Big Bazaar | Reliance : What happens to the Big Bazaar vouchers after the stores have been taken over by Reliance?

After most of the Future Retail-owned Big Bazaar outlets were taken over by Reliance Retail after it failed to honour its payment obligations, customers are facing a dilemma about the validity of the vouchers they hold.

“We have Big Bazaar vouchers worth Rs 6,000 whose validity is till December 2023 but these cannot be used now after the stores went to Reliance,” said 30-year-old Vipul Dulange to Times of India.

“Customer support is providing a toll free number and e-mail id, which are not operational. Big Bazaar should have figured out something for such customers who have vouchers.”

“When I enquired about this, a customer service representative said they receive several such mails every day and many files are pending. They won’t be able to take any action unless they receive orders,” the Times of India report quoted another customer Shivani Awalkanthe, who has vouchers worth Rs 4,000, as saying.

A source quoted in the report said that the money cannot be refunded since the accounts of Future Retail have been frozen. An industry executive said that the 30 stores still remaining with FRL can be used to redeem the vouchers.

The Reliance-Future deal didn’t take off after secured creditors of Future Retail refused to give their nod. However, the shareholders and the unsecured creditors had earlier approved the deal with Reliance.

The secured creditors were looking for more details on how the sale proceeds will be apportioned among different creditors.

Future now faces bankruptcy proceedings under the IBC and lenders will look forward to recover their dues through the process.