Gift vouchers - expiry date advice please

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yoshilee

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Hi, for those of you who offer gift vouchers, please can I ask how many months are they valid for?
At the moment I am using 6 months but I am finding that 40% of recipients are using them straight away and 60% I am having to send a reminder to the purchaser that it's month 5 and the voucher will expire soon, can they please remind their friend/relative. Do you think I am allowing too big of a window which is why some people are forgetting? I was thinking of switching it to 3 months as standard but for all vouchers purchased in Nov/Dec for Christmas to have the end of March as the expiry. Just wondering what other people do?
Thanks.
 
Why do you care when it’s used? We put 12 months on ours and will honour it whenever, regardless if it expires yesterday or two years ago. We allow clients to use like cash. We currently have over £4000 outstanding in gift vouchers. I’m more than happy that those people come in dribs and drabs and know that their voucher is safe with us, and meantime, their money is in my bank account. This also means that the first three months after Christmas aren’t all vouchers.

Vic x
 
Thanks for replying Vic. It's just me and I work from my home treatment room. I have been open just over a year. I find that clients who come with a gift voucher and are reasonably local become regulars. This week I have had 2 clients both come with a gift voucher which had a 6 month date and expiry of end of August. I just wondered if I would be better off putting 3 months and getting potentially new clients (and referrals from them) through the door quicker? x
 
Thanks for replying Vic. It's just me and I work from my home treatment room. I have been open just over a year. I find that clients who come with a gift voucher and are reasonably local become regulars. This week I have had 2 clients both come with a gift voucher which had a 6 month date and expiry of end of August. I just wondered if I would be better off putting 3 months and getting potentially new clients (and referrals from them) through the door quicker? x

I’d make it clear that you love gift vouchers. I make sure all my staff are like “ooh lovely. Lucky you. What do you fancy” rather than a grumpy face because we’ve already had the money.
Maybe do a 3 month expiry but make it clear that
A. This expiry is because I want to see you. I want you to come and have something lovely and
B. This voucher will be honoured any time. Even long past the three months.

Working from home is where I started. Make it as professional as it can be. Don’t do things differently because it’s just you at home. I had a card machine back in 2001 when I started from home because I wanted clients to spend money. I did vouchers and did what I do now. No expiry and smile when they spend it.

Good luck

Vic x
 
We have a 3 month expiry date. We explain carefully to the purchaser that we don't want it sitting in a drawer and forgotten about and a 3 month expiry date makes sure that the recipient gets themself booked in to enjoy their gift close to when they've been given their voucher. We then say that of course we don't want to keep the money and refuse to honour the voucher - so if they need an extension it's not a problem - explaining that of course we need to keep track of how many treatments we presell.

We find that a lot of people don't notice when the voucher expires and offer out of date vouchers. We always honour them. But we like to try and protect ourselves from been overwhelmed with booking voucher treatments in December. 3 month expiry dates also gives us a reasonable chance of being busy with voucher paid treatments in Jan-Mar when we have capacity and maybe gaining a new regular customer for the rest of the year.
 
I don't put any expiry date on my vouchers unless it's one that I have donated to a charity raffle.
I do track their sale and date used though.
 
Hi, for those of you who offer gift vouchers, please can I ask how many months are they valid for?
At the moment I am using 6 months but I am finding that 40% of recipients are using them straight away and 60% I am having to send a reminder to the purchaser that it's month 5 and the voucher will expire soon, can they please remind their friend/relative. Do you think I am allowing too big of a window which is why some people are forgetting? I was thinking of switching it to 3 months as standard but for all vouchers purchased in Nov/Dec for Christmas to have the end of March as the expiry. Just wondering what other people do?
Thanks.
Hi there , we also say 3 months on ours for the same reason , we want clients to use them promptly and not shove them in a drawer and forget about them ! . We also don’t want them going over into the next tax year so the bulk of vouchers are used by the end of March . It is printed on the voucher and we also tell the person buying the voucher that they are valid for 3 months but if there’s a problem we can extend it and we put a note on the computer if that’s the case . Hope that helps x
 
Money taken for vouchers is kept seperately until the voucher is redeemed. I don't like having the money in my account until it's used or I feel like I work for nothing on the days vouchers are redeemed. I put a 6 month expiry date but I don't stick to it, if I have the money tucked away who am I to dictate when they use it.
 
Hi, out of interest, why’s that?
It’s the way our computer system is set up . It’s easier if they are purchased and used in the same tax year . X
 
Money taken for vouchers is kept seperately until the voucher is redeemed. I don't like having the money in my account until it's used or I feel like I work for nothing on the days vouchers are redeemed. I put a 6 month expiry date but I don't stick to it, if I have the money tucked away who am I to dictate when they use it.

I agree with Trinity. I learnt the hard way and ended up working what I felt was a whole day for nothing as every client during this particular day used their vouchers. Of course I’d already had the money but I had included it in others days takings. After this I keep voucher money separate until the voucher is redeemed and can still smile as I’m being paid for the treatment. It’s a win/win situation.
 
Thank you everyone for taking the time to reply. Your advice has been very helpful. I will change to 3 months, hopefully recipients will book in soon after receiving their gift. I will of course let the purchaser know that extensions are fine. x
 

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