How Am I Supposed To Spend The £47 On My love2shop Card?
Posted by Afterlast1@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 88 comments
I feel like I've been going insane here. I just want to buy books from waterstones.
My company gave us £100 as a christmas bonus and I spent £53 on amazon on a dresser. I just wanted to buy books with the rest. So I looked at the company portal but you could only buy vouchers in £10 increments. Love2Shops website listed Waterstones as a supported retailer so I transferred it there, but then suddenly it wasn't available. Then they said oh you can only use a PHYSICAL Love2Shop card at Waterstones which wtf? whatever I hit the button so they ship it to me.
Takes 2 weeks.
Finally gets here, I go to activate it, go to waterstones, put in the number. Nothing happens. OH they say, you can't use a PHYSICAL Love2Shop card online MORON, you need to transfer it to a MASTERCARD SELECT. So I do that, go BACK to Waterstones.com put in the card number and of course the order is a little above whats on the card and that's fine I was always ready to pay the extra £0.67 out of pocket, but you CAN'T. You can't pay with two different cards! I think okay, before I drive my car into the lake let's just move the money onto a waterstones giftcard, load that onto the account because you CAN paywith a giftcard balance and a debit card, but NO. THAT'S PROHIBITED FOR SOME FUCKING REASON.
What kind of sadistic spider web am I fucking caught in? Why is it so fucking difficult just to spend £47. What am I even supposed to do now? I don't see any other routes to spending the full value of the card. I'm not letting those bastards hold onto £9 of MY christmas bonus. I will spend every pence on there.
Asher-D@reddit
Christmas bonus? Why was it paid in as a gift card? I'd be pissed at the employer. I don't know honestly. I tell people I hate gift cards. Don't give me one, give me cash or a legit gift.the whole concept of them is stupid unless you buy them solely as a gift to the business you're buying them from.
soitspete@reddit
You don't get taxed when you get gift cards as a bonus. My work does let you request cash instead but you get less, as the tax is taken off.
Thin_Animal9879@reddit
Its not that you don't get taxed. Its they don't get taxed.
But I think your wrong about the taxing think. Gifts of money at small amounts never should get taxed right?
Monsieur_Hugh_Janus@reddit
This is incorrect. Gift cards are taxable just taxed differently and don't go through payroll. Either a P11d benefit or more commonly a PSA where your employer pays the tax on your behalf on a grossed up basis.
RogueFlash@reddit
£50 or less is a trivial benefit and tax free.
Monsieur_Hugh_Janus@reddit
That exemption is actually pretty limited as it doesn't cover anything that's a reward. https://www.gov.uk/expenses-and-benefits-trivial-benefits
RogueFlash@reddit
Christmas Bonus wouldn't usually be classed as a performance reward.
teveelion@reddit
What happened to the days of people getting a nice Christmas bonus in money so they can be adults and spend it how they want?
Icy-Astronomer-8202@reddit
That's well in the past. Most people don't get bonuses because the greedy company would make a tiny tiny bit less
Afterlast1@reddit (OP)
We got told we're not allowed to have christmas parties anymore after 9 executives got fired in one night.
To be fair, no one MADE the company fire them. They were perfectly fine at their jobs the other 364 days a year.
wildOldcheesecake@reddit
I’d like to hear more please
Afterlast1@reddit (OP)
Listen, it was a good night. Company rented out the Leicester Tigers stadium. James was walking around, challenging people to do tequila shots with him. The food, eh. Is catered food ever good? It matched my low expectations. About the half the office is muslim so the other half bought their drink coupons from them. And then about them of them had plus ones that were expecting kids, so their drink tickets were up for grabs as well. About half way through I'm thinking, well surely we must've used all the tickets. Nope. Sanjay makes the drink tickets rain like a strip club. I don't know where he got them. A song from 2012 is playing. it's terrible. It's 1am, time to wind down, head to the after party. Lucy's boyfriend doesn't want to leave, Starts a fight with Aaron. Her boyfriend doesn't even work here. She looks on in horror as this 300lb loveable dad crumples him. It's hilarious. Charlotte calls an uber, I hop in. We're at the club. I leave. It's 3am and I'm moving house the next day. I don't know what happens next sadly. My new flat has stained glass windows and mold. I love it. I still can't get rid of the mold to this day. The ceiling is 12ft high and I don't own a ladder. James and Lucy would go on to work at a different site. Sanjay would screw us over after moving up the corporate ladder, concocting a plan to make the whole office redundant and replace us with AI. Charlotte bought a house last year, with wedding bells expected in the spring. Lucy broke up with her boyfriend two days after the party. None of us liked him. And Aaron? I have absolutely no idea what his plan is other than being the best dad he can be.
gem2107@reddit
What organisation was it? I used to work at the next directory and we had Xmas parties there a couple of times! Always some sort of doggy stuff going on but even more dodgy stuff in the actual call centre!
