Alina Kalinskova told Delovoy Peterburg about judicial practice concerning conversion of gift certificates into cash
An owner of Rive Gauche shop’s gift certificate hasn’t found anything on her taste and has asked the shop to convert her gift certificate into cash. The store has refused to do it and the customer has filed a complaint to the Russian Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor). Rospotrebnadzor has agreed with the client and has stated that Rive Gauche’s actions have been unrightful. The store has appealed against the resolution in the Commercial Court of Saint-Petersburg and Leningrad Region and has won. Later, the 13th Commercial Appeal Court and the Commercial Court of North-West District have left the resolution in force stating that Rive Gauche Company hasn’t broken the customer rights.
Alina Kalinskova, Lawyer at Maxima Legal, told Delovoy Peterburg that such cases are pretty common in Saint-Petersburg courts and most of the time the resolutions are in favour of business. She also analyzed reasons why companies appeal against resolutions of Rospotrebnadzor even though the fine is pretty low. The expert noticed that lack of judicial actions in such cases will lead to the situation when «most of clients preferred to convert gift certificates into cash and spend money in their own free choice. This will surely cause reduction of company’s profit. That’s why it’s more efficient to spend money on legal procedures in order to prevent future profit losses».
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