With Christmas rapidly creeping up on us, your thoughts might have turned to presents for your loved ones – but consumer rights expert Martyn James says you should be wary of gift cards and vouchers
Some people are just impossible to buy for, aren’t they?! There’s always one (at least) among your friends or family. Maybe it’s because they are finicky, or already have all they need, or it’s just impossible to know what they might like.
With Christmas rapidly creeping up on us, your thoughts might have turned to gifts and purchases for your loved ones. When inspiration runs dry and you don’t want to pop some cash in a card, then chances are you may opt to purchase a gift card or voucher.
This may seem like the simplest, non-committal solution for that hard-to-buy-for person in your life. Some gift cards even allow you to shop at multiple retailers or brands too which gives the recipient even more choice. But there are always catches. Retailers love vouchers and gift cards because millions of pounds go unclaimed each week when they expire before being redeemed. That means they are basically money for nothing. In addition, these forms of shop credit often come with catches.
Here’s my guide on what to watch for with gift cards and vouchers.
How do vouchers, experience days and gift cards work?
There are a few subtle differences that you should be aware of before buying a voucher or gift card. A voucher is any document – real or digital – that entitles the holder to buy goods or services up to a prepaid amount. Vouchers can be bought as gifts or issued as a form of refund. This matters because you may end up with a voucher or two yourself if you decide to return a gift back to the retailer after Christmas!
Vouchers usually have an expiry date printed on them and you must use them by this date or you’ll lose the lot. Of course, this is harder to keep track of if you have virtual vouchers. I’d recommend putting a note in your calendar at least one month before the voucher expires if you’re not sure what you want to buy straight away.
Just as an aside: voucher codes are different things. These codes are usually given away in promotions to encourage you to shop. They’ll usually give you a 10% discount or more on your purchases. It’s worth checking your emails to see if you’ve got any up-to-date vouchers in your inbox before doing the Christmas shop. But buyer beware – some businesses make it hard to know when precisely you have to enter in the code before the purchase is finalised.
Gift cards work in a similar way to vouchers and are almost exclusively purchased as presents. As with vouchers, they should have clear expiry dates on them, though there have been disputes in the past about these rubbing off, being hard to read or being attached with poor quality stickers.
Finally, experience days have become popular in recent years. These gifts buy you an ‘experience’ like a spa day or a balloon ride. These pressies have become controversial in recent years, because of a huge range of restrictions on using them. In particular some experience days require you to actually have been on the experience by the expiry date – not just to have booked it before the date.
What catches do I need to look out for?
The big catch with any form of gift card or voucher is missing the expiry date. But there are other things to watch out for.
One of the biggest cons with cards and vouchers is the fact that some retailers require you to use them all in one go. Say you have a gift card for £200 and you want to buy items that cost £160, some shops will not give you £40 change on the card – you have to spend the lot. This leads to lots of people stocking up on socks and underpants out of spite, so they don’t leave any free money to the retailer!
Check with the shop about sneaky T&Cs like this and plan to see if you can spend the lot on something you want, rather than just turning up at the shop and finding out you’ve got to buy more when you’re in the checkout.
You may also find that there are some restrictions on what you can buy with the gift card. This is more likely with cards that you can use at multiple shops. Experience days and online voucher shops are also notorious for adding restrictions to their cards and vouchers.
If you think the restrictions are unfair, then the purchaser of the card or voucher can make a complaint to the retailer they bought it from, on the grounds that the item has been misrepresented. You can make a claim on this basis under the Consumer Rights Act, which is where the bulk of our shopping rights come from.
When shops go bust
When a business goes bust, then your gift cards and vouchers cease to have value. Even if another business purchases the brand, they may choose not to honour the old retailer’s vouchers.
The moral of this tale then, is as soon as you hear a business might be going to go under, spend the voucher or gift card. If there’s a high street branch then I’d head there first and foremost, even if the shop’s website is still operating. This is because you’ll be able to leave with the goods, as opposed to waiting for an online delivery that might not occur. Many millions of pounds have been lost to online orders that didn’t get fulfilled when a retailer went in to liquidation.
Martyn James is a leading consumer rights campaigner, TV and radio broadcaster and journalist – you can find Martyn’s work and his website here
