the previous round of promotions offering 40 € gift cards for each FP3+ or FP4 purchase encouraged me to purchase one.
I did receive the gift card but then noticed when I tried to use it for a purchase of a 39,95€ back cover that it would only subtract the net portion of the product price, I was still to pay the VAT portion myself. I feel tricked.
It’s no consolation that the card would probably cover 40€ in total if I selected enough accessories with a total net amount as high or higher than 40€. I wasn’t planning on buying even more accessories. I was disappointed that a 40€ gift card would eventually only cover one back cover; having to pay money on top of that feels extortive.
I do have a ticket open with Fairphone support but strangely this is taking more than a week to resolve while the support staff is trying to find out whether VAT was intended to be excluded or not. At least the T&Cs at the time didn’t point this out.
Even now there’s a new promotion for FP4 promising 80€ cashback. I checked the T&Cs there and while there is a lot of detail on how to participate and which models and stores apply there is little detail on what the 80€ return covers.
So I’m curious what experience others have had with these promotions.
very interesting reply, especially with the “you’re the first” part. Apparently you don’t have an issue with this VAT excluded scenario.
Maybe it’s different in your country, but in Germany when discussing prices and vouchers for end customers this always includes VAT.
And I believe this is even mandated by consumer protection laws. Which I can readily to check with local consumer protection agencies.
Fairphone’s products to end customers are also advertised including VAT. And again I don’t remember the promotion pointing out only net values of accessories are covered (when Fairphone advertises these accessories including VAT).
It is only in B2B where prices excluding VAT are used in Germany. And this does not apply here.
In any case, stepping back from granting the full amount of an accessory with a surprise statement that the voucher only covers net feels like a scam. Also, not having rules against such things when they are expected does not help when a promotion should actually help a company’s image and not set traps.
I’m not saying there may be cultural and legal differences between NL and D which may lead to such misunderstandings. That’s why the support ticket is important where Fairphone will say where this is stated.
I’m curious about other accounts; I am pretty sure I’m not the only one who took this promotion.