Gift Vouchers When Should they Expire?

[Layla-Louise]

Those you who offer gift vouchers how long do you allow clients from the date of purchase I know most places allow 6 months don't you think thats too long? as it means clients dont hurry to get booked in and forget about it but somehow remember after the expiry date then have the cheek to want to book in for it.
3 months i feel is quite reasonable amount of time as it makes them pick up the phone to book but do you think clients expect it to be longer.
Its just if you say 6months and everyone waits till summer to use it allthough vouchers are paid in advance when it 6months ago thats money allready spent kind of lol

 

[hippy-chick]

gift vouchers can expire at any time that you want them too, to suit your business.

I offer 2 months on mine, sold a load for christmas presents and they expire end of Feb.

saying that, I would allow someone to use it in march but am encouraging people to use them asap.

As long as you tell the purchaser the expiry date when they are buying.

 

[1999judy]

Maybe, make sure they are used in the current tax year so you know exactly where you are up to with your money? I don't really mind tbh they usually use them pretty quickly x

 

[chantell simone]

i think 2-3 months is more than enough time

 

[Kim Lawless]

Why not give them 4 months but allow them a month on top (without them knowing) in case they forget. You're so right though..........they always manage to remember it/find it just after it's expired.

If you don't honour an expired voucher, they'll bad mouth you to everyone but if you say 'It's actually expired but no problem, I'll add another month on for you', then they'll feel really special and tell everyone how lovely you are. xxx

 

[soriminah]

I don't have a time limit on mine. But I did have a weird situation recently so I'm thinking I will now. One of my regulars paid for a voucher for a friends bday gift. She rang to say her bag had been stolen at a club so I said just tell her to ring me when she wants an appointment. Massage was done. This was about Sept. A few weeks ago I got a call saying I've been given a voucher as a gift - yep, it was the stolen one.

 

[joe90]

I used to give 6 months on mine but have recently changed to 3. I think though that if anyone did come to me a few weeks after expiry I would honour it but if it was 6 months out of date I don't think I would be as accommodating. A lot would depend on who the voucher was for also, if it was a regular then I would honour.

 

[Katelisa]

I don't have a time limit on mine. But I did have a weird situation recently so I'm thinking I will now. One of my regulars paid for a voucher for a friends bday gift. She rang to say her bag had been stolen at a club so I said just tell her to ring me when she wants an appointment. Massage was done. This was about Sept. A few weeks ago I got a call saying I've been given a voucher as a gift - yep, it was the stolen one.

shouldnt the police be informed?

 

[hippy-chick]

One of my regulars paid for a voucher for a friends bday gift. She rang to say her bag had been stolen at a club so I said just tell her to ring me when she wants an appointment. Massage was done. This was about Sept. A few weeks ago I got a call saying I've been given a voucher as a gift - yep, it was the stolen one.

So what did you say?
Theirs a geek on here that has had £200 worth of vouchers taken out of her book which is unaccounted for.

 

[saspeterson]

I usually offer 3 months on my gift vouchers, but if i have given a voucher as a raffle prize then i usually do these for 6 weeks, but again i would accept them after the date of expiry, and clients appreciate them.

 

[Kim Lawless]

So logic tells me that the recipient of the stolen gift voucher is friend/family of the thief.

 

[cups1974]

How bad is this i total forgot to do an experation date on the ones i sold man ok well i guess i'll start today

 

[hippy-chick]

well, start from today.

I realised that it would probably be a good thing to number code them so that you can cross reference them when they come in, but still haven't got round to doing that!

 

[cups1974]

That i do...go figure im doing something riht...lol

 

[Layla-Louise]

You see i would ideally like to do 3 months as i feel thats plenty of time for them to use the vouchers but like you said if it expires then you'll have to accomodate it for them & allow them stil to book in otherwise they would NEVER come to you again & Badmouth your salon,However if They had had 6 months i feel their is defintely No Excuse cos if they purchased it from say today 5th Jan then i'd say it expires 5th July 08 so in-fact they still get a few days extra Still 6 months is a long time like where have they been? funnily enough it was actually on the news today about gift vouchers saying that consumers want people to use them cos it encourages them to use and purchase other items or services in our case.
Rules are their to be adhered to we shouldn't let clients get away with it all the time, if their not late or missing appointments their vouchers are expiring or getting lost.

 

[hippy-chick]

well I put use by Feb 29th 2008 as felt that conveys the message of when the voucher expires.
I frankly WANT the clients to use their vouchers, hoping to entice them back, once they are using your services, they may want to embark on regular treatments. Plus you have their details, so can send them special offers, etc, to encourage them to come back.

I also don't cash the money, so when they do redeem their voucher, I can take the money out of the till and put it into the bank.

If a client asked for an extension I would give them a week or two max.

 

[Layla-Louise]

Even after they had 6 whole months & did bother to book it in during that time-that tells me they had no intention of wanting to come in the 1st place

 

[hippy-chick]

I think people genuinely forget sometimes. And life gets in the way.

I bought my sister a Hot stone massage gift voucher which cost me about £45. It had an expiry date of 6 months. She didn't use it, she said she kept on saving it for a special occassion so it would be a real treat, but the time was never right. I was a bit peed off mind, when it expired. She rang the therapist who agreed to extend it for a couple of weeks and she still didn't use it, so was mega-peed off. Saying that, my sister was going through a real rough patch and was on prozac to help her cope, so couldn't be too fed-up with her about it.

 

[Kayleighs Nail & Beauty Studio]

i give 3months on my gift vouchers. I spoke to a rep before and they said thats how you make your money by having time limits..(especially for sunbeds)

 

[aliceellen1974]

i give six months on mine but agree with the comments on here i will be doing three months from now on!!!

xxxxxxxx