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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to expect a gift voucher to last 2 years.

24 replies

highho1 · 02/01/2014 23:01

21 months ago I received some gift vouchers for my birthday. I planned to buy maternity clothes with them but there was very little choice. I used them in dribs and drabs.
I have today found 1 I didn't realise I had and it expired on 31st december.
Annoyed as if it was a gift card (ie m and s) it would still be valid.
Aibu

OP posts:
AwfulMaureen · 02/01/2014 23:02

YABU. I'd not assume that about a gift voucher at all.

Sirzy · 02/01/2014 23:03

Gift cards also expire.

Juno77 · 02/01/2014 23:03

Nope, wouldn't expect to be valid.

Gift cards expire too.

Plus it would say on the voucher, so you should really have read it

Binkyridesagain · 02/01/2014 23:04

You always need to check the expiry date on gift vouchers, some are only for a few months, some a year, others have no date.

Joules68 · 02/01/2014 23:04

Gift cards at our store have a 5 year expiry date

Original poster
highho1 · 02/01/2014 23:07

I know m and s used to be 2 years after last used. Although more recently they seem longer. O well lesson learnt.
Still think it's mean though as some don't even have an expiry date.

OP posts:
Original poster
highho1 · 02/01/2014 23:08

Every shlp seems to be different.

OP posts:
Original poster
highho1 · 02/01/2014 23:09

I think in my mind I had spent them. I forgot I held one back as they of course don't give change with them.

OP posts:
Original poster
highho1 · 02/01/2014 23:11

I think in my mind I had spent them. I forgot I held one back as they of course don't give change with them.

OP posts:
Original poster
highho1 · 02/01/2014 23:11

I think in my mind I had spent them. I forgot I held one back as they of course don't give change with them.

OP posts:
Original poster
highho1 · 02/01/2014 23:11

Oops.

OP posts:
Bumbez · 02/01/2014 23:13

For that reason I do not give gift cards - money does not go out of date!

Earlier this year some friends gave Dh and I £40 in vouchers to spend in a restaurant - 3 months later I went to use them and they had expired having only lasted 6 weeks!

After a massive rant they did let me use them but I was so cross. I think it's worth appealing to the store manager OP or write to customer services.

longingforsomesleep · 02/01/2014 23:18

YANBU in that they shouldn't go out of date, but YABU to not know that they do given the amount of publicity this unfair system gets in the media!

I refuse to buy gift cards for this reason. Last Xmas DH bought ds a couple of 'experience' vouchers. When we got round to thinking about using them in the summer, they'd expired - infuriating!

DoYouLikeMyBaubles · 02/01/2014 23:25

YABU.

You should check.

SPSJSAT · 03/01/2014 17:55

Worth asking if they'll swap them.

The reason they go out of date isn't to fleece people... It's so a company knows its financial liability at any given time (if they last forever, they could have a huge year for redemptions one year, giving them problems)

The company I work for would swap expired gift cards for new ones...

snowed · 03/01/2014 19:08

Agree with SPSJSAT it's fair enough if they go out of date.

catgirl1976 · 03/01/2014 19:16

I always thought it varied between 6 months and a year depending on the store so YABU IMO

Caitlin17 · 03/01/2014 19:37

It's worth contacting customer service at M&S headquarters not within the store.
It might depend on what provision there is for this liability and whether they can cancel the old liability and create a new one but that's a question for accountants.

FortyDoorsToNowhere · 03/01/2014 19:40

What happens to the money on the card/ vochour

Caitlin17 · 03/01/2014 19:48

I expect the money will have been used by the company when received and recorded as income received in the relevant accounting year. The liability to be called upon to provide goods of that value for a specific period will appear as a liability in the company accounts.

highlandbird · 03/01/2014 19:53

YANBU we received a £50 amazon voucher from my auntie as a wedding gift, didn't want to spend it on wee bits so saved it until there was something decent for the house we needed, and it had expired after 12 months. Was absolutely gutted, mostly for the fact my auntie had spent £50 on nothing (I wouldn't tell her that though), I would expect a voucher to last for two years and IME they generally do.

SPSJSAT · 03/01/2014 19:58

I expect the money will have been used by the company when received and recorded as income received in the relevant accounting year. The liability to be called upon to provide goods of that value for a specific period will appear as a liability in the company accounts

This. I just couldn't explain it in accounting terminology! Xmas Grin

KatherinaMinola · 03/01/2014 19:58

Was it actually M&S? I'm sure their vouchers have no expiry date.

IfAtFirstUDontSucceed · 03/01/2014 21:18

Appeal to the store to see if they're still willing to accept them.

I won £200 worth of Harvey Nicks vouchers Xmas 2011 but as I didn't have a store nearby they just got stashed away.
Last Christmas my mum & I planned a trip to Edinburgh, knowing that there was a Harvey Nicks there. I turned the house upside down looking for them, when I eventually found them I saw that they were only valid for 6 months - I cried! Blush

I emailed their customer services explaining that I had no opportunity to use them and they said that they would accept them! I even got told that if there were any issues using them at the till to as for the customer services manager by name.
As it happens, no one questioned the dates on them anyway!

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