Rue du Commerce: customer vouchers had disappeared

From several hundred to several thousand euros, customers of the site Rueducommerce.fr have seen their assets disappear from their account. “We are talking about large sums and the consumer cannot access what is due, it is unacceptable! “, Ton Antoine, who had received a voucher of 1,063 euros. “I am not going to buy the two phones that I want elsewhere when I have 2,200 euros blocked on Rue du Commerce”, Alexandre laments. “It’s like I have a huge gift card that can’t be spent!” », Chokes Loris, who has 1,150 euros left on an initial balance of 1,800 euros. “It’s still our money, that’s what bothers me …”, indignant Damien, another client who had a credit of 290 euros.

These sums come from reimbursements of products returned as part of the Recovery Pack. Tablets, telephones, computers … Launched in September 2019, the Rue du Commerce offer plans to take back your high-tech or household appliance product (from 50 to 3,000 euros) for one year, regardless of the reason as long as it works. , in exchange for 80% of its price in vouchers. Bought in May 2020 from Carrefour by Shopinvest (Les 3 Suisses and eight other sites), the site continues to offer this offer.

“No communication with the customer”

“She’s pretty crazy,” Antoine concedes. After returning my iPhone 11 bought last year, I received 1,063 euros in my customer account in three days. I did a simulation, Apple would have bought it back from me only 600 euros. The same interest on the part of Alexandre Jourdois and his partner Manon. “We each bought an iPhone 11 to return it after a year and buy back the iPhone 12. With the 80% of the Recovery Pack, it made us add about 200 euros per phone,” calculates the young computer scientist from Toulouse. Except that the good deal turned into a cold sweat.

“Friday 18th, after a month of waiting, I was finally able to put two iPhones in my basket but I could not solve them because of this problem of vouchers”, deplores Alexandre. “Due to a maintenance operation, your order history is potentially incomplete,” explains Rue du Commerce. “Since December 15, my voucher is inaccessible, denounces Antoine. Everytime I call customer service they are lovely but no one is doing anything to fix the problem. “

Damien Paindessous, 37, shares the same annoyance. “Why is it not possible to take my order by phone?” Their maintenance happens at the worst time of the year and there is no communication with the customer, ”regrets this web designer who had returned a graphics card and was considering buying other computer equipment. “I tried all week to spend my 1,150 euros and I ended up buying my Mac Book Pro on another site because it was urgent, denounces Loris Uzan, business manager. The 80% refund is a huge plus, but if you can’t use the money behind, it’s no use. “

The Trade-In Pack acclaimed by customers

When contacted, the Rue du Commerce site actually pleaded a “regrettable technical incident”. “We have carried out major updates to our site in recent days which have impacted the information available in the personal space of certain customers,” explains the communication from Hugues Pitres, the managing director. The problem is now resolved and all vouchers are now visible again in the customer area. “

If Antoine and Alexandre have indeed noticed the return of their voucher of 1,063 and 2,200 euros in their customer area during the afternoon, Damien Paindessous faced a new bug while trying to spend in stride. “The site has registered my order but… it is asking for a transfer that I must make using a bank account details,” testifies the web designer. However, I could see that the voucher had brought my bill down to zero euros. And there it disappeared from my customer account again. “