Gift cards are becoming more and more popular among consumers. They are often the ideal gift. As long as you know their limits.
The big question: does my card have an expiration date? In most cases, no. The issuer, often a merchant, does not have the right to impose a date or a decrease in value over time. But the law provides for exceptions.
Thus, an important category of cards escapes this obligation: prepaid telephone cards, which often display deadlines.
On the other hand, a distinction must be made between gift cards and prepaid cards. The law only applies to cards that were purchased by a consumer (including gift cards).
Consequently, a merchant who offers you a $50 gift card because you just spent $500 in his store can impose a deadline.
On the other hand, certain cards can only be exchanged for a specific good or service: restaurant meals, spa session, book, etc. The merchant can impose a deadline after which he can increase the price, to take into account inflation.
You will then have to pay the difference. But this condition must be clearly displayed on the map.
Expenses
Certain cards allow you to pay for any good or service, including prepaid cards from networks such as Visa, Mastercard or Canada Post.
The issuer may charge an administration fee upon purchase of the card.
For cards issued by a shopping center or an association of merchants on a commercial street, they may be accompanied by various fees.
For example, the issuer may charge an administrative fee of $3.50 at the time of purchase and a monthly fee of $2.50 after the 15th.e months (these amounts represent the limits set by law). Over time, these fees accumulate until the card’s balance is reduced to zero.
Finally, some merchants may refuse these cards; either because their payment system does not accept them, or because they only use conventional credit cards, or because they refuse plastic money.
A word of advice: when you are given a gift card, don’t wait too long before using it. If the merchant closes its doors, the card is unusable.
Advice
- Does your prepaid or gift card show a balance of $5 or less? You can request the difference in money to bring it down to zero. For example: the balance on your card is $20, you buy a good for $16, you can demand that the merchant give you $4 in cash. This is often wrongly refused by cashiers.
- If the service or good offered by the card is no longer offered by the merchant, the merchant must offer you a good or service (or a new gift card) of equivalent value.
- Have you lost your card? Was it stolen from you? To replace it, the merchant may charge an administrative fee if its infrastructure makes it possible to identify the holder and determine the balance. But it must tell you this when you buy the card.