You know the feeling – taken for a ride by some God-awful large corporate company…
I’ll start – 18 months ago I left a job. My former colleagues were kind enough to do a collection, and knowing I like to attend gigs they bought me a Ticketmaster gift card. Very nice of them too.
They must have been feeling flush, as I had the tidy sum of £280 on the card.
Today I attempted to use the card to book some Strictly Come Dancing tickets as a Xmas present, only to find the gift card had expired. On closer inspection, in tiny words, it says that you have to use the card within a year.
Yes, I feel ripped off and I didn’t even pay for the damn thing!!
Any other examples?
Read more: http://theaudiostandard.net/thread/1757/felt-ripped-off#ixzz3rJD8LHww
Yep, my son’s Argos gift vouchers from his birthday a couple of years back all expired. Likewise the Caffe Nero one my sister got me (for some unknown reason) …
That sucks. Is there a logical & fair reason why gift cards are time limited? Because I can’t think of one off the top of my head. I imagine they do it in the knowledge that a small percentage of gift card holders will fail to redeem it in time, meaning they turn a nice little profit.
Still, that’s “the man” for you.
Three reasons; (i) EU consumer laws generally require a stated end date for any consumer offering to avoid uncertainty between customer and supplier; and (ii) it’s impractical for any supplier to keep in place forever the means to validate and redeem voucher codes; and (iii) open ended vouchers create revenue recognition issues – I’m not an accountant, but I’m always told it’s difficult to recognise consumer revenue in your company accounts when there is an unredeemed cost (ie the potential spending of the vouchers) attached.
Boring answer, but there you go. For what it’s worth, most companies I’ve worked with just state a phantom expiry deadline but in practice continue to redeem after that date; the deadline is simply a legal fiction to address the issues above.
Boring answer, but there you go.
Just read the OP.
Native – sorry to hear that. I’d suggest giving them a ring/dropping them an email, explaining your situation and complaining on the basis that the expiry date wasn’t clearly legible and a year is a very short deadline. If they don’t comply then threaten to report them to the Competition and Markets Authority.
If you want help with some magic words to get this sorted out then PM me and I’ll try to assist. Part of my current role is advising a large corporate on these sorts of issues, so I have a reasonable sense of which buttons are best pushed.
Good luck.
Oh well. Happy to be corrected. Especially if it gives @native a change of getting a result!
Would it be worh contacting Ticketmasters customer services? Just a thought, but maybe if you explain the circumstances they might give you a sympathetic hearing…..
Yes, cos Ticketmaster are such loveable touchy feely dudes, aren’t they. Hell, they always take off the admin fee when I ask.
Book Tokens have a 1 year (I think) expiry date, but according to their website they will re-validate them again by some means or other, should they expire unused.
Perhaps Ticketmaster will do this if you ask nicely and explain about not noticing the tiny print. No need to go in guns blazing unless they absolutely refuse.
This thread has reminded me I’ve had £80 in “Love 2 Shop” vouchers (redeemable at HMV and Waterstones among very many retailers) sitting in my desk drawer since last year.
Just checked and they don’t expire until 31/03/2017.
I’ve got a $50 voucher for a restaurant that expires in Dec 1999
Interesting. I’ve been given, and bought, Theatre Gift Vouchers a few times in the past and they clearly say that there is no expiry date – so that suggests there is a way if there is a will…
Yep! I’ve just used theatre vouchers that were about three years old. Galvanised by deciding that me and the Mrs should see War Horse before it closes.
I have had out of date Ticketmaster vouchers reissued at an in-store Ticketmaster booth/sales desk in the past.
Try that, if there’s one near you.
TM are not the most giving company, but just phone them. They do sometimes accommodate reasonable requests.
A few years ago a good friend that worked with me was leaving. I organised the collection and knowing that he wanted a new guitar got him vouchers for a large shop in Leeds. Within a couple of weeks of us giving him well over £300 the company went bust and he had no way of getting anything back.
Was gutted for him. Thinking back don’t know why we didn’t just give him the money
Well, spoke to them the morning and it seems rules are rules and their gift cards bought in retail outlets have to be used within year. Rather strangely, although the ones you buy online from ticketmaster also expire within a year, these can sometimes be extended if large amounts (over £100) are on them, but not the retail ones.
I have been told to complete a form on their website to make a complaint, so we’ll see….
Yes, only a month ago by AVIS car hire. I won’t go into details because…
(a) Its a long story
(b) It’ll make me mad
Suffice to say read the (very) small print and if you something isn’t clear get them to clarify.
What am I saying ? They’re bastards, don’t use them.
Well, it looks like the Big Man wins again.
Had a reply back that is pretty much a cut ‘n paste of the T&Cs from the website and no reply at all from the legal email address I found. Hey-ho.