Dear Editor:
How would you feel if someone gave you a gift card and you put it away for a rainy day, you decided to use it because your funds are low and it’s your birthday, only to get turned down because it has a one year expiration on it?
We get gift cards and gift certificates all the time as gifts, most of us not noticing that it does have an expiration in it.
Do you think it’s fair as the person who pays money for it, to have spent money on a gift card, then be turned down for a service because it has expired? What a scam!
The companies have no problem taking our money for such a gift but don’t want to honor them or provide the service for which it was intended.
I think most companies love the idea of gift cards with expirations on them because they get to keep the money no matter what. They hope and know that we are all guilty of holding onto cards for a little too long.
There is a hair salon in Bayonne, NJ that is guilty of such actions. My girlfriend Dana had a gift card which her daughter had purchased for her, and she put it away for a time when she could use it. Let’s face it, the economy is so bad right now; now is the time when people are most likely to pull out gift cards and use them, whether it be for food, clothes or hair.
It was her birthday, and she was short on cash and decided to treat herself to a haircut using the gift certificate that was purchased for her, only to be turned down since it had expired! Besides feeling embarrassed, you would think that even though it was expired they would still honor it since it was obviously already paid for. Talk about learning a lesson the hard way.
That’s by far the worst feeling to have to walk away because not only could you not really afford to have the service done, but to be humiliated because it was expired.
Now is a time for people to bend a little. This was the first time she was going to this salon and had they honored the certificate and she liked the work, she may have even become a regular there. She has lot of friends and family that use this salon and all of them now know how my friend was treated. You should always keep in mind that the way you obtain business by word of mouth is the same way you lose it.
Don’t you think that gift cards should hold no expiration? The only way it should be your loss is if the place closed up.
Who can afford to lose business these days? Not many people can.
I think there are a lot of readers out there that would agree.
Tammy Colon