Afterlast1@reddit (OP)
It's not next but we do have a call centre...
gem2107@reddit
*dodgy
Afterlast1@reddit (OP)
It was paid through the companys "rewards portal"
as for why, it's because my company is headed towards a violent collapse because it's controlled by idiots and venture capitalists
Future-Pomelo4222@reddit
Next time, I suggest you put it in vouchers for something you use all the time (in my case Sainsbury’s). Then just buy the waterstone books out of your own money.
CosmicJam13@reddit
Yay private equity
RogueFlash@reddit
Gift cards totalling £50 or less are tax exempt.
Not sure why the employer has then side stepped this by giving a single £100 voucher...
Raisinsandfairywings@reddit
Work bonuses as gift cards is definitely crap. But gift cards in general, I dunno… If it’s something like a clothes shop or one of those generic ones that has loads of conditions attached, I don’t want it because I won’t end up using it. But gift cards for things like coffee shops or restaurants are great, because it lets me save a bit of money on a little treat for myself.
Some relatives got my almost-2-year old a gift voucher for a toy shop for Christmas which is a lovely gift because we can go to the toy shop and she can choose something she’d like.
harley3987@reddit
At my old job they would give out Tesco vouchers because buying in bulk (tens of thousands worth) meant they got a sizeable discount
gameofgroans_@reddit
Yeah same, during Covid which was a really tough year for everyone obviously but those of us who weren’t furloughed were doing extra work to make uo for those that were (this is not a dig at the staff) so they said we’d all get a reward to make up for it. We got sent a £25 Asda voucher.
Sopzeh@reddit
Use the card in the supermarket and use the money you didn't spend there to buy in waterstones.
It's not easy but some of these restrictions are waterstones only.
Quality_Controller@reddit
Seconding this. I ended up doing the same with mine and learned to never bother with Love2Shop again.
Always better to get gift cards specific to the shop you wish to use them in. If the shop you want isn’t listed, use the voucher on groceries and spend the money you saved from that.
Grouchy-Nobody3398@reddit
Employers often give them as Xmas bonuses as there's a tax break if they do it correctly vs just handing over cash.
Thin_Animal9879@reddit
Tax break?! Even companies can give "gifts" under a certain limit.
And if you think about it. Getting around tax is fraudulent. So love2shop's AML scheme of KYC just makes the rich richer while steeling poor peoples data
super_sammie@reddit
Or the universal gift card…. Cash!
kpop_stan@reddit
With how rampant gift card scamming is I’ve gone back to the tried-and-true cash in a birthday/congratulations/whatever card. Also gives the person full and total freedom as to what to do with it. Win/win
moonflowered_@reddit
Even then certain cards of theirs can’t be used in supermarkets. I was gifted a £30 one and couldn’t get it to work in person nor online despite the love2shop website saying that it would work in that particular shop
Thin_Animal9879@reddit
Companies that use love2shop. Is quite literally throwing money away. And there employees never feel special from it.
Its quite figuratively giving them a white elephant.
If I became a executive manager in one of these companies I would quite literally shoot myself in the foot before allowing these cards to be given out.
The idea of KYC for AML is just dumb. If you don't want it to be used for drugs. Give them whatever it is in work and don't let them leave work with it. You quite literally pay your workers 10x more per week without a gift card why opt gift cards here, unless the company is offering you discount. But then I would just use all the cards internally for company products. Like this is just so brain dead.
If you work for love2shop you seriously need to look yourself in the mirrior ask why you need to collect data for someone's birthday present.
Just been trying to use one of these cards the past 2 days and I've ended break them in half. And I'm learning that icogni is a life necessity because government would never hang data brokers
OkBasket6068@reddit
Hmm when I worked at Waterstones we could accept the physical cards, they were just a bit of a pain to get to work as they don't work like a standard gift card but like a credit card. Also if your items came to say £17 and your gift card was £15 you had to tell the till you only wanted to pay 15, it wouldn't do it automatically.
I think this is most likely someone not trained properly.
Temporary_Speech_831@reddit
I had the same issue, I went onto the Love2shop website to log in instead of using the app and was able to pay the extra odd few pence on there
WharHeGo@reddit
you can also check out places like The Works and Waterstones, as they accept love2shop cards, which might help you spend that amount more easily
CR1SBO@reddit
Any time I get those cards, I head to Currys and get a gift card that I will actually use
Hate the rigamarole around them
HerbTP@reddit
We had the same but for some reason it was spread over for £50 prepaid mastercards. I have £6.87 to spend over the cards and I can't find a way to amalgamate them. Its ridiculous.
txteva@reddit
A lot of companies use the reward portals because they can get discount/tax savings so they can give more people the rewards which is better for everyone.
