Activity Superstore
reviews and complaints

I have a voucher for a wine tasting tour that expires 13 October 2021. The voucher number is: GWZZ601757. I had been unable to use the voucher, until now, because I am considered vulnerable and so have had to isolate. I have contacted all the wine tasting tours available but they are all fully booked until April 2022. I'd asked Activity Superstore for an extension but they flatly refused. I consider this to be extremely unfair.

This company is disgraceful. Be warned - do not use. Read the reviews and other comments. Could not use vouchers during a pandemic - then want extra money to extend. Every other voucher company extended for free without issue. Kids broken hearted that they cannot use their main Christmas presents from 2019. Shameful.

I will be taking them to the small claims court.

I bought this activity for my husband as an xmas present December 2020 and we finally got to use it .
We booked the steam train and tea ride at Nene Valley Railway for Saturday 14th August we arrived excited for our train and tea ride but was told prior to booking it that that they did not do cream teas so we booked the cream tea at the Dover Marine Hotel for sunday 15th August.
When we went to the booking office they gave us our train ticket then took the voucher we asked could we have it back as we needed it to go on our tea afternoon and they said they needed it to pay for our ride, we was rather annoyed and upset because we was not getting the experience that we paid for so I would like to know if you could sort this problem out and sort out how we can get our tea ride .
I look forward to hearing from you
Mrs Julie Shaw
My Email is;

[protected]@hotmail.com

I have a voucher for a 2 night stay with afternoon tea at a hotel of my choice. First booked hotel for May last year but I cancelled due to Covid. I tried to rebook this recently and have been told that I didn't cancel and didn't arrive for booking so was put down as a no show and hotel claimed payment from activity store. I contacted the hotel who explained this all to me but they had me booked in for 30th Oct and I had confirmation from activity store booked for 2nd November 2020. Due to Covid hotels etc. We're closed so couldn't go anyway and didn't occur to me to cancel as they were closed. I have sent email after email and not got any further but do feel this is not right after the couple of years we have had. I don't know what more I can say but my husband and I are not the type of people who would just not turn up knowing that we would loose the break. Thank you. Bev Hart

I didn't have a good experience with activity superstore.
First of all, my SPA booking with a Beauty salon was not accepted as they are not taking booking.
Customer Service suggested me to exchange to a different activity, but they are either too far or no suitable treatment is available. I then requested a refund, but my request was refused in despite that the reasons I explained in three emails sent to them.
My understanding is if a service or product is not available, a customer should be offered an option of refund. This is not the case for Activity Superstore.

The terms and conditions of Activity Superstore are only displayed on their website at the bottom of webpage on small print. Without clicking Terms and Conditions, you will not know about refund can only made within 28 days of purchase. On the voucher, it states that it expires in 180 days. It doesn't mention any terms &condition about refund, which misleads customers.

My wife and myself were bought Experience vouchers via Activity Superstore.

We have obviously not been able to use same up to expiry date due to Coronavirus.

Have gone through Validation system but being charged to extend the use date.

Why? We were not allowed to use these gifts due to Covid.

Also, although Activity Superstore would not know this, we are in our late 70s and my wife has had cancer since last year and just been given the OK to remove self isolation.

Why doesn't their website have any information about what to do regarding Covid and why, through no fault of our own, be expected to pay more.

My friend made a booking on the 10th June for afternoon tea for two at the Lumden Hotel St. Annes on Sea. The booking was for 22nd June 2021. An automated response was received on the same day.

Having not received a confirmation by the 14th June an email was sent to customersupport@activitysuperstore.com asking for confirmation of the booking. Again an automated response was received, but no confirmation.

Clearly the customer support team is not functioning, as to date, she has yet to receive anything other than the automated response.

Thinking that perhaps activitysuperstore had in fact made the booking with the Lumden Hotel and be unable to reply to her original request and follow up emails, for whatever reason, she telephoned the Lumden Hotel and spoke to a manager.

Apparently the hotel hadn't had any communication from activitysuperstore and expressed some surprise because the hotel changed management over 1 year ago and had ceased to offer afternoon tea.

In common with others who have posted on this site, telephones and online chat are not operational and emails go unanswered. How can I resolve this issue?

My elderly parents received a voucher for Christmas and have tried booking a steam train ride in July. As they received no update or confirmation of the booking they asked me to investigate. I have tried calling but no dialing tone, I have emailed on numerous occasions and had no reply and have tried the online chat but this is closed.

