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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To spend an unused gift voucher

27 replies

Kaliah · 01/12/2022 09:22

This year I gave my sister a £50 gift voucher for her birthday (electronic kind where they email you a code to type into the website).

She rarely gets me christmas/birthday presents and I could tell she felt a bit guilty about not having got anything for me for my birthday. However, what I've found quite upsetting is that she hasn't spent the voucher (been over 6 months). I've tested it on the website and it still works. I hate to see it just go to waste. Would I be unreasonable to spend it?

OP posts:
Valid8me · 01/12/2022 09:24

She may be saving it to pay for Christmas or something. Do you know the expiry date? If so I would wait until a day or two before that and if still not used, I would spend it!

DisplayPurposesOnly · 01/12/2022 09:25

Don't be silly. Have a conversation with her. Don't just arbitrarily reclaim the present you gave her.

CloseYourEyesAndSee · 01/12/2022 09:26

Does it expire?
6 months isn't long enough to assume she won't spend it. Try right before it expires or after 12 months if it doesn't expire and if she ever tries it she'll assume it has?

softpilllow · 01/12/2022 09:27

Would I be unreasonable to spend it?

Of course you would.

Luellie · 01/12/2022 09:27

Think of it the other way round - 'my sister gave me a gift card. I hadn't got round to using it yet, but I was looking forward to using it in the January sales. When I came to use it, I found the balance was empty. My sister said she decided to use it because I didn't use it quick enough for her liking!'

Just ask her about it, maybe she just needs a reminder.

SerenaTee · 01/12/2022 09:27

Kaliah · 01/12/2022 09:22

This year I gave my sister a £50 gift voucher for her birthday (electronic kind where they email you a code to type into the website).

She rarely gets me christmas/birthday presents and I could tell she felt a bit guilty about not having got anything for me for my birthday. However, what I've found quite upsetting is that she hasn't spent the voucher (been over 6 months). I've tested it on the website and it still works. I hate to see it just go to waste. Would I be unreasonable to spend it?

Yes, you’d be stealing as it’s no longer your money to spend!

Teadrinkingmumofone · 01/12/2022 09:28

Oh give over. I have a voucher fro the start of this year I haven't used yet I will use it and have planned for when I will use it.

luxxlisbon · 01/12/2022 09:37

Yes completely unreasonable to just spend it and really weird that you kept the code and have been checking.

I’ve just used a gift card I got for a particular shop for DD over a year after getting it. I looked a few times and there wasn’t anything I really wanted to get her and it still meant adding money for something I wouldn’t have purchased. I just seen something I was going to buy her anyway so I was able to order it from this store.

Bookworm20 · 01/12/2022 09:47

Maybe she lost it? Or she just hasn't seen anything she wants to get with it yet. Who Knows. But yes, you would be unreasonable to just spend it. Check when it expires and if still not used the day before expiry, spend it then.

MakeItRain · 01/12/2022 09:50

I did this once with a similar amount, but it had been nearly 3 years! It was still valid on the website and I was no longer in touch with the person I'd gifted it to. So I spent it! I did feel a bit guilty, but I couldn't bear thinking of it just going to waste.

Original poster
Kaliah · 01/12/2022 09:51

I've already asked her about it once and she told me she hadn't spent it. I was beginning to worry that it would expire after 6 months but it appears not. I can't bring myself to repeatedly nag someone to spend a voucher but I really don't want the money wasted. However consensus here is to not interfere so I will let it go.

OP posts:
Luellie · 01/12/2022 09:56

@Kaliah have a look on the terms and conditions and find out when it expires, or even just ask the company the gift card is for

Eleusa · 01/12/2022 09:58

Is there something you'd like to buy from the business? If so, you could suggest to your sister that you buy the voucher back from her. That would save the waste. Otherwise nothing you can do- you gave it to her as a gift, you can't just take it back. If you'd given her £50 cash and found she hadn't spent it, you wouldn't help yourself, would you?

luxxlisbon · 01/12/2022 10:02

@Kaliah I can't bring myself to repeatedly nag someone to spend a voucher

Literally no one is suggesting that 😂
You’ve already nagged her by asking so soon and then checking the balance.

