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Vouchers a gift for retailers
A reader from Cork contacted us to ask about the legality of imposing time limits on cashing in gift vouchers. She noticed just a little too late that a One4all gift voucher she'd been given last year had passed its use-by date.
"Is there anything I can do to have it extended, and is it legal to impose such a limit?" she asks.
Unfortunately, the answers are no and yes, in that order.
According to An Post, which backs the gift voucher system, all vouchers expire 12 months after the date of issue and "unfortunately we are unable to extend this date". The problem is not unique to One4all vouchers, and more than one-third of all vouchers sold in this country have time restrictions.
The voucher market is worth around €330 million a year in Ireland. The gifts are so popular that, in the Christmas run-up, the National Consumer Agency felt compelled to remind people to ask retailers about voucher expiry dates before purchase. Incidentally, more than 10 per cent of vouchers are never redeemed, which a windfall of around €40 million each year for retailers.
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