to try and start a gift card boycott

[joanbyers]

They are hideous, aren't they? Have been stuck holding all kinds of gift cards for places that have gone bust, or I don't want to shop at.

Latest thing in this vein is Comet going bust, refusing to take a boy's charity gift card: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-20191490

I have bought them myself in the past for children's birthday parties, but will just give cash (or buy an actual toy) in the future.

National Book tokens will never go bust.

Probably.

starts to panic

I loves gift card!
I always spend them right away though

I love getting gift cards too I'm afraid so I can't boycott them :)

See where you're coming from though! Is it just me that was shocked at Comet going out of business?

I wasn't shocked, I have to say.

Book tokens are awesome. Other gift cards I wouldn't be worried about would include iTunes, Next, John Lewis, M&S, etc, although they are all a bit adult.

They are great for teen/preteen presents where they don't actually want a present but you don't want them to spend the money on random crap. At least with a giftcard you can direct them towards targetted crap from a pre-approved store.

Ah Joan! You're back. Reincarnation or just a name change?

er yes

YANBA OP

MIL bought me a WH Smith gift card a few years ago and I just couldn't find anything in there that wasn't massively overpriced compared to everywhere else. Choice was rubbish too. I eventually bought some maps, which were on offer, but it was a real chore spending the money, wish she hadn't bothered TBH.

How they (WH Smith) stay in business, I'll never know. Sad about the comet gift cards, especially the charity ones. I think a lot of people get insurance payouts from fire/flood etc in this way as well. So when they try to refit their homes and buy new white goods/TVs etc they'll have to battle with their insurance company again to get the money in a different form.

gift cards are weird. they're money you can only spend in one shop? and I get not wanting to give money which is spend on 'random crap' but no guarantee it won't be if it's a gift card..my M & S gift cards went on snacks and bread and pasta sauce which I could of bought twice as much of with cash in Lidl

YANBU I don't get gift cards anyway, it's money that you can only spend in one shop, assuming that the shop is still there and they have an expiry date on them, often a year. I don't really see why anyone would rather have that than hard cash. Even when I had a "Mall card" which I could spend anywhere in teh shopping mall I struggled and ended up in Build a Bear buying for DD2!

I think YABU. I understand why you don't like gift cards, but why should you get to choose what somebody gives you for a present? I personally dislike charity donations "on my behalf, instead of a Christmas present" that are given to a charity I wouldn't necessarily have chosen myself, but I don't say anything to the people who give me them because who am I to tell them what to give me for Christmas? A gift is decided by the person who gives it.

I also sometimes give gift cards (if I know someone well enough to know what shops they like), if I want them to have a nice present but don't have time to decide what to get them - I want to make sure they will actually buy something nice for themselves without feeling guilty for not putting the money into the weekly food shop or whatever.

It is a shame about the Comet gift cards though.

I do buy gift cards sometimes and get them. Shame about the Comet ones. Boycott those Christmas hamper firms if you are going to boycott anything. One went under a few years ago and lots of people lost all their savings.

I often buy John Lewis gift cards for birthdays. Then the child can choose something or put it towards a bigger item. Book tokens are good too.

Hard Cash Please!

Kind people give the DDs tokens for Monsoon, where every thing is far more £££ than the token so I end up subing them or WH Smiths when books are cheaper on Amazon.

Please folks cash isn't lazy it's what teens want and it's what they need.

YABU. Gift cards are unreliable, surely everyone knows that? If a shop goes under then gift cards and any loyalty/store points/credit will be one of the first things to be pulled.

I appreciate its a shame for the families in receipt of the charity gift cards but it's unfortunately one of those things.

Oh Monsoon would be dreadful, £80 for a dress, and it's a £20 voucher. Er, thanks?

I think it's awful that shops going into administation won't honour gift cards.

I actually think you sound quite ungrateful. Maybe you get given gift cards because people don't know what to buy such a moany you?

It's the thought that counts and I can't honestly believe that it's so hard to spend them, the Comet situation aside of course.

Yanbu I've just spent a £20 voucher in M&S and am now the proud owner of a gift card with a value of 50p because they are unable to give change.

Why should they honour gift cards? Someone holding a gift card is just another in a long line of creditors, so if they honour it they lose stock without gaining cash to pay staff or rent.

Why should they honour gift cards? Someone holding a gift card is just another in a long line of creditors, so if they honour it they lose stock without gaining cash to pay staff or rent.

High Street vouchers are relatively useful.

Phone fail. Argh.

But they have already had the money for the gift card in the first place. Whoever bought it as a gift paid the face value of it. If they don't honour them then they have been paid for goods or services that they have not had to provide which is just unfair to both the giver and receiver.

That's true of all creditors though - why should you go ahead of their staff and suppliers?