Amazon Gift Cards - Money for Nothing?

POPPYOSCAR

I think the law needs to be amended for gift cards etc.

I also see no reason why they should have an expiry date and I also feel it is grossly unfair when a company goes into liquidation and is still trading but refuses to accept their gift cards anymore.

How many poor children who got vouchers for christmas and birthdays and were saving them up for a games console for example, with Game, lost out because of this recently.

thespiderspeed

As a side note about the National Book Token:

visidigi wrote: »

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

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.

Actually this is incorrect depending on if the Op has an old style paper token or a gift card. I am guessing the paper token.

Can I still redeem National Book Tokens paper gift vouchers?

Yes, National Book Tokens paper gift vouchers do not have an expiry date and you can continue to redeem these in any participating bookshop. Find your nearest bookshop by using our stockist search.

http://www.nationalbooktokens.com/faq

IMacks

This was my first time posting to this forum. I started this thread when I could not find the contact us details on Amazon and my gift certificates had expired. I had assumed that they operated similar to book tokens which had no expiry date, so I was taken by surprise when I saw they had an expiry date. I was not so concerned about the loss of the credit but more about the fact that I had let the donor down, and I would have been happy if they had been refunded the money.

Having read many responses, which focus on the rights of the retailer, I understand the points that are being made. A gift certificate, however, is not a product like any other - it is cash! I wonder how we would feel if the cash that we had in the bank became part of the banks funds, because we had not withdrawn it within 12 months. To me, cash tied up in book tokens and gift certificates is exactly that - Cash, which should be capable of being used any time. For me anyway, I would rather give a book token with no expiry date than a gift certificate which has one.

I raised this as a general issue and I am sorry if anyone construed my comments as an attack on Amazon, as that was never my intention. I have purchased a substantial amount of books and gifts from them over the years, and have nothing but praise for their service, which is second to none. I did as suggested find a way to contact them and raised the issue with them, and was very grateful when they offered to extend the date, allowing me save face with the donor.

As this is a forum for consumer rights, then surely it is the right place to raise concerns of this kind and to question the status quo.
Just because something is being done one way, does not always mean that it is right and I maintain that there are legitimate concerns over this practice, which deserve to be debated seriously.

Anyway, thanks for the robust discussion and your helpful suggestions, it has been an interesting learning experience for a newbie.

custardy

IMacks wrote: »

This was my first time posting to this forum. I started this thread when I could not find the contact us details on Amazon and my gift certificates had expired. I had assumed that they operated similar to book tokens which had no expiry date, so I was taken by surprise when I saw they had an expiry date. I was not so concerned about the loss of the credit but more about the fact that I had let the donor down, and I would have been happy if they had been refunded the money.

Having read many responses, which focus on the rights of the retailer, I understand the points that are being made. A gift certificate, however, is not a product like any other - it is cash! I wonder how we would feel if the cash that we had in the bank became part of the banks funds, because we had not withdrawn it within 12 months. To me, cash tied up in book tokens and gift certificates is exactly that - Cash, which should be capable of being used any time. For me anyway, I would rather give a book token with no expiry date than a gift certificate which has one.

I raised this as a general issue and I am sorry if anyone construed my comments as an attack on Amazon, as that was never my intention. I have purchased a substantial amount of books and gifts from them over the years, and have nothing but praise for their service, which is second to none. I did as suggested find a way to contact them and raised the issue with them, and was very grateful when they offered to extend the date, allowing me save face with the donor.

As this is a forum for consumer rights, then surely it is the right place to raise concerns of this kind and to question the status quo.
Just because something is being done one way, does not always mean that it is right and I maintain that there are legitimate concerns over this practice, which deserve to be debated seriously.

Anyway, thanks for the robust discussion and your helpful suggestions, it has been an interesting learning experience for a newbie.

click 'help' on any Amazon page and you will find contact us details

System

A gift certificate, however, is not a product like any other - it is cash!

No it is not!
If that were the case then you would be able to spend your Amazon gift certificate in WH Smiths

StretchedElf

Nilrem wrote: »

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).

Not sure what you mean by "the money still has to be accounted for" - they have already received the money, they just haven't parted with any stock. In fact I can't see any disadvantage to the retailer of having no expiry date other than an expiry date allows them to keep the cash for nothing. The length of time a voucher remains uncashed doesn't seem to be a disadvantage - if anything the longer they get to keep that stock the better, since they can be earning interest on the cash they've already received and eventually part with stock that will have a lower real value than stock of the same value would have years ago. E.g. they sell you a £10 voucher in 2012 and in 2022 you cash it in for a Mars Bar :rotfl:

mjm3346

Nothing new about expiry dates on gift cards or getting next to nothing if a company goes bust. People who fail to redeem them help cover the cost of providing the card/envelope and boost company profits.

I can't see any disadvantage to the retailer of having no expiry date

They are a potential liability on the books until redeemed or expired.

mjm3346

Money for nothing as £4.25 billion goes begging

http://www.moneyexpert.com/financial-news/credit-card/587/moneyfornothingas4.25billiongoesbegging/article.aspx

shaun_from_Africa

I wonder how much investigation went into that report.

The poll showed that over half the adult population is sitting on an unredeemed gift voucher worth on average £51

I know that report is a few years old, but in 2008 I didn't have an unredeemed gift voucher, nor did any of my family and as far as I know, neither did any of my relatives.

I find it extremely hard to believe that over 50% of the UK adult population were holding a gift voucher at the time the poll was carried out unless it was done a day or two after Christmas.

mjm3346

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

I find it extremely hard to believe that over 50% of the UK adult population were holding a gift voucher at the time the poll was carried out unless it was done a day or two after Christmas.

According to them

ICM questioned 1000+ people aged 18 and above between 28th Feb - 2nd March

Seems a high number to me as well although I remember on Dragons Den one of the ideas was something to do with setting up a "voucher exchange" and they talked about the millions of pounds of unredeemed vouchers about at any one time.
The idea was not taken up and one of the reasons was the Dragons said the companies who had issued the vouchers would prevent it as it was clearly in their interests for the vouchers to expire (like having an IOU ripped up).