AIBU to ask a restaurant to honour an expired gift voucher?

[Mum2BeRants]

So gutted and just need space to rant! I’m going to email the restaurant but unsure whether to go for begging or complaining!

Bought my partner a £50 voucher for his favourite restaurant as a birthday gift. This wasn’t cheap for me as I was 8 months pregnant and on maternity allowance and we had a lot of unexpected joint costs this year. But I wanted to buy it as he sadly had to miss a special event on his birthday when we thought I’d gone into labour on the way there!

Anyways gave birth a few weeks later, obviously not in a place to immediately use the voucher. Baby’s now 8 months so started looking at booking and it’s EXPIRED!! I can’t believe it. 6 month expiry date. I completely took it for granted that 12 months would be the absolutely soonest expiry, more likely 2 years+. Wasn’t a priority to double check in the midst of new born baby chaos and recovery.

What a punch in the face.

Didn’t say 6 month expiry in the email receipt. And just in tiny small print on the website.

I don’t think we’ve got a leg to stand on but also don’t think I have anything to lose sending an email pleading with them for mercy! Anyone else had similar and had any luck?

They don't have to honour it as it is expired. They will have expiry dates for a reason. If there has been a change of ownership, your luck is probably out. Ultimately it was up to you to be aware of any conditions around the voucher.

However, many places will honour a recently expired voucher, so it doesn't hurt to ask. I expect they probably will honour it (unless there has been a significant change there, like change of ownership).

Yes! DP purchased me a spa day when DS was born.

Totally forgot about it. Of course. Baby no time all of that. It expired after a YEAR so I had a lot of time tbh but was totally consumed with baby going back to work all of that.

I called them and explained. Might have cried 😅

They said fine (probably to get me off the phone) and sent me an email cancelling the original and issuing another one.

I went. Was wonderful. Loved it.

Give it a go nothing to lose.

I agree you can only ask!

I had similar with a spa voucher expiring amid the new baby confusion and they
were really lovely about it and reissued it.

But you had 6 months to use it. Every voucher I've ever had be it a gift or even tesco rewards has had a date on it. So why are you upset? It's like if you have tickets to a play and don't go...in fact its actually better because play tickets are for that specific night. You've had 180 night's to use it

im with you thats crazy

I will honour expired vouchers if the customer is nice and pleasant about it and doesn't have an OTT sob story.

If they do accept it then leave a nice review after your meal (but don't mention the specifics about the voucher because I wouldn't want someone asking why I waived the rules for another person).

Personally I would like to see gift vouchers made illegal for this very reason. Even if they don’t expire they can be a pain to use/activate or tricky to use in conjunction with a discount code. Literally no one thinks ‘oh they’ve given me a cash transfer, how impersonal. If only they had been thoughtful enough to restrict where I can spend it and how soon I must use it’.

Michael McIntyre (I think it was) did a bit about that and it really got me thinking.

Book tokens were a great idea but the world has changed an awful lot since then!

unsure whether to go for begging or complaining!

Do NOT complain. It was your mistake, not theirs.

Send them an email but try and make it lighthearted and funny (if you’re whitty enough and have a way with words). Compliment them too!

They may say no to honouring the voucher, but they may offer you some complimentary drinks/desserts.

I think they have to put expiry dates or unused ones have to be accounted for as liabilites in their accoints forever, but they'll probably reissue as a jesture of goodwill.

Don't try to be funny. Just be straightforward. Don't bring up all the baby stuff or make it too long. Just be honest and say you didn't realise when it expired.

Ask the question, what is the worse they can say? Just be sure to take the name of whoever says yes (if they do) so you can quote it if needed.

You can ask, they may honor it. Don't go there complaining or blaming them though. At the end of the day you are the one that messed up. And please don't leave a bad review if they don't honor it. That will just come across a pathetic.

Six months is ridiculously short. The law in Ireland is that all vouchers have a minimum of 5 years on them!

Personally I would simply ask they will say yes or no

But again personally if I was on the receiving end of this if I was simply asked I would try and fix it for you BUT if anyone tried to give me a long back story or to be funny it would be a no and mentioning a baby is not relevant

Just be polite and simply ask

I know you said it wasn't on the receipt, but was it on the actual voucher that you gave to DH? I would expect it to be on there so the recipient can see how long they have without having to check with the person who gave it to them.

What exactly would you be complaining about? It’s your error, not theirs. Your best chance is to be apologetic, don’t bleat on about the baby, and throw yourself at their mercy.

You can’t complain, buy you can ring and ask.

Agree it is fine to politely ask whether they can extend it out of good will, but definitely don't go in complaining. You bought the voucher and should have read the small print regarding how long you had to use it.

You don’t need to beg or complain, simply send a reasonable email asking if they could extend the date, as you and your partner both missed the date on the voucher.

Yes it feels ridiculously short to me too. Unusually short so I imagine it catches quite a few customers out. I mean of all the vouchers I’ve ever had in my life (excluding discount code type things and just actual vouchers) I’ve never actually seen one have an expiry date this short!

Also interesting that the US, Ireland and various other countries have laws about this kind of thing to stop exactly this!

Complaint is probably a strong word but That is why I considered an email suggesting that because an expiry date that fast is unusual they really should make that more prominent to customers, and not hidden in the small print.

Lots of mixed responses here on whether to go with a sob story (even crying!), straight to the point, serious, funny!

Definitely ask, mention you've had a baby but don't go over the top. They might agree to still accept it/reissue the voucher with a longer expiry date, but obviously aren't obliged to.

TBH, even without the expiry date issue, it's incredibly risky buying a gift voucher for a restaurant as many will go bust in the current climate and then your money's definitely gone.

I'd agree that we need to reframe how we think about gifts/money/vouchers and why it only feels like a gift if it's a physical item that a person may not want or need (or is dressed up with a load of wasteful extra packaging) or a voucher that has restrictions on when/where you can use it.

In hindsight I should have created my own ‘voucher’ for the restaurant for DH with £50 cash in the envelope. That’s what I’ll do in future with anything similar!

Im curious what the restaurant will do. If they allow us to use it we’ll end up spending a little bit more there aa £50 still wouldn’t cover the full cost and probably continue to go once a year for DH’s birthday. If they refuse, then we’ll be going to another cheaper restaurant and spending money there. We wouldn’t be able to justify going without the voucher and also (our fault or not!) DH thinks it would just be too much of a sickener to go and pay that much on top of what I already spent !

That's what I do for all voucher gifts, for exactly this reason. I don't give the cash but pay when the this is paid for, i.e. the voucher is spent. Companies must make a fortune from all the vouchers never spent.