Money Moral Dilemma: Should I charge my mum for using my gift card to buy present for my kids?

crmism

Short answer - yes!

XRAT

The gift card is money or monies worth, and it's yours.
If your mother didn't want to spend the money I'm sure she wouldn't. I suspect she would be mortified to be subsidised buying her grandchildren's presents.
By allowing her to spend the money contained in the card you are merely converting the cash on the card, into sterling enabling it to be spent anywhere.

My sympathies Nettynoo, I hope you have a wonderful 1st Christmas without your mum, enjoying the memories of the Christmas's you shared with her.

chesky

Why didn't you just let her pay in the normal way, instead of complicating things?

Zero_Sum

primrose_penguin wrote: »

I don't really understand why you gave her the gift card to use if you expected her to pay you for it, why didn't you use it yourself unless it was for a shop you were not buying in. You obviously do not feel comfortable yourself about it or you would not have asked the question. Why not have half each?

Convenience. At the end of the day, gift cards are effectively cash.
If you obtained the gift card as a freebie as a benefit from work then yes go halfsies.

Marisco

chesky wrote: »

Why didn't you just let her pay in the normal way, instead of complicating things?

Yes, I'm a bit confused. Why did the poster pay for everything only for her mother to give her the money? Could the mother not pay for her own stuff?

peeza

If the children ever find out that their mum paid for the Grans gifts . Better burn the receipt.

borkid

Marisco wrote: »

Yes, I'm a bit confused. Why did the poster pay for everything only for her mother to give her the money? Could the mother not pay for her own stuff?

Maybe like when my daughter and I went out for lunch and I had inadvertantly left my purse at home. I'd offered to treat her so I gave her the full amount of the meal once I got home.

SallyB21

You did not state the value of the gift card. Since it was from work it could have been £100 or £150 so definitely you would want to get that back. If it were £10 then probably not. I am sure your mother did not intend you to give her £100 towards the presents , and presumably she was only spending within the budget she allows for presents.

I think it is reasonable to say "Oh the total for gift card and credit card is e.g. £209.80p so let's just call it £200 shall we?" but not "Oh you only owe me £109".

If she was actually doing you a favour by using the gift card as you would not have wanted anything for yourself from that store, then knocking a bit off is fair, too.

Ashen

This is one of the daftest questions I've seen on here. If someone was buying something for work, I'm sure they wouldn't go 'well, that GC wasn't actually equivalent to money'. I occasionally am asked to buy my parents things on Amazon on their behalf - just because I may or may not have a gift card balance when I purchase doesn't make the cost any different.

The argument of whether the family member pays you fully back is an entirely separate issue that should be completely unconnected to whether you used a gift card or cash.

Spendless

dashboard wrote: »

Did you use your mum as a convenience to offload the gift card that you were struggling to use? if so then a discount on it would be fairer than charging the full amount.
'Darkness is cheap and Scrooge liked it'

I was wondering the same thing. I'm reminded of when my teenage daughter won £45 worth of Waterstone giftcards for 3 x 1st places at a drama festival and then talked me into buying them all off of her for the full amount so she could spend the cash on make up!. :think::rotfl: