Warning! Amazon gift vouchers expire with no warning

wacko911

Why oh Why would anyone ever want to trade cash, accepted everywhere and never expires for vouchers that you can only spend in one store and expire?

ethansmum

I'll tell you why, because with some credit cards -you can buy vouchers at 95% of face value.

so2006

I hate vouchers, and you do have a point, why trade cash?!? If the voucher was free then i would say fair enough its gone, but if i pay for it and it expires i would never get off there case till they gave it back! This has happened to me, amazon took £100 away in gift vouchers, but i didnt pay for it i won it

john121_2

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.

Hi David - I empathise with you on this as the exact same thing has happeded to me. I was one month over the date which I am afraid nobody really pays attention to so I fear that they really do make a tidy profit from this. Not sure how well it serves them as I used to go there very regularly. I assure you that will never set another foot in WH Smith and neither will my family. I have also told the story to quite a few people as to how unbelieveable it is that companies can take your money (regardless of the small print!!) Most unclaimed cards probably get lost so they should, for good customer relations, refund people if they write in. Their £20 ill gotten gain over time will equate to £100's lost as a result of losing a once loyal customer.

northern_munky

Fella, how did you get on with this? Did you manage to get your money back? I am in the same situation now I had £50 in my Amazon account, I was just about to order something this morning and the money has gone. I have emailed them and am waiting for their reply.

northern_munky

Result! After two emails to Amazon CS, they have extended my gift voucher for another 6 months and have put the £50 back in my account.

Nukumai

How difficult could it be for the likes of Amazon to send an email to those with GC balances some weeks in advance of their expiry, reminding them to use them or lose them? Seems fairer all round...

LemonGrove

wacko911 wrote: »

Why oh Why would anyone ever want to trade cash, accepted everywhere and never expires for vouchers that you can only spend in one store and expire?

Because they show a lot more thought as a gift than just handing over some money because you've looked about for somewhere the recipient likes, and then went and bought it.

melipona

I too have recently been caught out by this. Thankfully Customer service has agreed to extend the validity by 6mths, but I wonder how many other times this has slipped under my radar?

Like many here I have been given a trickle of small value gift certificates as rewards for surveys or promotional gifts and had added them to my account, albeit without having read the full Ts&Cs, I had however read this from their site:
What is an Amazon gift certificate?

Amazon.co.uk gift certificates can be used to buy almost any item sold on Amazon.co.uk and our affiliate website, Javari.co.uk. See What are the restrictions for using an Amazon.co.uk gift certificate? for details.You can buy gift certificates for any amount between £5.00 and £500.00, and print your gift certificates from home or send them by e-mail or physical mail anywhere in the world. If you've received a gift certificate, once you've entered the claim code on our site, we'll keep the balance in your account for use on future purchases.


I had been accumulating the vouchers with the intent to treat myself to an expensive purchase and had taken the phrase we'll keep the balance in your account for use on future purchases at face value, ie no expiry date.

Also I had made some interim purchases and the payment was deducted from my account balance, but there is no way that one can see the status of this account balance, are the oldest vouchers used to pay or are the ones closest to expiry used instead, (I now know there are variations in expiry dates). Which ones have been spent? which ones are close to expiry? This information is not provided and gives Amazon the opportunity to profit from expired vouchers.

In all fairness to Amazon I consider them to be a company that provides excellent service and good value, but not in this case. They could easily provide greater transparency, they should be courteous enough to tell you that they are expiring vouchers from your account balance and not just deduct without notice, preferably should never expire them once they have been applied to the account.

As stated by another, I consider the removal of funds from my account without clear reason as tantamount to theft, shame on Amazon.

cally6008

Crikey me ... I do surveys and get Amazon vouchers for them in the form of an email ... All the emails state " This voucher expires on XX-XX-XXXX"

Surely it's not THAT hard to keep the emails somewhere safe so you know which ones are likely to expire and when