Warning! Amazon gift vouchers expire with no warning

libra10

Hello fella, thanks for the information. I don't think any of the voucher value has disappeared yet although can't be completely certain. As I said before, I knew that when the vouchers were issued they had an expiry date, but thought that once they had been applied to my account at Amazon that they would be safe until spent.

I had been looking at a few things on Amazon but could only find what I wanted at the 'Marketplace', where the vouchers couldn't be used. I'll definitely be looking to spend them this weekend though. If you hadn't posted I would never have realised about this.

Glad that Amazon have re-issued some of the value though they should do the 'honourable thing' and re-issue all the value they should never have taken in the first place.

I think it's a good idea to contact someone like 'Watchdog', as most people probably doesn't realise that Amazon deletes vouchers at all. They should certainly make it very clear and display voucher ending dates.

Thank you.

reehsetin

Fella wrote: »

So now the intention is to spend it immediately (Was about to do Xmas shopping anyway) & then chase up the outstanding approx £100 that they haven't refunded.

double check what they say regarding this, they may say youve accepted it as full and final settlement letting them off the hook, e-mail them to accept but make it clear in the email that you are taking it provisionally and still intend to pursue the remaining amount then if they still pay you they cant say you have no right to the rest of the money

saveaholic68

Thankyou for posting this, I often get them from doing surveys, and sometimes save them to buy gifts etc.. Next time I get one, I think I'll spend it the same day. Sorry I can't be any help with your situation, I can understand why you're angry, but thanks for warning others about this.

point3

Fella wrote: »

It is completely impossible. You simply get a total g/c balance. I wonder how much money Amazon have been making out of this little scam over the years? Anecdotally, I haven't found a single person (& I know dozens who have Amazon gift vouchers because they give them as rewards where I work) who realised they expired.

I have an update on my g/f's account. After several phone calls & emails they've agreed "as a one-time goodwill gesture" to reinstate £700 of the credit & told to "spend it straightaway because it'll expire again soon". So now the intention is to spend it immediately (Was about to do Xmas shopping anyway) & then chase up the outstanding approx £100 that they haven't refunded.

I'm appalled at Amazon to be honest. Stealing £800 & then giving £700 back as "goodwill" is not acceptable.

Fella, it may not be as bad as all that...

Credit applied by Customer Services at Amazon applies to prices BEFORE VAT, so if you intend to buy VAT-rateable items anyway then £10 of Amazon credit is actually worth £11.75 .

...no good if you want to buy £700 worth of books, I guess ( ) but if you're buying anything else then you'll almost certainly get back the full value of your gift certificates.

Oh, and I thought everyone knew these vouchers expired after 1 year...:o

Blacksheep1979

you could use the credit they've just added to the account to buy more vouchers - at least then you've got another year to spend it.

MarkyMarkD

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The gift certificate cannot be used to pay for Amazon.co.uk gift certificates.

You can't do as you suggest, BS.
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Fella

point3 wrote: »

Fella, it may not be as bad as all that...

Credit applied by Customer Services at Amazon applies to prices BEFORE VAT, so if you intend to buy VAT-rateable items anyway then £10 of Amazon credit is actually worth £11.75 .

...no good if you want to buy £700 worth of books, I guess ( ) but if you're buying anything else then you'll almost certainly get back the full value of your gift certificates.

Oh, and I thought everyone knew these vouchers expired after 1 year...:o

No, that's not how it's working. We placed an order today: £414 + £66 VAT. The full £480 has been taken from the reinstated gc balance.

As for everyone knowing they expired after a year - I would say most definitely not. So far I've spoken to 17 different people, all of whom either have had or currently have Amazon vouchers & not one of them knew..... (those that were aware of expiry assumed that it related to how long you have to redeem the voucher, not how long you have to spend the resultant credit).

cheers
Fella

Fella

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

[FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica][SIZE=-1]You can't do as you suggest, BS.[/SIZE][/FONT]

That's right, you can't use GC balances to buy GC.

point3

Fella wrote: »

No, that's not how it's working. We placed an order today: £414 + £66 VAT. The full £480 has been taken from the reinstated gc balance.

In that case, keep pestering them for the remaining funds - they'll give in eventually. Oh, and ask for a credit rather than a gift balance

setmefree2

Thanksfor sharing this experience - didn't know that Amazon vouchers expired. Other gift vouchers don't...ie M&S, WH Smith, Watermans, etc so I wouldn't have thought that Amazon vouchers would have...Good Luck:money: