Retailers must vouch for lost gift cards

LOSE your voucher and sorry for you – you lose out.

That’s always been retailers’ stance when it comes to gift vouchers, because they’re as good as cash, they say.

But in reality, it’s really not that hard for companies who issue gift vouchers to keep track of them, especially in the case of electronic vouchers.

And even with the old-school paper ones, all that’s required of a company to know when a voucher has been redeemed, is to number the vouchers and keep a register.

Of course, if the consumer doesn’t know the number of the lost voucher they can’t be helped.

So there’s a good tip – photograph a voucher or gift card when you get it, particularly since, thanks to the Consumer Protection Act (CPA), consumers have up to three years to redeem a pre-paid voucher in full.

Sadly, many a service provider – spa and beauty salons in particular – continues to issue vouchers valid for just three or six months.

And consumers who don’t know their rights simply lose out. The law aside, how those suppliers justify keeping that unearned money, when a consumer presents a voucher seven months or more after it was paid for, I’ll never understand.

Vimbai Manyukwi of Sunninghill and her husband of just two weeks, Gcina Magagula, discovered after opening all their wedding gifts that a Clicks gift card to the value of R1 000 was missing.

“I had the receipt, displaying the card details and balance, but when I called Clicks customer care, I was told that the only thing they could do was block the card so that no-one else could use it,” Manyukwi said.

“On their system they can see the card hasn’t been used yet – the balance is R1 000, but they are telling me that they see the gift card as cash, and that once you lose the card, you lose the cash.

“This makes no sense,” she said, turning to In Your Corner for help.

I took up the case with Clicks, arguing that the company had nothing to lose in re-loading that R1 000 on to a new card and allowing the newlyweds to spend the money which was intended for them.

“No loss to Clicks, a very happy day for the couple, and lots of goodwill generated,” I said.

Happily, the company agreed. “We encourage customers to safeguard gift cards and treat them like cash, as our policy is that lost or stolen gift cards cannot be replaced, spokesman Susann Caminada said.

“However, seeing that the customer’s balance is still available, we have made an exception in this instance and have transferred the balance onto a new card.

“We wish her all the best with her recent nuptials and lots of happy shopping at her nearest Clicks store.” I do love a happy ending. One hopes that the company’s customer care agents will be trained and empowered to exercise such discretion in future.