People often buy gift vouchers when they are unsure about what gift to buy or in order to give the recipients the possibility to choose their own present. While such vouchers offer various benefits, if the recipients are not careful, they risk ending up with expired or unusable vouchers.
What is a gift voucher?
Basically, a gift voucher is a piece of paper or card that is bought from a shop to give to someone to use instead of money to purchase goods or services. While such vouchers can be used in a similar way as cash, it is still very different as it usually has limitations that are often written on the voucher as terms and conditions of use.
What should we look out for?
The first thing to check is where the voucher can be used. Usually, such vouchers can be used at a specific shop or chain of shops. To maximise their value, we should opt for vouchers that can be used in multiple shops or a shopping centre.
The terms and conditions may also include information on how to use the voucher. While some vouchers must be used all at once, others can be used on different purchases. If you are buying a voucher of the first type it is also advisable not to spend a large sum of money on one voucher but buy multiple vouchers with different values.
The most important information to look out for before buying, or upon receiving gift vouchers, is the expiry date. If there is no such date on the voucher, it means it does not expire and may be used as long as the seller issuing it is still in business.
However, vouchers often have expiry dates and it is consumers’ responsibility to use them before they expire. Once they expire, the seller is not obliged to let the consumer use it or prolong its validity period. Some shops may be willing to extend the expiry date but such a request should be before the voucher expires, so that if the request is denied, the holder of the vouchers is still able to use them.
What happens to lost vouchers?
Recipients of vouchers are responsible to ensure that this does not happen. If they lose a voucher, the seller is not obliged to replace it. Unless the gift voucher is personalised, losing it is like losing cash. If, however, the voucher is personalised and is not transferable, the seller may be able to issue a new voucher and cancel the original one.
When vouchers are left unused for a long time, recipients not only risk losing or misplacing them but there is also the possibility that the shop may close down. If this happens, it would be very difficult to get back the value of the voucher.
Can voucher terms and conditions change?
Once a gift voucher is purchased, its terms and conditions can no longer be altered and must be observed by both consumers and sellers. Should sellers refuse to allow consumers use vouchers as per their conditions of use, consumers may seek the assistance of the MCCAA’s Office for Consumer Affairs.
www.mccaa.org.mt
odette.vella@mccaa.org.mt
Odette Vella, Director, Information and Research Directorate