However, yeah sometimes the vouchers can be picky to use especially when you can only buy the vouchers in full increments and some places e.g. love2shop are stupidly fussy over where the money can be spent.
legosophie@reddit
I used mine for a food shop in M&S
MsAndrea2@reddit
Use the voucher to buy something you needed anyway, and then just buy the books with actual cash. You can use it to buy groceries, or other stuff you might need in Argos, for instance.
lookhereisay@reddit
I got a £25 one for all card. Tried to use online online but near impossible as I couldn’t get it to add up exactly and you can’t add money to it.
Ended up going in person to the shop and doing some maths!
TheDevilsButtNuggets@reddit
We get all for ones from work. Been using them in waterstones, but I got waterstones for Christmas, so tried using it in primark, and told I had to swap it out for a primark one online, which was bollocks according to the all for 1 website. (She may have meant to use it on the self scans)
electricaldino@reddit
i think one of the main reasons love2shop is still going has to be how many people just have unredeemed gift cards until they expire because they make it so unnecessarily difficult to use them
FrostyRydia@reddit
My partner also had the same kind of issue with a love2shop voucher when trying buy things at B&Q online.
Multiple attempts to try and get it to work.
I went on the Love2Shop website and on a random page it said treat your physical gift card as a debit card when selecting payment method
He tried that and that worked but his order was over the gift card balance so like you couldn't pay on 2 different cards.
He got it to work somehow though contacting them etc but it was a right ball ache.
Next time if anyone wants any vouchers they will be store specific gift cards.
Because the love2shop and all 4 one (I think they're callled)are a right pain in the arse.
I feel your pain OP and hope you manage to buy your book in end.
Afterlast1@reddit (OP)
I might just have to buy less books...
pelvviber@reddit
Ahem... "...fewer books..."
Afterlast1@reddit (OP)
well how can you expect me to be literate when i can't buy books!!
pelvviber@reddit
A good point. I aplogogise.
Sad_Cardiologist5388@reddit
I went into waterstones and bought a waterstones gift card that I slowly spent over a couple of years.
SpiritedGuest6281@reddit
My dad gets me a love2shop giftcard every year and every year its a struggle to spend it from the various restrictions.
I have in the past had success using the physical card in whsmiths (TG jones now?) to purchase an amazon voucher. Technically not meant to be able to, but using the self service tills and a busy member of staff just accepted it and moved on. (You use it like a debit card without chip and pin)
owlsandminttea@reddit
Anyone remember when this wasn't an issue because love2shop was just a booklet of money shaped coupons, and the shops would give you the change in actual money?
GoldenVole@reddit
I got my mum one of these for her birthday, as she was going dress shopping, and she hasn’t been able to use it a year later. They are hopelessly difficult to use.
ApprehensiveKey1469@reddit
Boycott these big chains, support local bookstores. For example
https://uk.bookshop.org/
Afterlast1@reddit (OP)
I mean I'd love to but love2shop doesn't have an option for that. I also checked and at least the one you linked doesn't have the option to pre-order one of the books i'll be buying
ApprehensiveKey1469@reddit
Well you tried. It does sound like the big chain is not easy to work with online either.
redbullcat@reddit
The problem is the local bookshops don't usually take vouchers like Love2Shop or One4all. You can only spend them in specific shops.
Falls-a-lot@reddit
We had this issue with an all4one card! We brought a wok, 2 very small bottles of Prosecco and delivery cost with John Lewis. Think there was 5p left on the card.
Afterlast1@reddit (OP)
a wok and two bottles of prosecco... I'm curious where you went with that.
Falls-a-lot@reddit
Made a nice meal for my partner as a surprise! The Prosecco was good too :)
No_Recording_369@reddit
Buy the books from Amazon
Afterlast1@reddit (OP)
they were more expensive and one of the books I'm pre-ordering isn't available on amazon because it hasn't been published yet
No_Recording_369@reddit
Sorry, I'm out of ideas then! Sometimes if I put items in my Amazon basket and leave it a couple days they reduce the price to convince me to buy it, worth a shot on the not pre-order book?
Afterlast1@reddit (OP)
no as in like, it's not an item on amazon lol. It's not listed. I think it's supposed to release around april? So we've still got lots of time until it releases/
CanWeNapPlease@reddit
I found a brand online (FatFace) that allowed me to buy digital gift card using Love2Shop gift card. I got a measly £25 and it's a brand I buy with a lot so I was fine with it. Honestly I was surprised it worked. Seems to only work if they may generate the gift card themselves though? Probably doesn't work if the brand is obviously using a 3rd party to generate/sell their online gift cards.
FatFace is now Next so if you shop at Next, it's worth trying. You have an odd amount left though, you might be able to get a £40 digital gift card?
Last year I really struggled though because I had similar issue as to you.
