There are perhaps thousands of Australians who having opened their Christmas presents only a few days ago have discovered that the electronics retailer Dick Smith will not honour their gift vouchers.
When is a gift voucher not a gift voucher, you may ask? When it is an “unsecured” loan. That’s right – Dick Smith’s newly appointed receivers will be treating gift vouchers and deposits on products as “unsecured credit”, which will probably come as quite a surprise to consumers who thought they’d actually bought a product.
Consumers will apparently have to stand in line… Ummm… At the end of the line with other unsecured creditors and will probably only receive a fraction of their money back. If they actually bother to try and get it back.
If gift vouchers are treated as unsecured credit under the law, then consumers should probably be aware of this, or the law should be changed.
Merry Christmas Australia, from Dick Smith!
XYZ
Photo by wonderferret 