I would really like to speak to someone regarding this booking. We need confirmation regarding this booking, which I feel is a justified request.

If there are no numbers to call, no online chat and no reply to emails, I am unsure how we make contact.

Totally disgraceful service.

Had 2 vouchers bought in Dec 2019 (!), for my kids grandparents to use in the summer 2020. I had to push them to even extend beyond the stated one in 2020, as there was no way to actually book anything due to covid. Then get the email to say, you'll need to pay to extend, even though, again, there was no way to actually book anything. They hide behind their policies and on the phone they changed it verbally on the fly. Not had a chance to use the voucher and nothing was bookable and yet they have forced me to pay extra to extend them or I'd lose the voucher! They have a lot to ansqwer for.

Last Christmas my wife and I were given an afternoon tea gift voucher by my niece; a single mother with 3 children who struggles to makes ends meet. With everywhere closed due to the pandemic we have only now attempted to registering the gift, to find that a till receipt is required. We do not have a till receipt and the giver of the gift obviously does not have it after all this time. It is not possible to ask them for their bank statement.

This gift was given in good faith and now we are unable to use it/. Clearly this is a scam how many purchases made are not redeemed? I am angry and upset.

Voucher given to us last Christmas as a gift.
Unfortunately due to Coronavirus the trains have not run this year. We requested a refund or to change to another activity.
In total six e mails have been exchanged with no joy.
How can you sell vouchers and then not refund or change when a activity in unavailable. It is uncertain if the train will operate next year but by December our voucher will run out.
Very unsatisfactory.
Terrible customer service.

Last christmas my husband and I were given an afternoon tea gift voucher. With restaurants having been closed due to covid we have just got around to registering our voucher, to find that a till receipt is required. We do not have a till receipt and the giver of the gift obviously does not have it after all this time. It is not possible to ask them for their bank statement.
The gift box was scanned and activated at the time of purchase so there should be no need for further proof of purchase. I am sure that many people will give these gifts in good faith, only for them to be irredeemable, and it feels like a money making scam.

I received two vouchers as a gift and I didn't activate it on time. As a gesture of goodwill they did not want to extend it for me and they said if I was unwell send my medical certificate and they will renew it. So it is at the company discretion to renew the voucher but they don't want to. I don't understand why a company cannot use discretion to offer a good customer service .

Bought as as gift through boots carlisle.
Tried to register.Came to the bit about gift receipt.Searched through the box, no receipt.
Asked my wife for receipt.She was adamant the young cashier put the receipt in the box.
After a very heated discussion i was accused of losing said receipt.
Contacted activity and tried to explain.Got nowhere totally unsympathetic.Tried boots and received same treatment.
Was told to produce bank statement.This would be useless as part paid in cash!
i have just retired and feel like a criminal.
Activation no btb-[protected]
my name keith hampson
e-mail [protected]@gmail.Com
item bought about 23 dec 2019
boots english st carlisle

We contacted you in November with regards to struggling with dates and a place to use my voucher. After a disagreement with the ending validity date. You gave us a couple of options and we responded twice asking for the Hilton on the 14th for afternoon tea and anytime after 2pm. Leaving a few times slots for you to agree to.

On the date I phoned the hotels restaurant to see if they had a booking for us as you had not responded to either of my emails.

Sadly they had no booking and were very kind but said it had to go through the booking system to validate the voucher.

This means the voucher went unused. A total waste of money and seems very unfair.

My partner has listed a complaint on trustpilot as he was so frustrated by your customer service.

Regards Andrew macpherson
[protected]@gmail.com

Was given a go karting and segway sessions for christmas, but when starting to activate and choose the dates they ask for a receipt which we don't and my relative that bought it wasn't informed that it was needed to redeem the activity, oh but there is a discrete notice on the edge of the box, why is this not displayed on the front in bold print and why did the staff at argos not inform us of the importance of the gift receipt, can the activity superstore offer some help, we hope so

I have just spoken to one of your operators who have refused to extend a activity superstore voucher [protected] We had an experience booked with you but this was cancelled by you due to the event not being available.
The voucher was then agreed to be extended but unfortunately lay forgotten in a draw, I feel as you have received money from us but we have received nothing in return that the voucher could be extended slightly further for possible a shorter period of 6

Don't buy these vouchers. Use the universal gift voucher instead - Cash.

