Over 1 Billion dollars in Gift Cards or Gift Vouchers are purchased every year in Australia. With Christmas having just passed, you can bet that tens of thousands of Aussies have gift cards in their possession. But be very careful - these gift cards more often than not have expiry dates, sometimes as little as 6 months from the date of purchase. And once that expiry date is reached, you are at the mercy of the retailer to honour the stored value in the voucher or card.
It has been estimated that as much as 30% of all gift cards are never redeemed. That means well over 300 million dollars going directly into retailers pockets - their only expense being the physical cost of the card and their time in selling the card itself.
For those who received a gift card last Christmas and find themselves with a 12 month expiry on their gift card, sadly if it is unused they will be next to worthless. Some retailers may be generous, but don't hold your breath.
In the U.S and in Canada, regulators have moved in certain states to ban an expiry on gift cards. But nothing similar seems to have been proposed here in Australia. Given that a voucher is as good as cash (which obviously doesn't expire), it's a pretty outrageous little scam the retailers have got going.
Westfield has just a 12 month expiry on its gift cards, as does those from the Woolworths Group which includes Safeway, Caltex, Dick Smith, Big W, BWS, Dan Murphys and Tandy. JB Hi Fi also have just 12 months on their cards.
And believe it or not, the ABC Shop - an entity owned by the Federal Government - also only offers 12 months on its gift cards.
The Myer Group is more generous granting 2 years for their gift cards. This includes Coles, KMart, Myer, Liquorland, Target, Officeworks and 1st Choice Liquor.
David Jones are equally as generous, offering a 2 year life for their gift cards. And there have been reports that David Jones may be more sympathetic to customers with expired cards.
And the good folk at Bunnings offer gift cards without an expiry date - which means you can buy more overpriced stuff for as long as you like.
Do you have any experience with retailers and expired gift cards or vouchers? Leave a comment below.
About Just Grumpy
3 comments
what if the feds cracked down on gift cards expiring? Wouldnt that be a big F U to the retailers running the GST attack???
I am disgusted by the use by date issue. My Husband was given a visa gift card for christmas with a 2 month expiry. We have lost that $50 now as we hadn't noticed the date.
Disgusting and uncalled for.
I was given a $100 gift voucher for Christmas 2010 for a massage at a small local business. Went to redeem it only to find it expired on 1st of April, so voucher was only good for 3 months. When I rang this week, so 2 months past expiry, they said at first they were willing to redeem just $50, then they said $60. Absolute theft.
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