Over the past couple of months, some businesses have begun refusing meal vouchers when not being used for their intended purpose. Our colleagues from RTL thus spoke to Guill Kaempff, CEO of a pastry and confectionary chain, about how the system is abused and what can be done against it.
Kaempff explained: “Meal vouchers are intended to cover an entire lunch, but people use them to pay for a single croissant and then demand the rest of the money back in cash. The frequency of this increased in recent months, which is why we had to draw a line at some point.”
When used, people can only request to have up to 50% of the value of a paper voucher reimbursed. Kaempff noted: “The margin of those vouchers is 2% to 3%, which have to be paid to the businesses issuing them. Small prices mean that the margin is quickly used up.”
Similar abuses of the system were also found in another of the country’s bakery chains, which is why they decided to no longer hand out money, but rather issue a credit. However, technical difficulties mean that it is only available after a week.
CEO Carole Muller provided further insights into the difference between paper vouchers and cards: “Nothing changes for people paying with cards. They can continue using them to cover 40 cents or €2, €3, or €5. People paying with paper vouchers receive checks that have the remaining credit written on them, which is valid for one month and can be used for further purchases.”
According to a respective law from 1986, business owners are not obliged to reimburse cash money. Muller warned: “We are not a bank. We do not get reimbursed by the firms in charge right away. That is not our role.”
Business owners hope that the paper vouchers will soon be a thing of the past. Consumer protection ULC, however, hopes for an adaptation of the law, says spokesperson Nico Hoffmann: “The regulation needs to be revised so that it does not come down to a matter of interpretation.”
A statement from the Ministry of Finance has since noted that the coalition agreement retained that the voucher system will be revised. Negotiations are currently underway and hoped to be completed in a matter of months.
