Amazon Gift Cards - Money for Nothing?

IMacks

Some time ago I was given an Amazon Gift Card, which I lost and only found today. I went to set it up on my account to find that it had expired. Sure enough when I looked at the certificate it had an expiry date on it.

So what happens if the certificate is not redeemed, does the donor get their money back? - if so I am happy.

If not and Amazon keeps the proceeds I would be extremely annoyed as they would be getting money for nothing. More than that, it would be unethical, but as a practice it could make them substantial amounts of money. I hope someone can reassure me that this is not the case and that I need have no fears about it.

I can't see any information in the site about this - but whatever the case above, it does call into question the value of Amazon Gift Certificates against Book Tokens. If I purchase a book token I can keep it for as long as I want without worrying. I will never purchase a gift certificate from Amazon as a result of my experience.

If anyone can give clarity on the above, I would be grateful.

Thanks

Nilrem

I hate to say this, but practically every gift card these days has an expiry date (usually 12-24 months).

I suspect in part because it can potentially be a problem over time accounting for them (IE if someone hasn't used it for a year or two the money still has to be accounted for, which means over time there can be a fairly large sum that is held by the company for outstanding gift cards that may have been lost or destroyed).

IIRC even banks have an expiry on funds in accounts if the account isn't accessed for X years (from memory it ends up going to the government, and then you have a set time to reclaim it).

visidigi

You don't say how long you had it before it expired, but you do indicate you lost it then found it. This is not Amazon's fault - they provided you with a period when you could redeem the voucher, you didn't, unfortunately this is not Amazon's fault.

As for your comment about Book Tokens, I guess you haven't heard...

National_Book_Token_Website wrote:

Does the National Book Tokens Gift Card have an expiry date?
If the Gift Card is not used for a period of 24 consecutive months, the gift card will expire and any remaining value will be deducted.

Hintza

I had one for Borders Books, totally unethical to go bust before I could use it!

IMacks

Thanks for the replies, which are helpful. I have no issue with me losing the benefits due to my failure to meet the expiry date but I do take issue with the donor having paid out their hard earned cash and then getting nothing back.

In relation to the National Book Tokens, I am looking at the back of one I have, which states:

* There is no time limit for the exchange of National Book Tokens

These terms may have changed in more recent times and I understand the accounting challenges, but no matter what the time limit, why should the retailer benefit - the money should go back to the donor.

The retailer has had the benefit of the cash for a period of time, and even if they charge a small fee for processing it would be fairer to give the money back to the donor.

I wonder how many £ millions of consumers cash tied up in book certificates enriches retailers each year? I'd love to see some data ...

DCFC79

Hintza wrote: »

I had one for Borders Books, totally unethical to go bust before I could use it!

Thats just so illegal

So if you hadn't found it would you still be annoyed amazon got free money ?

kitschkitty

IMacks wrote: »

why should the retailer benefit - the money should go back to the donor.

The retailer sold a product.

The product happened to be a gift voucher.

The voucher could be redeemed, used as a bookmark, to prop up a wonky table, or framed on the wall for prosperity... - how the customer chooses to use the product is not the retailers business.

If the customer chooses or fails to use the product it's not the retailers business.

If you bought a joint of beef with 5 days on it's use by date, and left it in the fridge for 2 weeks because you forgot it and then when you remembered it, it was off and had to be binned it would be no more the retailers fault as in the above examples.
You wouldn't complain to the butcher/supermarket because you did not use the product for it's intended purpose in the time available for it to be used for said intended purpose.

snailmail

with national book gift cards if you don't want to spend them, and you know the date is coming soon then take them to a local shop that redeems them and ask for a balance as that counts as activity on the card and resets the expiry date to that day.

of course, if you're not anywhere near a waterstones or an evil whsmith that might be difficult but it's another way to get longer out of your card!

Zandoni

kitschkitty wrote: »

The retailer sold a product.

The product happened to be a gift voucher.

The voucher could be redeemed, used as a bookmark, to prop up a wonky table, or framed on the wall for prosperity... - how the customer chooses to use the product is not the retailers business.

If the customer chooses or fails to use the product it's not the retailers business.

If you bought a joint of beef with 5 days on it's use by date, and left it in the fridge for 2 weeks because you forgot it and then when you remembered it, it was off and had to be binned it would be no more the retailers fault as in the above examples.
You wouldn't complain to the butcher/supermarket because you did not use the product for it's intended purpose in the time available for it to be used for said intended purpose.

Cash doesn't expire, so why should gift cards?

OP try talking to Amazon, you never know they may help you.

arcon5

Zandoni wrote: »

Cash doesn't expire, so why should gift cards?


OP try talking to Amazon, you never know they may help you.

Not strictly true, coins often change leaving time limits for changing old style to new.

If you have or give someone cash then the company a) don't have to pay to create gift cards in the first place and b) don't have to administer the person with cash.

It's not unreasonable to not want to administer an inactive gift card for an indefinite period.

suered

OP, I had exactly the same thing happen to me, contacted Amazon and very nice lady extended the expiry date, no quibbles whatsoever. Give it a try.