Warning! Amazon gift vouchers expire with no warning

martyn4764

Hi

Just stumbled on this thread; we've just been having similar probs with Amazon vouchers. :mad:

OH suddenly lost £70-odd last month; Amazon were extemely evasive on whether this was a new thing or not, but did confirm that if a voucher expires from the GC balance you can email them and they'll re-set the expiry date... again, they were vague but said you'd then have to use it 'straight away' (better than losing them completely, though).

We're now keeping a note of our running balance so we can spot any that disappear. It does mean that we'll no longer be stockpiling a high balance though, and instead of Amazon being our preferred voucher we'll now take paypal / BACS / whatever from companies offering a choice, so Amazon will be losing out as far as we're concerned.


Martyn

robert_harper_2000

Just bought my Uncle a £75 e-mail voucher, what are the dates on these then?

alison99_2

All the eVouchers I have had for Amazon have an expiry date of 2 years on them. The email will tell your uncle how long he has.

lucym

Obviously vouchers shouldn’t ever expire...goes without saying.
However I was amused when we went to spend my Woolworths vouchers last month – they were dated 11/08 - we ended up waiting for 20 minutes or so whilst the cashier went to check whether they had expired in August...

bristoldavid_2

Be warned! WH Smith also have expiry dates on their gift vouchers.

Yesterday I discovered that WH Smith have stolen £20 off a gift voucher which I was given.

I asked for a refund, but they refused.

Customer Services couldn't tell me who now has the money. They agreed that they had no authority from me to remove the money from my card.

Look out. They must be making millions from this.

RadoJo

Is the expiry date not printed on the voucher anywhere?

MarkyMarkD

bristoldavid wrote: »

Be warned! WH Smith also have expiry dates on their gift vouchers.

Yesterday I discovered that WH Smith have stolen £20 off a gift voucher which I was given.

I asked for a refund, but they refused.

Customer Services couldn't tell me who now has the money. They agreed that they had no authority from me to remove the money from my card.

Look out. They must be making millions from this.

I don't really understand what you are saying, David.

If you bought some vouchers and they've expired, then nobody has stolen anything off you. You have simply failed to use the voucher whilst it was valid.

And I don't see what that has to do with "not having authority to remove the money from your card" - if the card has expired, it's expired.

And it's obviously who "now has the money" - it's WH Smith surely?

Walletwatch

Should we look at it this way... just like banks have their asset liability management committees and funding departments that decide how much they should retain in liquid funds to cater for liquid money market borrowings that may be recalled or short-term & Current Account customer deposits that may be withdrawn, similarly, organisations like WH Smith need to plan their working capital and incorporate the impact of these vouchers? By that token, you cannot expect to buy a voucher from them and have it honorable for life - it is nowhere near a permanent stake in the company's fortunes for god's sake...

I know what the argument will be - what difference does a £20 voucher make, but imagine the number of vouchers that they sell, esp close to festive seasons and you'll get an idea of the difficulty in managing cash positions and working capital around these vouchers...

Cheers
WW

powerful_Rogue

The difference being is that these vouchers have already been paid for. Ive just found out two £10 e vouchers I had for HMV have expired and im fuming, Is it really that difficult for these companies to send out an email saying "Your e-voucher will expire in one month".

Ive been keeping the vouchers int he account to buy something I may need in the sales.

Comapnies getting two bites at the cherry.

nellytheelephant

It's not really the fault of the company if people don't read the terms and conditions.

I have HMV vouchers, I double checked the dates as I've had them a while and I know they have an expiry date.

They're not stealing off anyone.