Expired gift vouchers

[hippy-chick]

thanks for all the comments everyone, I really, really appreciate it.

I had a client in tonight, the one who had the foresight to ring ahead, and she had a treatment for half of her voucher. She has made an appointment for next Saturday for her 2nd half of her voucher. She thanked me profusely for allowing her to go over her expiry date.

I still don't want to do 6 month gift vouchers. I do keep the money separately so that when they are redeemed, "I get paid".

I do think that if a voucher clearly states an expiry date, be it a week, a month, a year, that they should be used and it is at the salons discretion if they can go over the expiry date.

BTW I have 2 venues, so twice the problem!!!

 

[hippy-chick]

Have you thought about actually calling the people that have the vouchers and reminding them that they are due to expire and do they need a short additional time in which to use them. What good customer service, those clients will love you and possibly turn into regulars.

Can't ring most of them as they are 'new' clients, ie no details to contact them.

 

[Nicki-Marie]

This happened to me recently. I dont normally accept out of date vouchers. I explained id allow it just on this one occasion. I do find it slightly cheeky and personally wouldnt attempt or ask to use an out of date voucher.
As said above, I cant imagine someone trying to take an out of date voucher to somewhere like marks and spencer .. im sure they would tell us where to go :lol:

 

[Beautyandme]

Hiya, I think as long as your voucher mentions the date at which it will expire, it is down to the person receiving that voucher to use it within the time frame. Whether that be 1/6/12mths.

 

[Beautyandme]

P.S

If you do it for one, you have to do it for all.

 

[Rosey]

Our vouchers have a 6 month expiry date, and occasionly we have people asking if they can use them a few weeks out of date etc which i havent got a problem with. We have taken the money so it doesnt make a massive amount of difference if the client wants to book a few weeks after expiry.

I wouldnt want to lose a potential client by being rigid over the expiry dates. I expect M&S can afford to lose a few clients, but i can't!

 

[Jen Smith]

If these clients are too busy to come and get a treatment within one or two months of getting a voucher.. why not suggest that they can use the voucher to purchase retail items to the value of their gift voucher, if they don't have enough time for a treatment.

Most people would be able to pick out a couple of nail treats or some facial product without much problem.

 

[soriminah]

I don't have an expiry date at all on my vouchers. I figure when they're ready they'll get a massage and use it - it's been paid for so no big drama to me. I've had 2 instances where I've had a price increase before the voucher was redeemed but I'm not bothered - with most people life gets hectic and they forget, or it's not until they've hurt themselves or are tired and sore they think of it.

 

[Zingara]

I allow gift vouchers to be used after the date....as long as the appontment is booked before they expire and takes place during within one month.

Therefore if someone has a voucher expiring at say, the end of March, but they come to me and say I need an extra few weeks for whatever reason, I say, if we book your appointment now, for before the end of April, you can use the voucher to pay for that appointment, but that appointment only...no changes.

I don't advertise this fact but its my rules. And if someone came to totally after the expiry date, (which they never actually have), sorry but I'd smile sweetly and explain the voucher was out of date....tough luck. It's not like they didn't know.

And I've never had a problem...never had anyone trying to claim one outside of validity.

I also aim to be flexible about validity, in so much as if someone is buying a voucher for a birthday present, I ask the date of the birthday and make it valid from that date. That means that the receiver hasn't lost out on a couple of weeks because the purchaser bought it early if you know what I mean. Likewise all my Xmas vouchers were valid for 6 months from 25th December.

Incidentally I don't think Marks and Spencer have expiry dates on their vouchers....I've used some years after getting them, when I forgot I had them. But that is something they can afford to do... I can't!