To think gift cards are a scam

[TheRebel]

House of Fraser are not accepting gift cards or vouchers even though they’re not going into administration.

Retailers must love gift cards, they have your cash and don’t have to honour them and people must forget about them and lose them all the time.

Ds had a smiths one with £6 left on it. We got some bits and bobs which came to more than that. When I took it to the till Igave the cashier the gift card and a tenner to cover the rest. She handed me back the gift card and said 'you have £4 left on that' FFS. Meant I didn't have any more cash for the rest of the day either. Did explain I wanted to use the rest of the gift card but no, apparently my fault for not making it clear I didn't want a gift card with crappy 4 quid left on it.

Also gift cards that have been expired for months would be too long to reinstate - a few days or weeks perhaps. There has to be a cut off at some point.

SadieHH and MrsOliphant did you complain right to the top of the organisation? I know from others' experiences that a twitter message/email to the CEO often works!!

I did everything! They ignored me. I literally did not get any other reply other than 'thanks, we'll look into it' on Twitter. No reply to email.

That's appalling. Terrible customer service

I hate them because of the expiry date, especially if they're for a short time. Six months for Harvey Nichols is shocking - at least M&S are two years.

I'm not a particularly enthusiastic shopper and just don't want to be 'forced' into buying something in a particular shop.

I read earlier this afternoon that they will be honoured soon. But yes I agree they are a bit of a scam. With situations like this and if you let them go out of date which is easy done you have lost your money. I'll think twice before using them again. I only use M & S and John Lewis which I hope would be OK.

Wow, 6 months expiry? What a bloody rip off! Here, USA, they cracked down on retailers doing this, it's now 5 years minimum though they can charge an admin fee if it's been unused for 12 months or more.

I don't think they're a scam, you can lose cash as easily as a gift card and it's not like expiry dates are hidden... We got quite a few as wedding gifts and it's been lovely treating ourselves and buying nice things for the baby with no guilt that we could've put the money towards something else

It's illegal to have expiry dates on them where I live. Much better.

I don’t like them because there is a limit on them. Mothercare would not honour ours which was one day over their limit.

The One4all gift card is the biggest con of all. It's supposed to be valid in lots of different shops, but in reality hardly any shops recognise it and the staff give you a blank stare. I was given one as a present and I gave up trying to use it.

They went into Administration today

I do actually like getting gift cards for my birthday. It’s the only time I really feel comfortable splashing out on something for myself. Also, my birthday is just before Christmas so if I get any cash it just ends up going on Christmas shopping.

To those of you who feel it's not a scam, how so?
I wouldn't want to hand over money and have to spend it within 6 months or a certain time frame. It's insane.

Anouk - I think there is a market for them on eBay. You’ll get less than their value but better than nothing.

I agree they are annoying - we had some for GoApe given shortly before I got pregnant. By the time I’d had the baby and recovered they’d expired. Also BabysRUs voucher. None anywhere nearby and you couldn’t use them online.

@tectonicplates. I quite agree about the one4all ones. I couldn't spend the balance on one of mine because the store couldn't let me add cash to fulfil the sale. The transaction wouldn't go through unless it was for the exact amount on the card or less. I assumed it was the store being a dick until the same thing happened in another shop. That relative has given us cash presents ever since.

My daughter says the best gift I ever bought her was a £100 gift voucher for Café Nero. She loves going in there to work out of office, or have a rest stop when out in town. She gave it up because it really should be a treat rather than an everyday thing and it starts to run expensive. She was delighted to get the voucher.

One4All is bloody ridiculous. They really ought to stop doing them. Shops can’t tell you the balance, so you always have to know it. You can actually use it in part payment, but you have to do it the right way around, viz, I think you pay the cash ‘portion’ first, and then get them to apply the balance of the one4all card second. Which you have to know to the penny. Useless.

Gift cards are a great way of ruining a cash gift by adding huge restrictions to it.

I found out recently that if you give email Amazon gift vouchers and the recipient doesn’t use them within the expiry period, you can claim them back and use them yourself. I just spent £60 I’d originally given to someone for their birthday.

Gift cards aren’t a scam, exactly but shops obviously prefer you use them, as the redemption rate is comparatively low. Say it’s 99% - it’s not, it’s lower - then they make a quid for every hundred quid spent. Plus some people lose or forget them and never redeem them. Or spend £18.50 of a twenty quid one, and never get around to spending the balance.

God, I’ve thought about this too much. I definitely had a fucking life, at one point.

There used to be a site for buying and selling gift cards, I don't remember the name, something beginning with Z I think.

It is always going to be a problem with a business that goes into administration but generally they are OK as long as you know the rules.

In my store we didn't actually 'get' the money until the giftcards were redeemed.

Zeek. It’s not bad, I got fifty quid Amazon for a £60 Tui one.

I find it super difficult to remember to use them, too. We had about £75 in various vouchers earlier this year, I'm not sure how much we've used or lost. This thread is reminding me, still have at least £20 on one voucher for shop I have no reason to ever go into.