Hidingawaytoday · 01/12/2022 10:13

Eh? I never spend vouchers right away just when I need something from that particular store. Surely buying something she doesn't want/ need is a bigger waste than waiting to spend it on something she does.

And have a chat with her about whether to do gifts or not.

softpilllow · 01/12/2022 10:16

Kaliah · 01/12/2022 09:51

I've already asked her about it once and she told me she hadn't spent it. I was beginning to worry that it would expire after 6 months but it appears not. I can't bring myself to repeatedly nag someone to spend a voucher but I really don't want the money wasted. However consensus here is to not interfere so I will let it go.

This is so weird. You don't need to check or nag. The money isn't wasted, it was your gift. Once you have gifted something it is no longer your business what happened to it, be it a voucher, cash or item.

Thesearmsofmine · 01/12/2022 10:19

I always keep vouchers until there is something I really want or need. Six months isn’t long.

Original poster
Kaliah · 01/12/2022 10:21

Eleusa · 01/12/2022 09:58

Is there something you'd like to buy from the business? If so, you could suggest to your sister that you buy the voucher back from her. That would save the waste. Otherwise nothing you can do- you gave it to her as a gift, you can't just take it back. If you'd given her £50 cash and found she hadn't spent it, you wouldn't help yourself, would you?

This is a good idea thanks. It takes away the risk of it going to waste but she still has the money to spend on what she wishes or said it. I don't have an issue eith

OP posts:
JenS16 · 01/12/2022 10:22

I have 2 vouchers from last Xmas I haven’t spent yet. I will spend them though!!

Original poster
Kaliah · 01/12/2022 10:24

I don't have an issue with her saving it as cash as it isn't wasted! I just didn't choose to gift £50 to a random company for their profit 😕

OP posts:
NippyWoowoo · 01/12/2022 10:28

Kaliah · 01/12/2022 09:22

This year I gave my sister a £50 gift voucher for her birthday (electronic kind where they email you a code to type into the website).

She rarely gets me christmas/birthday presents and I could tell she felt a bit guilty about not having got anything for me for my birthday. However, what I've found quite upsetting is that she hasn't spent the voucher (been over 6 months). I've tested it on the website and it still works. I hate to see it just go to waste. Would I be unreasonable to spend it?

You need to get a life. I can't imagine checking to see if a voucher has been used. Sounds controlling

girlmom21 · 01/12/2022 10:29

Are you going to spend the £50 either way? If so offer to give her the cash and you use the voucher.

pairofrollerskates · 01/12/2022 10:31

Check the expiry date. About a week before it expires, remind her, and say that if she doesn't want anything from that site/shop/whatever, you'll use it yourself.But really, why did you even check?

stuntbubbles · 01/12/2022 10:31

Why not just go round to her house and steal something of hers?

The whole point of a gift voucher is it lasts a while and the recipient can choose what to buy, when. Stop being weird about it.

melj1213 · 01/12/2022 11:23

JFC the £50 is not yours any more and hasn't been since the day you gifted it so whether it is used or just allowed to expire that's not your decision to make!

I was gifted some vouchers to a local restaurant by friends for my birthday in July, I still have them now in December ... They have a 12 months expiration date so I have until July next year to use them. If my friends had repeatedly asked me about whether I'd used them or not then I'd probably refuse to use them u til the day before their expiration on principle!

The restaurant is lovely and I enjoy going there but as I work Tuesday-Saturday evenings and the restaurant is closed on Mondays, in order to use them I either need to go on Sunday, go for lunch on a weekday or book annual leave. I am not going to just book a day of annual leave for the sake of using the vouchers quickly and stop the questions when I can wait until an occasion or when I'm booking a day off for another event and combine it with using the vouchers for dinner (eg if I booked a Saturday off because I was going to a theatre show with DD then I'd book dinner for before/after and use the vouchers towards our meal)