A MOTHER and daughter who have more than £100 of Peacocks vouchers have been told they could be worth just 84p.
Sarah-Jane Smith, of Ferndale, wrote to the administrators for the town centre store when she was told she could not use the vouchers after Peacocks went into administration in January.
And now the 37-year-old and her seven-year-old daughter, Ella-Mae Campbell, who have £115 worth of vouchers between them, have been told they are likely to receive 7p for every £10 of vouchers they own.
Sarah-Jayne, who is a call centre agent, said: “I went in at the beginning of February to use my vouchers. They said they had gone into receivership so I couldn’t use them.
“Those vouchers are for me and my daughter. I just thought brilliant, I have got money to spend here for myself and my daughter, and I can’t use it. She had two £10 vouchers.
“I wrote to them and they sent me this letter. I don’t know what to do next. They’re no good to me at 7p.”
In January it was reported that the bargain fashion store faced debts of £240m. It was sold out of administration to Edinburgh Woollen Mill at the end of February.
Sarah-Jane and her daughter were given the vouchers for Christmas.
“Peacocks was my favourite shop, I bought everything from there,” she said. “I said to everyone ‘if you’re going to buy me vouchers get me vouchers for Peacocks’.
“I am very annoyed. That was money for us to buy clothes that I can’t afford to buy at the moment. They haven’t even sent a letter to say sorry. Somebody could have given us a courtesy call, someone could have said sorry.
In a letter to Sarah-Jayne, KPMG, joint administrators of Peacocks said: “We currently estimate that there may be a dividend distribution to the unsecured creditors in which you would be included.
“Based on current information, the dividend is estimated to be 0.7 pence in the pound. This means that the return for a gift voucher with a value of £10 will be seven pence.”
A KPMG spokesperson said: “Unfortunately the administrators were unable to accept gift vouchers whilst they traded Peacocks due to the severe level of debt that the business was in. Our priority was to stabilise the business as quickly as possible and find a buyer to secure its future. “All those with vouchers were asked to register with KPMG as unsecured creditors but were warned that because Peacocks had debts of over £700m, it was likely that they would see only a nominal return.
“Following the sale of Peacocks to Edinburgh Woollen Mill we have confirmed to unsecured creditors of Peacocks that we estimate that they will only receive a very small payment. We have written to all voucher holders registered with us to say that the likely return for a gift voucher with a value of £10 will be approximately seven pence.”
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