Acceptable-Net-154@reddit
Peacocks definitely takes love to shop vouchers. Primark might take love to shop vouchers, not entirely sure as I thought best to spend my Primark vouchers first. Have asked siblings to either not gift me vouchers or at least tell me where to spend them. Got one new voucher this year while trying to spend last year ones
feralhog3050@reddit
They do accept them. HOWEVER in order to spend the Love2Shop or One4All voucher, you must know what the balance on the card is before attempting to make a payment, contrary to literally any other gift voucher you can think of. The shop swipes it like a debit card. You can check the balance on the card's website, but you have to do this quite often, because after a certain period of time, it starts to lose value, so what originally was a £10 card from grandma which you'd found behind the sofa cushions, is now a £9.46 card, & if you then go into the shop & say it's £10, it will decline
Acceptable-Net-154@reddit
Believe there is a code on the back of the card which you can use to check the balance with
feralhog3050@reddit
Yup, you check on the website. But the shop can't tell you what the balance is
Downtown-Pick5528@reddit
I hope I never end up with another love2shop gift card, it was sooo frustrating trying to use the thing! Feels scammy all round. You are not alone!
jake_carr3@reddit
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kerlaga@reddit
If it’s the prepaid debit card type then add it to PayPal and you can use it to send to a friend who can return the money.
redbullcat@reddit
I had a similar issue with a One4all card over Christmas.
Some relatives had given me an Amazon gift card. Cool. I knew exactly what I wanted to spend it on. Another relative had given me a One4all card. The thing on Amazon I wanted was slightly more than the combined amounts of the gift cards (despite the fact at this point I couldn't spend the One4all balance on Amazon) but that's fine because you can pay with your gift card balance+debit card on Amazon.
So I set about figuring out how to convert the One4all card to an Amazon gift card. Took ages to cross reference where Amazon gift cards are sold and where accepts One4all, because the One4all site is a UX nightmare and Amazon doesn't list everywhere that sells their gift cards. But eventually I found that ~WHSmith~ TG Jones fits both criteria.
Went to TG Jones and tried it. Thought it wasn't going to work but it did! Went home and bought what I wanted on Amazon (a 512gb Micro SD card for my Steam Deck) and it arrived the next day.
Your experience sounds worse but you'll get there!
yorkshirewisfom@reddit
I have worked for companies who have bought love to shop vouchers in hope they piss people off and won't spend them.
Ancient_times@reddit
Love2shop are a fucking nightmare. Same with one4all.
Basically just give cash ffs. These universal gift cards are wank.
ITrampyMcGee@reddit
Sell the remaining balance on cardyard- I sell every gift card I ever receive there pretty much!
Hampshire-UK@reddit
I used the £4 balance on My Love to Shop card and paid the balance in cash in Waterstones.
Hampshire-UK@reddit
Just to clarify that was a physical love to shop voucher. I converted my e voucher in to a physical one
BoiledEggOnToast@reddit
Spend in store, and at the till and ask them to charge £47 on one card and the rest on another card.
mynamesareallgone@reddit
Email their customer support. I used to work there, both in the shops , and then as customer support and they will do their best to sort it for you.
mynamesareallgone@reddit
As an aside: working there made me loathe Love2Shop and One4All with a burning passion previously only felt towards the sensation of scraping polystyrene. None of that, though, made me blame the customer so just know that they understand your frustration and feel ten fold.
13_monsters@reddit
Iceland, Food Warehouse accept them. I used one I got there and paid the remainder by card.
Appropriate_Tell6746@reddit
Boots - shampoo, deodorant etc use the money you didn’t spend on shampoo on the books
soitspete@reddit
My work gives out love2shop physical cards, and I spend them on physical Waterstone shops all the time. If you're card had more than your need, no worries just use it. If the card has less left, you need to tell them how much is left, they take that form the card and you pay the rest on cash or card as normal.
Sadly now you've gone to the MasterCard, i think you can only spend under what's on it, unless you're in a physical store.
cellojade@reddit
I have just spend some of a love2shop voucher on a purchase in person in Waterstones today so maybe you need to go in person?
Creepy-Brick-@reddit
I received a gift card from my employer. They purchase them in bulk so they got discount.
I used mine to take a helicopter ride. It was those virgin ones.
This year’s gift was a kitchen gadget.
Afterlast1@reddit (OP)
A virgin helicopter you say? How modest.
CosmicJam13@reddit
I got a love2shop voucher, it said I can swap for Tesco voucher and I tried to do that but it somehow ended up as a buy a gift voucher for all crappy experience gifts.
gracebee04@reddit
The Works accepts love2shop vouchers and card, when paying swipe it down the side of the card reader. Source: used to work there. Hope this helps!
jagster1876@reddit
Gift cards are a nightmare I was given an ubereats voucher cant get ubereats to take it as payment, told to add another form of payment, you guessed it ordered food and said to use ubereats credit but no took it from PayPal. I hate Ubereats.
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