Hi All,
I was with the missus at clothing store Bardot the other day and they had a quirky store credit policy.
I couldn't find this in their website however I'll try summarise it:
I've never seen a policy like this before - surely this is illegal? Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!
If they are in Voluntary Administration… you are probably regarded as an unsecured creditor.
Sure I have seen this happen before with other companies.
Toys R us
Dick Smith
Brashs etc…
If you want the store credit I would use it soon, otherwise write it off. We’ve seen this all before. The next step is they stop giving this at all. This has been the plague of gift cards, as well.
I would like to think it's illegal. Woolworths kills me. If you do an online order and they don't give an item, they automatically give online WW credit that requires a minimum $30 spend. Now THAT should be illegal.
If you contact them they will refund you via a gift card mailed to your address.
Legally they are obliged to refund via whatever method you paid with.
They probably would refund via payment method if requested. I only say gift card because I always pay with discounted gift cards.
yeh they do, it's just annoying and stupid. Even worse when I do click and collect and something they didn't fulfill is actually on the shelves. Erk.
On 28 November 2019, Brendan Richards and Ryan Eagle of KPMG were appointed joint and several Voluntary Administrators of Bardot Pty Ltd by the Company’s Directors.
The Company is continuing to trade on as business as usual. However, the Administrators now control the business and its operations.I HAVE A GIFT CARD, CAN I STILL USE IT?
Legally, customers with gift cards and credit notes stand as a creditor of the Company and are not entitled to redeem a gift card as this gives them preferential treatment over other creditors of the company. However, in this instance, in recognition of the loyalty of Bardot’s customers, we will honour gift cards on a $1 for $1 basis. For example, if a customer intends to redeem a $100 gift card, they will need to purchase product of $200 in value and pay $100 in cash, by card or using AfterPay. This applies to all stock including sale items. Gift cards and credit notes are redeemable in store only.
Were you trying on dresses too - why didn't you query the staff.
NO, its is illegal!
As a few people have stated, they're in administration (ie winding up the business).
This means that KPMG now are legally required to maximize the value of all the assets and operations to pay back creditors. This can be done by either selling off assets (clothing inventory, shopfronts etc) or by fixing the business and selling it to another 3rd party. Given the state of the retail industry, they'll most likely just sell everything. Once this is done, they have a bunch of cash to pay creditors that are owed money. (ie financiers, suppliers, staff entitlements etc.)
As someone else mentioned, you are an unsecured creditor, so you are last on the list.
KPMG would be fully within their legal rights to reject all store credits if they chose to do so. In this instance, they've likely identified that the dollar for dollar arrangement will generate more value for ALL of the creditors and hence agreed to honor them.
TLDR:not illegal. use it or lose it
Never seen it before
However there is huge mark-up on clothing (80%) so no need for this unfair policy.
Credit is offered instead of a cash refund so shoud be dollar for dollar
If you dont like the conditions dont buy from there
Also best not to buy from any business in administration unless the item is super cheap. Remember you will have no come-back
Thanks guys :), guess there's no option but to spend double. It's a shame, their clothing use to be good however it's gotten more expensive whilst looking worst.
considering its likely store credit only comes from change of mind returns (which they aren't legally required to do), they can likely put whatever conditions they want on it