Expired Gift Card - What Would You Do?

CandyMan on 07/05/2015 - 14:30
Last edited 09/05/2015 - 19:31

So the rebel gift cards I got from the $1 newspaper deal expired. When my wife went to the store she realised they were expired- so she walked out. I did a google search and realised that some gift cards don't expire even though they had an expiry date.

I tried to use them online- they worked, the only problem was $20 shipping fee. So we went to the store and they worked like magic. The store attendant didn't check the expiry date.

What do you do if your gift cards expire?
Did you ever have a problem redeeming expired gift cards?
If you work in a store, what's you're guidelines when dealing with expired gift cards?

Poll Options

  • 4
    I call the store and get an extension - no way I give up
  • 1
    I sell them online company which deals with expired cards
  • 2
    I throw them away - life goes on
  • 24
    I use them online/ instore anyway
General Discussion

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Comments

  • arend on 07/05/2015 - 14:35
    +6

    Spend them before they expire…?

    • CandyMan on 07/05/2015 - 15:37

      That would be the ideal situation
      The question is: if you were in the unfortunate situation that a gift card expired, what did you do? For example did you succeed redeeming it, did you have any problems extending the expiry date? Do gift cards even expire at all?

  • dasher86 on 07/05/2015 - 14:58
    +6

    call the bikies and get them to redeem it.

  • strikerzebra on 07/05/2015 - 15:04
    +2

    Never had an expired card before because I'd try and use it still

  • MITM on 07/05/2015 - 15:17
    +2

    You can always buy another gift card with the gift card to extend the expiry, so in effect they last for in perpetuity.

    • definitive on 07/05/2015 - 21:55

      As far as I'm aware, most gift cards (if not all) do not allow the purchase of other gift cards with them. They're written in small print on the card itself.

      • MITM on 08/05/2015 - 15:31

        Correct :-(

  • Randxyz123 on 07/05/2015 - 15:54
    +1

    Usually as long as they didn't expire 2 years ago it is fine.

    • CandyMan on 07/05/2015 - 16:40

      Is this a general rule or did you find this out by experience?

  • CyberMurning on 07/05/2015 - 16:14
    +1

    keep as reminder…

  • lolmao on 07/05/2015 - 17:04
    +1

    Forgot to use a $40 gift card from The Iconic, so I emailed them the day after it expired asking for a one day extension so I could use it.

    First I received this reply:

    Thank you for getting in touch with us here at THE ICONIC.
    I'll need to get my supervisor to take a look into this for you and will email you as soon as I have an update

    I thought that sounds good.. then FIVE days later he replied again and said this:

    Thank you for your patience. I have received an update from our supervisor stating that the voucher was expired,
    If you have any questions, please reply to this email or for a faster response, chat with us on our website at www.theiconic.com.au. We're available on weekdays 9am - 8pm and Saturday 10am to 6pm AEST.

    I face palmed so bad…

    • CandyMan on 07/05/2015 - 18:27

      Lol…I think the iconic is a UK company
      Did you try to use it anyway? Or did you just assume it wouldn't work coz it's expired?

      • lolmao on 07/05/2015 - 21:09

        didn't work :(

  • atasnatas on 07/05/2015 - 17:16
    +1

    I'd try to use it, on something I'd be content to spend money on if the card didn't work. Or just get another gift card, if the store allows that.

    If it did become useless, it'd lessen by view of whatever store it's from. I'd put something in writing to state such. I can't think of any reason why gift cards should expire, it just seems like a money grab. Money doesn't expire, the store gets your money from the start and so the card shouldn't expire. Perhaps I'm missing something, but at this point I don't think highly of companies that have expirations on their gift cards.

    • CandyMan on 07/05/2015 - 18:33

      One reason I created this post is to alert ozbargainers that some, and (maybe all) gift cards don't expire. According to the poll so far, many are aware of this. However many people probably don't bother trying to use their expired cards.

      I heard on the radio years ago that companies make millions of dollars because of unclaimed gift cards each year. They didn't point out though that you can extend the date or use them online/ in-store after the expiry date!

  • doowhydiddi on 07/05/2015 - 21:24
    +3

    While cleaning a drawer I discovered a Masters gift card expired about a month earlier so I threw it in the bin at my desk. The weekend later Masters were selling those plastic trestle tables at a great price. Remembering about the gift card I pulled it out of the bin to check if by any chance it still was usable. Low and behold it still worked through their website….and I scored a free table!

    Definitely worth checking gift cards online.

  • [Deactivated] on 08/05/2015 - 09:33

    If you have paid money for a gift cad, (rather than a give away from a company promoting something) then generally they do not expire, as they are the equivalent of the money you handed over.

  • dasher86 on 08/05/2015 - 09:58

    Usually gift cards have a grace period on them.
    Depending on how they are issued and how they are maintained.
    Some need to be manually expired in the system hence can be redeemed until such a time.
    For work we used to manually expire gift cards quarterly / six monthly when we were looking for extra revenue to report for the period.

    • CandyMan on 08/05/2015 - 13:24

      Interesting

  • kronicmacstigator on 09/05/2015 - 12:11
    +1

    Can you use that giftcard to buy another giftcard from the same store extending the expiry by another two years?

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