Expired vouchers/giftcards

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6672982/expired-vouchers-giftcards

The problem is that many gift cards are well gifted and so whilst they may or may not have the original persons email address they almost certainly dont have the person they were given to. Even if you earn the gift card rather than pay for it with money there is nothing that stops you selling it on eBay or giving it as a gift

Not sure which government department issues gift cards that you imagine doing a FOI for? FOI dont apply to regular shops, only public bodies and public funded bodies.

From a company's point of view I sell a gift card for £100, at that point in time I have £99.50 in my bank account and £100 liability and £0.50 spent on the card. So from a P&L perspective I've made a £1 loss and the rest is a balance sheet offsetting entry.

If they never expired in principle thats how it would stay forever, eventually I'd have millions in cash offsetting millions in liability giving a vast gross balance sheet and a small net balance sheet. In practice you'd write down the liability over time, in the same way non-payers are, but you'd have to justify your methodology to the auditors and its time/effort etc plus no guarantee that next year they say you need to extend it further.

Add to that technology changes, a gift voucher from 20 years ago almost certainly is very different from the one today, if they last forever you need to ensure your staff are trained and know how to process every format you have ever issued and keep legacy IT systems alive or costly migrations.

Most companies will put an expiry date, they can then keep a 100% liability on the balance sheet until it expires then it simply gets written off and moves to the P&L. Change your voucher system? only 1-2 years of parallel running is required.

For the majority, I suspect sending out a reminder email to the original recipient of the voucher is likely to simply cause confusion as many simply won't remember buying a £10 Amazon voucher 18 months ago let alone which of their family, friends, colleagues etc it was then given to.

Ergates

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82038937#Comment_82038937

Well then how on earth could they have warned you, even if they wanted to.

dogleish

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82039301#Comment_82039301

because i had to register for an account with my email address in order to claim the voucher…?

born_again

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82039317#Comment_82039317

Look at it the other way, why should they, which will cost them money. When this is down to users, not using card asap.

They would also need a system that tracks each cards spending & resets limit each time they are used.

I buy bulk Costa gift cards when they offer a extra £5 when you spend £20. They are used long before expiry date.

Pollycat

I think it comes down to personal responsibility.

They are your cards, gifted to you - presumably in lieu of money.

You should make yourself aware of the expiry date and use them well before.

"Martin Lewis has said on many occasions to avoid gift cards for several reasons and you've just highlighted one."

Exactly this ^^^^.