Gift Card Expiry

[@theCBE]

Gift cards can not expire in Alberta.

http://www.qp.alberta.ca/documents/Regs/2008_146.pdf

[ComixZone]

even if the card says it on it, it's not applicable within Alberta as @theCBE makes note of.

[puckluck2]

It doesn't expire.

Even the co-op gas receipts that give you money back towards a co-op purchase has an expiry date, but they can't refuse them even if it is past the expiry date.

[malcolmk14]

Anything with monetary value can't expire. The pro shop probably isn't open but the administrative staff will be there, give them a call.

[Daradon]

Yup, relatively new law I think. Less than 2 years? Around there anyway I believe.

[The Yen Man]

My understanding is gift cards purchased for cash cannot expire. Gift cards that are given away as a promotion (ie. buy $200, get a $20 gift card) can. Yours sounds like the first type so it shouldn't have an expiry date. However, I believe businesses can tack on an "administrative" charge for processing an expired gift card, although I'm a little muddy on the details on how much exactly they can charge.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by @theCBE

Gift cards can not expire in Alberta.

http://www.qp.alberta.ca/documents/Regs/2008_146.pdf

If it is not purchased it's actually a coupon and can expire.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

My understanding is gift cards purchased for cash cannot expire. Gift cards that are given away as a promotion (ie. buy $200, get a $20 gift card) can. Yours sounds like the first type so it shouldn't have an expiry date. However, I believe businesses can tack on an "administrative" charge for processing an expired gift card, although I'm a little muddy on the details on how much exactly they can charge.

I know on those visa cash gift scam cards, the processing fee is equal to the remaining balance on the card.

Thanks again for giving me a gift that is worth less than you paid for it and self destructs.... you're right, giving cash would have been WAY more tacky....

[Nufy]

Originally Posted by fotze

Well it looks like the pro shop is open. I think I will buy $75 in tees.

you could buy half a golf shirt...if its on clearance.

[Bertuzzied]

I have like 4 cineplex passes for 2 adult admissions, popcorn and drinks that expired back in 2010. can i still use them?

[The Yen Man]

Businesses LOVE selling gift cards, because they get your money upfront, and you are forced to spend it at the store. Technically gift cards sit as a liability on a balance sheet until it is actually used, so it doesn't contribute to the revenue of the business until they are actually used, but in reality, it improves their cashflow once it's sold. Plus, there are always people who either lose their gift cards, or never end up using it because they think its expired. After awhile, the business can take a nice write off into their P&L for these lost cards.

[RedMileDJ]

If the card is issued by a financial instituation, then it can expire, or they can deduct a "service charge" off it per month. My wife and I learned this the hard way.

We were given a $100 gift card (as a wedding gift) to any Cadillac Fairview mall in Canada (Chinook or Market Mall, in Calgary). We didn't go to use the card until this year. We've been married for 3 1/2 years now. When we went to the store they told us the balance was $52.50! WHAT!?!

Long story short: The card is issed by Bank of America for Cadillac Fairview. Because it's issued by a financial institution, they are exempt from the rules here in Alberta. Thus, they can add a charge, service fee or whatever, if you don't use the card in a certain time.

So make sure you check those gift cards you get this Christmas. If it has a financial institutions (Bank) name on it, use it right away. Or find out when they start deducting $$ off it.

Needless to say we don't shop at those malls anymore.

In the end we did get a $50 gift card in the mail from Cadillac Fairview, after complaining and talking to 4 differrent manager. What a pain...

[Smartcar]

Hence why I never understood the reticence regarding cash gifts, I've never hesitated to put cash in a wedding/christmas/birthday card, if I mail it I put in a cheque. Never a gift card, if I can't pick an actual gift, why would I give a gift that can only be actualized at a specific place of my choosing? Maybe it's a cultural thing.

[ricosuave]

Originally Posted by Bertuzzied

I have like 4 cineplex passes for 2 adult admissions, popcorn and drinks that expired back in 2010. can i still use them?

yes, call them, i had a couple and they honored them

[Kidder]

Originally Posted by Smartcar

Hence why I never understood the reticence regarding cash gifts, I've never hesitated to put cash in a wedding/christmas/birthday card, if I mail it I put in a cheque. Never a gift card, if I can't pick an actual gift, why would I give a gift that can only be actualized at a specific place of my choosing? Maybe it's a cultural thing.

I think the idea behind it is that it shows you recognize their interest in something, thus making an impersonal gift personal. "I don't know you well enough to know what gift you want, but I think I know a store that would have something you don't hate." Usually it just shows how little the person actually knows about you, or perhaps better stated, how little they think of you.

"Jimmy wears that ugly Yankees hat all the time doesn't he?" $25 gift card to Sportchek.

"I think Betty is an alcoholic." $15 dollar gift card to Starbucks.

"Glenn is fat." $5 dollar gift card to Subway.

I wish there was a store that exclusively sold socks and offered gift cards. That would be the ultimate gift.

[zztim81]

Originally Posted by Iginla

It doesn't expire.

Even the co-op gas receipts that give you money back towards a co-op purchase has an expiry date, but they can't refuse them even if it is past the expiry date.

Is this true!? I've got in arguments with cashiers and then a manager at Extra Foods over expired gas bar reciepts, they claim they expire and I called BS because they are vaild coupons, So now I tear off the expiry date and find the youngest cashier who probably doesn't care and use them anyways...

Yes I'm Ukrainian...

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by ricosuave

yes, call them, i had a couple and they honored them

If only this principle applied to the buckets of Hitmen vouchers I accumulated over the year from my Hothouse seats.....

[Ace]

Originally Posted by zztim81

Is this true!? I've got in arguments with cashiers and then a manager at Extra Foods over expired gas bar reciepts, they claim they expire and I called BS because they are vaild coupons, So now I tear off the expiry date and find the youngest cashier who probably doesn't care and use them anyways...

Yes I'm Ukrainian...

I believe it's just always been coop's policy to take expired gas coupons...even prior to the law.

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by ricosuave

yes, call them, i had a couple and they honored them

Woot!. Too bad there aren't any good movies coming out.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Ace

I believe it's just always been coop's policy to take expired gas coupons...even prior to the law.

Yes, they have always taken them and never had an issue. The only time I had somebody even pause was just this past summer- I gave them a gas coupon that expired sometime in the late 90s. I happened to find it when cleaning out some old boxes. The cashier commented that she was going to have to show her supervisor after; as she thought it was the oldest one she had even cashed.

Of course she then reminded me of how old I was; by saying she was in kindergarten when I was issued the coupon.