. I guess customers who take advantage of this get something too so it's a win/win.
It's good ideas and the ability to implement them quickly like this that make Kogan so successful. If only Dick Smith had management who were just as insightful they may not have gone under!
I doubt Kogan brand attracts any loyalty - their business is based on lowest prices for products that can just survive ownership before warranty expiry.
Collect a sh*tload of these then register as large unsecured debtor with Dick Smith. Start suing if necessary to recoup costs.
yep, even if they can get 5 cents in every dollar in 2 years time after the dust settles it will be worth it.
Gives up $25, to get back $1.25 in 2 years time? Hmm…. No don't think this is the reason. Its all pure goodwill!
@Level380: but if people surrender a $100 gift card, to get $25 of Kogan credit, it might add up and there is a remote chance of Kogan making a profit. That said, I'd bet Kogan are funding this from their marketing budget and will count any return as a creditor as a bonus.
good will lol. They could make 100s of this. Ppl will surrender $500+ gift cards and they could stand to gain 10-20% of face value albeit in a couple years. Its a good tactic to get dickie customers on side. Chances are they will use a $25 voucher with their own cash and buy something overpriced and crummy. Excellent ploy by kogan. + +
@Gavman: So gavman, how did you go from saying they'll get 5c in the dollar in the post above, to now saying they're worth 20% of the value? ie 20c in the dollar? Make your mind up, or maybe you don't know what you're talking about!
DSE has little stock left to sell, stacks of debt. These giftcards are worthless. You'll lucky to see 5c in the dollar! But sure you guys who think they're worth more, start buying them up at 10% of face value. I'm sure you'll have stacks of them flowing in!
What's the minimum amount of credit you can put on a Dick Smith gift card?
Probably the same minimum amount of credit Kogan will give you for it.
Kogan does not specify any amount which must be on the DS gift card. You could go into DS and purchase a GC for $1 if that is the smallest value you can put on the card and then trade it in with Kogan.
And they will give you a $1 voucher.
@Putnum: Where does it say they will give $1 for $1 up to $25? It just says they will email you $25 of Kogan credit.
@unity1: While you're right in the T&C's it doesn't say anything about that, I would be very surprised if Kogan gives you a useful $25 voucher in exchange for $1 of DSE giftcard.
You can't buy DSE gift cards anymore, anyway.
besides the fact DSE wouldn't sell them now anyways since it would be technically illegal. Otherwise you could buy $100 one and just issue a charge back on ur credit card and get it for free
Terms just say that there must be outstanding (not in the sense of "excellent") credit on the card and that it is valid as at the date that Kogan receives it (how would Kogan know/find out?).
it's a bit extreme to try and buy a $1 gift card, which you can't do anyway, however I DO have $1 left on one of my cards. Interesting.
Also, how would they know whether there was any value left on the cards? Would they actually bother checking?
Why would anyone accept a gift card as a refund when the gift cards are unable to be used? I would have expected DSE to just allow them to do an immediate swap with something to the same value (or pay the difference), or no refund.
@imcold:
Really? And DSE staff would be just as willing to search for and confirm that value? I doubt it.
The value of the card is irrelevant, its a $25 gift, and forces you to buy from Kogan to redeem it. If you dont, it costs them nothing. If you do, they made a sale.
@WazzaP: It has always been like this. If you paid using a wish card or DS GC then refunds were issued on a DS GC.
@unity1:
Might have always been like that while the gift cards were usable, but now that you cannot redeem a gift card, they can't give them as refunds. They might as well just take your goods and say "Alright, now bugger off".
delete
@WazzaP: I'm not sure whether they are still doing that but how are refunds supposed to be processed in these circumstances?
@strangeloops66: https://www.dicksmithgiftcard.com.au/login.aspx?program=1005…
While you can't spend your balance you can still check how high it is and when it expires.
