LOOKING A GIFT CARD IN THE MOUTH
If you were given a Gift Card last Christmas or, worse, the one before,
you may not have much time to spend it. Gift cards can make welcome presents.
But they come with a hidden trap. They run out. Not everyone rushes out to use a
Gift Card within a week of receiving it. Life is a bit busier than that. And
then after a few months or even a year or two you rediscover the card in the
back of a drawer or tucked in a wallet or handbag. But if you try to use it you
may be told it is worthless.
In the trade they call it ‘breakage’. Cards are bought in hope but
allowed to die in apathy. And it is very profitable. The UK Gift Card and
Voucher Association says the vast majority of cards are used within the first
three to six months. But after that about 6% of the money is never spent. And on
a turnover of £4 billion that is a very useful £240 million spent by our friends
and relatives but kept by retailers.
The problem is the cards do not have an expiry date on them. If you look
carefully you will find – in the very tiniest print on the back – words like “if
the card is not used for a consecutive period of 24 months the card will expire
and any remaining balance will be deducted.”
But that period of 24 months runs from the date the card was bought not
the date it was given. So if your relative or friend was an early Christmas
shopper you might not have long left to spend that present.
Some cards do reset the expiry date each time they are used. So if you
have a £20 card for books and spend £14.99 then the balance of £5.01 can be
spent over the next two years. Retailers faced with a disappointed customer may
have discretion to allow an out-of-date card to be used. But expect less
sympathy from cards bought to give you money towards a concert or an event. They
often just say ‘This card expires 12 months after purchase’. And mean it.
So if you have last Christmas’s Gift Card lying unused in a drawer, find
it soon. You may not have long to spend it.
Remember that a Gift Card from a firm which has gone bust will normally
be worth nothing, though if the business is sold as a going concern it is always
worth trying the new owner.
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