My fault for leaving things until the voucher was about to expire, but a nightmare dealing with them to exchange for something that was available.

The voucher was given as a gift for Christmas, with a Gift Receipt from Boots. Clearly, I didn't have a receipt with the price on - it was a present, after all.

So, the web site said do a scan of the barcode on the voucher, which came up with a price of GBP34. Silly me, I though that when the web site said you can exchange vouchers for another experience up to that same value for no extra cost, that would be true.

Not with this company.

When I went through the tortuous process of exchanging the voucher, the transfer value came up at £29. My exchange was £34, so the Activity Superstore wanted me to pay an additional £5. Not a lot, but it is the principle of lack of fair play that rankled.

With no customer service number to phone, I resorted to online chat. Not satisfactory, as you can tell from the transcript below:

[Chat] One moment while we check for an available agent.

[Holly] Hi Gilbert, how can I help?

Gilbert I am trying to exchange a train ride voucher for an afternoon tea. I have validated the voucher, but the exchange value is showing as £29. The QR code shows the price as £34. Why the reduction, as your web site says vouchers can be exchanged without a fee?
Gilbert Also. the only options being shown on your web site are resend details, book, extend or come back later. There is no option to exchange. How do I do the switch?

[Holly] Please could I have your voucher number and I will be able to tell you how much was spent on your experience

Gilbert XXX-NNN-NNN-NNN
Gilbert After activation, the voucher # is XXXXNNNNNNNN
Gilbert I have just scanned the voucher barcode again and it clearly shows the value as GBP34

[Holly] I have just put this number into our system and can see that £29 was spent on this voucher. If you can provide us with a receipt indicating the £34 was spent we will be able to look into this further for you

Gilbert This was a present, so I don't have the receipt showing a value, only a Gift Experience Receipt. In any case, instructions on your web site clearly tell me to scan the barcode to get the value, which shows GBP34.
Gilbert In any case, I also need to know how to do the voucher exchange as how that is done is not clear on your web site, as described above.

[Holly] To exchange your voucher you will need to visit (usemygift web site address provided) and log in. You will then be presented with the exchange option on the right hand side of the screen.

Gilbert Right, now I have the exchange button visible, but I am being asked to pay an additional £5. That's not right, when the value from the barcode scan is clearly £34, NOT £29.
Gilbert I can send you a scan, which clearly shows the activation #, barcode and scan result, to prove my point.

[Holly] Unfortunately the amount spent on this voucher is £29. The barcode you are using is not a proof of purchase it is simply stating how much Steam train Ride now costs in Boots. When your voucher was bought, £29 was spent. Unless you can provide us with the receipt stating otherwise, you will need to pay £5 to upgrade. I am sorry for the disappointment this may cause.

Gilbert Sorry, but the barcode scan shows £34. Your web site states to do that if a receipt is not available. There is no 'price has changed' wiggle room.

[Holly] I am sorry but without proof of purchase stating that £34 was spent on this voucher, we are unable to pay the £5 upgrade fee for you.

Gilbert OK, Facebook and trading standards reports it is then.

[Holly] I am sorry for any disappointment caused. You are welcome to write into customer service (email address provided) to express your concerns.

Gilbert I certainly will. Please ensure the transcript is emailed, so that I can include it with the complaint and screenshot of the voucher and scan.

[Holly] You will receive a transcript automatically once the chat has ended.

[Holly] I will shortly be terminating the chat. If you need further assistance, please do get back in touch or email customer support (email address provided). Thank you and I hope you have a great day.

Aaaaaaagh. Don't use them, just don't.

My husband bought me a voucher for Christmas last year and it cost £229, it was for a spa day at Bannatyne Spa for 2, I went yesterday and the massage was excellent it lasted an hour, told could use other facilities but found the jacuzzi out of order, I then received an email from bannatyne outlining the cost of the massage which was £69 for both of us, what was the other £160 for, using a gym, pool or jacuzzi, think he got robbed especially as I seen it on offer the other day for about £89. Think a part refund is due.

I purchased an Afternoon Tea gift experience which cost £34.99 from Argos. I went to the Arden Hotel in Solihull and when I asked how much it was they said it was £15.00 each so I don't know where Activity Superstore has got £34.99 from. It's very misleading and I would like a refund or some vouchers off them. If not I will be going to the CEO about this. I would totally avoid this company I won't be purchasing anything off them again.