HMV Gift Vouchers

alan85

Hi,

Am having a problem with HMV. Have a few gift cards which amount to quite a few euro. I haven't had them for what I would consider an unreasonable amount of time. Less than 3 years maybe. I wanted to spend them recently only to be told they are invalid and I have no recourse.

I thought I was under no pressure because no date is printed on the back of the card. But having reviewed the conditions I found:
7.) If the card is not used for a consecutive period of 24 months (whether to make a purchase, top-up or to make a balance enquiry) the card will automatically expire and any remaining balance will be deducted.

Is it just me or does anyone else find this highly unfair?!

It's buried in the middle of small printed terms and conditions and is not high lighted - a consumer concious shop would in my opinion.

I'm thinking of applying to small claims court to make my view heard and take up their time and resources.

After this I won't be purchasing any gift vouchers or cards again. It's a pure money making scheme by shops. Often they are lost, go invalid or forgotten about. Even if you do spend them the shop have the interest on the money in between purchase of voucher and subsequently purchasing items instore...

Anybody have experiences, opinions or advice?

5T3PH3N

This happened to me too, although the cashier in HMV told me to ring HMV Ireland and they should sort it out. I haven't rang yet so i don't know what they will do

Simply Red

alan85 wrote: »

Hi,

Am having a problem with HMV. Have a few gift cards which amount to quite a few euro. I haven't had them for what I would consider an unreasonable amount of time. Less than 3 years maybe. I wanted to spend them recently only to be told they are invalid and I have no recourse.

I thought I was under no pressure because no date is printed on the back of the card. But having reviewed the conditions I found:
7.) If the card is not used for a consecutive period of 24 months (whether to make a purchase, top-up or to make a balance enquiry) the card will automatically expire and any remaining balance will be deducted.

Is it just me or does anyone else find this highly unfair?!

Nope, its just you. Its up to you to familiarise yourself with the t&c's of the giftcard, not HMV's.

It's buried in the middle of small printed terms and conditions and is not high lighted - a consumer concious shop would in my opinion.

Its not buried anywhere, it is clearly listed in the t&c's which can be found here.

I'm thinking of applying to small claims court to make my view heard and take up their time and resources.

Why would you want to waste their time and resources for your mistake, you'd be laughed out of the small claims court, you'd be wasting your own time as well as theirs.

After this I won't be purchasing any gift vouchers or cards again. It's a pure money making scheme by shops. Often they are lost, go invalid or forgotten about. Even if you do spend them the shop have the interest on the money in between purchase of voucher and subsequently purchasing items instore...

Anybody have experiences, opinions or advice?

Its not a money making scam, if you lose or forget about them its your own fault, not the shops. Contact HMV and they may honour them out of goodwill but they are under no obligation to.

longhalloween

Ah come on. 2 years is more than reasonable from HMV. Most companies have a year expiry date.

rubadub

You might be able to just buy more gift vouchers with them. You used to be able to buy vouchers with vouchers years ago.

noodler

Gift Vouchers really are a scam.

Here take this poor alternative to cash, it limits what you can buy, stops you shopping around from a bargain and you only have a limited amount of time to use it.

Kimono-Girl

correct me if im wrong but i think it is more of an accounts thing then a "steal your money thing"

rather then having outstanding balances on their books being carried from year to year until you decide to use it they can clear them at year end, hence the year long expiry! if one is still outstanding after a year (which is a long time) its safe enough to write off under their terms and conditions!

MacGyver

while i might agree with them about the 2 years limit, i have to say they are doing themselves no favours recently, i was in a HMV in dublin and was met with a totally disinterested member of staff and was also told they no longer offer student discount, what company in their right minds removes incentives for the customer to buy things?

surely companies would be coming up with new ways to attract customers especially in a business such as theirs

IrishTonyO

Have to say a 2 year validity is more than fair in my opinion, most places are a max 1 year and some 6 months

alan85

O.K., some of you say they are fair in giving 24 months but why not state that as the number 1 condition instead of a load of airy fairy conditions before it?

Surely, no. 7, as quoted above would be the most important to the consumer that has been regaled and, as such, would be appropriately put first?

It ain't consumer friendly whether they are right or wrong!

I won't be regaling HMV with my custom any time soon...

longhalloween

Regarding the student discount, I could see this coming.

Used to be that I could get a discount with just a student card. Then they released ANOTHER HMV card which has to be brought to the till too. Then they started to 'run out' of these special cards so if you lost yours, goodbye student discount. Killing the discount for everyone was the next logical step.

Lucky for me I know a guy in Waterstones and he has a discount in HMV (since waterstones is owned by that group)

With gift cards I though it was common knowledge that they expire eventually, since if they didnt it would be written in HUGE LETTERS on the card. But ya never know, call HMV and see if they will honour them, just dont go shouting to some poor sod behind the till until he/she breaks down in tears and gives you whatever you want.

WIsh you the best in getting your cash!

Domscard

I loathe getting vouchers from people as a gift - I invariably don't get using them before the expiry date and I end up getting mad at myself for missing out or forcing myself to avail of them for something I don't want at that time. Money never goes out of date and even a naff gift can be recycled :pac: In today's climate, gift vouchers are a bit dodgy and I never give them as a result. I know that 2 years seems generous, but shops must find them a hidden goldmine when people don't redeem them in time. But there's a sting in the tail - if I get turned down for presenting an out of date voucher I'm highly unlikely to ever consider shopping there again - for anything.

w123

candlelover wrote: »

correct me if im wrong but i think it is more of an accounts thing then a "steal your money thing"

rather then having outstanding balances on their books being carried from year to year until you decide to use it they can clear them at year end, hence the year long expiry! if one is still outstanding after a year (which is a long time) its safe enough to write off under their terms and conditions!

You are correct in that it is an accounting 'thing', the company doesn't want to carry the liability over too many accounting periods, however in my view this practice is completely morally wrong.

What these companies currently do with a gift voucher is book the revenue as income and then uses that income to pay for rent, wages and stock. What they should do is book the revenue as a loan from the purchaser and then when the voucher is redeemed then take that income from a lability account on their balance sheet into income on their profit and loss account.

This would be extremely easy to set up and once it was done in one accounting period it would be even easier to continue.

I think that it is the same thing as stealing and I hate it.

the_syco

LOL. I has voucher from 2005 for Argos. Must use it sometime soon

snappieT

the_syco wrote: »

LOL. I has voucher from 2005 for Argos. Must use it sometime soon

Paper one? They don't expire.
Gift card one? 3 years expiry.

Corruptedmorals

I don't think you understand giftcards. They are basically blank until they are loaded up at the till- the expiry stars from that point- 1 year/2 years from when they are loaded. That's why they don't have dates printed on the back of them. Fair enough if you weren't familiar with this but this is in all shops ao you should really put it behind you as a lesson learned. They are electronically read by the till, which means they're not relying on the sales assistant to get the date it, like vouchers.

Gift vouchers are different, they usually have a shorter expiry date and are issued from corporate rather than in the shop. They're the ones with dates printed on them because the value is inputted into the till- ie. all done by the sales assistant rather than swiped through the till.