@unity1:
Depends on the reason for the refund - I'd be surprised if they allow change of mind refunds now, and for faulty goods it's likely to be an on the spot swap for a replacement (if it's within a DOA period, otherwise back to the manufacturer) or you can get something else if you pay the difference.
Some people have digital gift cards.. what will those people do?
Mine are already all spent last month.
Interesting… I'm also wondering what the hell Kogan are gonna do, or what they CAN do with the Dick Smith GCs. I assume there's some sort of agreement in place there.
Or simply they want to entice people to spend with Kogan. People are likely to spend more than $25 and may even turn into a repeat customer.
I think it's a clever move.
I think you're right.
And if Dick Smith do recover, I guess they can use it.
The average purchase for Kogan would be around $150-200 I imagine, $25 off is like a 15% discount. Peanuts and they come out looking like heros.
Gift card owners are still creditors, unsecured creditors, but if DSE has money left at the end of the process you may get a portion of it back. It might be 50c to the dollar, it might be 2c to the dollar.
So if you give Kogan a $100 gift card and creditors get 30c to the dollar back, they've made a profit, depends on how much debt DSE have vs how much in assets.
It's really really unlikely to be anywhere near $1:$1 though, if DSE were in that kind of shape they would not have taken this step.
And if they do go into liquidation… Well there goes most of it with liquidator fees.
Id guess Kogan would be very last among unsecured creditors, and maybe not entitled at all. They knew full well what they purchased, and they can have no realistic expectation of being paid on them. If there was anything left over after a liquidation (not going to happen, but), shareholders would probably be entitled to it before Kogan.
Its marketing. A small gesture, you must purchase from them to take advantage of the offer. If not, costs them nothing anyway.
Why would shareholders be entitled? Kogan are buying debt, the same thing that all financial institutions do. They're buying very high risk debt in an unusual way, but they're still just buying debt.
This is nothing but a promo voucher discount that a lot of retailers do they give away for free.
Wait till they listed all the conditions like: Minimum spend is $500 and exclude every thing that you want to buy.
will Kogan swap $30 DSE card to $25 credit ?
I dont see why not
Yes
They can't do anything with the gift cards. This is purely to bring in customers who might use their $25 credit towards purchasing a $500 TV.
Not true, they can register with the receivers as creditors. In all likelihood they are worth 'something'. Possibly not very much compared to face value, but almost assuredly 'something', otherwise DSE have probably been trading while insolvent for a while, which would likely result in criminal charges.
Unsecured creditors (read: gift card holders) are basically last on the list of people who will get paid out from all of this. Your gift card is worth nothing.
I don't have a gift card.
It doesn't often happen that a company this size ends up paying nothing to their unsecured creditors. Once I ended up getting about 80c / $1 for a company that failed as an unsecured creditor. Much better than expected.
I'm not saying you ARE wrong, I'm saying you could be wrong. And that's not something you can argue with, even the receivers are unlikely to be in a position to say for sure right away, it will depend on what they get for their assets.
Yes but you should be aware that most creditors are unsecured. Its only the banks that will have provided secured loans. The employees also come before unsecured creditors. Everyone else - including gift cared holders is in the same pool. After that it's a question whether there is anything left to be divided - if they have nothing left then they are insolvent - and cannot continue to trade.
It's also worth pointing out that they have not been shown to be insolvent yet. They are in voluntary administration. An administrator cannot attempt to trade their way out of insolvency - so the fact that they have not started to close down stores immediately is an indicator of solvency. It may be a temporary cash flow issue - Of course this is unlikely but I think people should stop suggesting they know that there is nothing there when the reality is you do not. They were clearly servicing their debt - it's when the debt was to be renogiated it wasn't secured and a large amount came on 'call'. It's like if your bank all of a sudden said - we have decided to call in your loan of your PPOR. You might sell you investment property but would not quit your job.
Remember Dick might get sold to someone who might decide to honour these so hang on. Better $0 than kogans worthless $25
There is not a snowballs chance in hell that Dick Smith is going to continue as a business in Australia. Hold onto your cards and your gift cards will never be worth anything more than zero.
