Some people aren’t a fan of them, calling them restrictive and impersonal. Gift cards aren’t without their downside though. I like gift cards because they’re a consumable gift and they take some of the hassle out of shopping. “Stuff” has its place in this gift-giving season, but gift cards are actually one of my favorites items to give and to receive for most situations. Many consumers will be heading out stores soon to find the best deals on stuff they want or stuff they want to give others. I suspect that they and their customers will be a lot happier. It will be interesting to see how retailers and banks treat gift cards in the coming months and years. The card we received (in the story above) was obviously given out prior to this coming into effect. The law covers gift certificates, store gift cards, and general-use prepaid cards.Inactivity fees and other service charges can only be applied to cards older than 1 year.Gift cards can have an expiration date, but it can’t be sooner than 5 years.They affected expiration date and fees associated with gift cards. This regulation regarding gift cards actually came into effect years ago. With the signing of the CARD Act, the laws around gift cards changed. So this company is risking a negative customer experience so they can save on the cost of 5% of their gift card budget? Doesn’t make sense to me. The other 20% never think about it, lose it, or for whatever reason never get around to using it. I would bet that 75% of gift card recipients use it before expiration, and another 5% try to use it after. I don’t know much about corporate finance or marketing budgets, but what purpose does an expiration date serve for this company? How many people actually bring a gift card in after expiration? Maybe 5% of those with cards? Maybe I’m being a bit dramatic there, but you get the point: the consumer is given a reason to dislike the company they were trying to support. Einstein’s took away her ability to give. She essentially gave us something of $0 value. If the giver meant to give us the card and for us to experience a money-saving meal, then she’d be sorely disappointed to find out that it was worth $0 for us. You’ve seen the offers: buy a gift card for someone else, and get this bonus card for yourself. In this case, I believe the $5 card was a promotional “add-on” gift card attached to a purchase of a $20 gift card. The gift giver isn’t rewarded for their spending. You fail.” Well, I say the restaurant failed, as I’ll be less likely to deal with them in the future.Ģ. However, shouldn’t a business be more interested in creating a satisfying customer experience? We’re coming in, with our hard earned cash to spend on their business. We didn’t notice the fine print of the expiration date. We went to the store partly because we thought we were going to save money with the gift card. The consumer isn’t rewarded for being “incentivized”. Two things bother me about the expiring gift card: How Expired Gift Cards Affect Customersġ. But I couldn’t help reflect on the negative experience with the gift card. The cashier kindly rejected our gift card, we paid, and ate our bagels. We hadn’t noticed, but the gift card had expired last month. We made our selections and went to the register to pay. A family member had given us this card as a gift.
We were partly lured to Einsteins because of a $5 off gift card we had. I had that happen to me this morning when I was taking my favorite three girls (wife and two daughters) to Einsteins for a bagel.
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