Many gift cards or vouchers are not used by their owners. Despite the expiry date appearing on it, in certain cases, it is still possible to spend them if you take the right steps. Your balance is waiting for you!
Who has never forgotten at the bottom of a drawer or in their wallet, hidden behind other papers, a gift card or gift certificate received at Christmas from their company or from a loved one? Unfortunately, this happens to more people than you might think. Although the gift card is a very popular gift among the French at Christmas, almost 50% of employees receive it from their employer, notes FreemiumPlay in a press release. It is estimated that each year, 20% of vouchers and gift cards go unused. Which would represent nearly 1 billion euros wasted, which most often goes to the stores that sold the cards.
However, when you received this money in the form of a voucher or card, you were already imagining what you would be able to buy with it. Then time passed and without realizing it, you passed the expiry date to use it. Result: you feel like you have lost money. Well, know that there is a process to extend the validity of your gift voucher, if it was offered by your CSE or your employer.
Indeed, as the company Edenred, which issues checks and Kadéos cards, indicates on its website, “a paper gift voucher can be extended for one year after expiration”. To do this, the employee must return their expired Kadéos gift certificate(s) to their employer or CSE, who will be responsible for making an extension request. “within 3 months after the expiration date” near Edenred. Other companies also offer credits, such as Illicado: “illicado gift cards that have reached the end of their validity and have not been used in any way, even partially, may be the subject of a credit (…) with a flat-rate deduction of 5% of the amount of their total value.
If you have a multi-brand gift card, purchased in a store, you must read the general conditions of use found on the back of the box. They generally indicate whether a refund of the balance or a credit is possible. As a last resort, you also have the option of reselling your expired gift card. A Lyon-based company, Place Des Cartes, specializes in this niche. It redeems unused gift cards for cash, applying a discount based on certain criteria. This shows that a gift voucher, even an expired one, can still have (good) surprises in store for you!