They don't have to continue for them to be worth more than 0. If they pay their secured creditors, clear all the stock and pay staff entitlements, there's likely to be 'something' left in the way of money, possibly mere cents in the dollar, but almost certainly more than 0.
OK Bargs
Lets wager $100 on it - CASH not gift cards.
If gift cardholders get more than 1 cent in the dollar I owe you $100 cash.
If gift cardholders get 1 cent or less in the dollar for their cards, you owe me $100 cash.
Do you accept?
I am very, very confident I will win this bet…
What do you think the chances of that happening? If they had 1 million dollars left over after everything else has be paid, how would that 1 million end up to gift card holders.
You obviously know nothing about Dick Smith financial issues
its very likely they will honor the gift cards as the total amount in giftcards outstanding in only about the 5 million mark
Perhaps you should have some facts that shoot off wild guesses..
OK Roary
Let's see who is left with egg on their face in about 5 weeks time.
You say I am making wild guesses, I say you are ignorant.
I say there will be nothing left for unsecured creditors after the banks, employees, receivers, administrators and government take their slices of the pie.
Time will tell
If you are so sure of your facts Roary, put your money where your mouth is.
Unless you had about $30 or less. I bought a grey-import phone in a Kogan sale for about $530, that's still selling for $800 or more. So anyone that plans to buy from them anyway… Well, depending on how long the credit lasts…
Is this for real, so if I have $2 left in my DS card. I can send it to Kogan and get a $25 voucher from them?
Yep. My Mum has a $10.98 gift card, so I've told her to use this deal. It isn't work holding out to see if they will be honoured in some way. $25 at Kogan is worth about the same as $10 at DSE.
edited out
work = worth
At least there's no minimum spend, but it's also likely people will use it to purchase things more than $25
Better than nothing (which is what thy're worth currently), good PR Mr. Kogan!!
CASH IN YOUR USED DSE CARDS GOGO
Yeah. It's just flat $25 or less. And short expire date as well. This is the same as offering $25 off to everyone, really. Maybe similar to site wide 2% off boxing day etc.
Great marketing.
good job kogan! i will send my dick smooth gc to you!
Loss leader for goodwill. Makes up for it if you buy a high margin item. Everyone wins.
Dick Smith Gift Card Swap
In case you missed it, Dick Smith recently placed itself into voluntary administration.
On 5 January 2016, Dick Smith’s administrator announced that “due to the financial circumstances of the Group, outstanding gift vouchers cannot be honoured and deposits cannot be refunded”.
We know it sucks to be out of pocket, which is why we want to help Dick Smith customers by offering them a Gift Card / Voucher Swap!
Simply post your Dick Smith Gift Card / Voucher along with your details to the address below, and we’ll email you $25 of Kogan.com credit to use on anything at Kogan.com. T&Cs apply*.
Redemption Instructions:
1. Enclose your Dick Smith Gift Card / Voucher along with the following details in an envelope:
Full Name
Dick Smith Gift Card
Email Address
Phone Number (in case we have trouble emailing you)
Home Address
Kogan.com - Gift Card Swap
GPO Box 2579
Melbourne
VIC 3001
*Terms and Conditions: Limit of one voucher per customer, and we must receive your original Dick Smith Gift Card / Voucher by 1 February 2016 with outstanding credit on it and valid at least until the day we receive it, in order to be eligible. Please note you will not receive your Dick Smith Gift Card / Voucher back under any circumstances. Kogan takes no responsibility for any items lost in the post. Kogan.com credit will be sent no later than 14 February 2016. Kogan.com credit expires 11:59pm (AEDT), 31 March 2016 Credit cannot be used towards shipping costs. By participating you are agreeing to Kogan.com’s standard terms and conditions. Kogan.com reserves the right to withdraw the promotion at any time, and if a withdrawal does occur then any Gift cards / Vouchers mailed after the date of withdrawal will not receive any credit.