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Martin Lewis appeared on This Morning today to share his money saving tips. He shared advice for anyone who has a gift voucher for Topshop.
The Money Saving Expert appeared on ITV to answer questions from viewers.
One woman asked for tips following the administration of Arcadia Group, which owns retail stores including Topshop, Dorothy Perkins, Wallis and Miss Selfridge.
She explained her mother had just bought gift vouchers from Topshop.
“My mum recently purchased £60 worth of Topshop vouchers for Christmas presents,” the viewer said.
“We live in Northern Ireland and she purchased them the day before we went into the current two week circuit breaker.
“Shops are now closed so she can’t go back in for a refund. Will she be able to get her money back if the group collapses?”
Martin explained shoppers can still use gift cards for Topshop purchases.
However, he revealed they can only be used to cover 50 percent of the total selling cost.
Martin said: “What’s happened with Topshop is it’s gone into administration and technically they don’t have to honour your gift vouchers at all in that scenario.
“What they have said though is you can use your gift vouchers towards 50 percent of a purchase.
“Let’s say you’ve got a £10 gift voucher, you can’t just go in and buy something for £10 but you could buy something for £20 and use your £10 gift voucher towards it.
“It can only be used on up to half a purchase which is actually more generous than [the administrators] need to be.”
The expert offered advice to anyone with a gift card and urged them to use it as quickly as possible.
He also suggested spending it in stores could be safer than using the vouchers online.
Martin continued: “I would certainly suggest anyone with those vouchers go and use them relatively quickly in case policies change.
“They say Topshop is going to continue but administration is a changeable business.
“Another thing I’d say is I would probably spend it in store as long as it’s safe.
“I’d spend it in store because if you order online and something were to change, then you would become accredited to the company.
“At least if you buy in store you’ve got the tangible goods in your hand.”
Gift vouchers can be a popular present option but Martin gave a warning to anyone thinking of buying a voucher.
He added: “For the past 10 years I’ve been pulling my hair out trying to tell people that gift vouchers are not safe.
“Be very careful and do not buy gift vouchers, especially during a struggling time.”
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