Gift Certificates: The Gift That Goes Away
Update! Thanks to a commenter below, your Google search is not in vain: This PDF has descriptions for the laws related to gift certificate expiration for all 50 states. Read it, or read my summary below.
Like many people, I get gift certificates occasionally — for birthdays, as thank yous, at Christmas, whatever. Unfortunately, I often don’t use them right away. I keep them around for when I need them and sometimes I forget about them. Then comes the day I want to use it and, lo and behold, it has expired.
Expired? How can a gift certificate expire?
Well, let me tell you.
Please note: I’m not a lawyer, and everything I needed to know I learned from Google. Also, while JetBlue plays a part in my story, this is not a negative endorsement of JetBlue. Their reps were courteous and helpful the whole time.
My birthday is in April, and in 2002 my dad sent me a JetBlue gift certificate as a present. Now, in the past I’ve had a hard time finding flights I like on JetBlue — living in NYC, I’ve often been left with the option of taking a red-eye back, which I can live without, thank you.
In the summer of 2003, however, I’ve started seeing more return flights at reasonable times. I don’t know if they increased their flights or what, but I decided I was going to use my gift certificate. I hit JetBlue.com to find the flights I wanted, then called the 800 number on the gift certificate. That’s when I saw it: “This gift certificate is valid for one year from date of purchase.”
Now, here’s the problem I have with expiring gift certificates: A gift certificate is not a coupon or a marketing campaign, it is cash paid for services not yet rendered. An expiring gift certificate is like me paying Dell for a new laptop that never materializes; then a year a later I say, “What’s the dilly, yo? Where’s my laptop?” Then they say “Sorry, we don’t fulfill orders placed over a year ago.” And then I say, “Fine, jerk, give me my money back,” and they’re all like, “No way man, no takebacks.” Then I say, “What a poopie head,” but I digress.
The point is, I don’t think they should expire.
So I do a little research, and find out a lot of stuff. Like, any purchase of goods or services is governed by the laws of the state in which the purchasing was done. So, even though JetBlue is in Utah, and I’m trying to use the gift certificate in New York, the law that applies is California’s, since that’s where it was purchased.
I also discovered that states (I assume every state, but I didn’t search for them all) have made different decisions regarding the length of time a gift certificate must remain valid. As I only care about California, that’s where I focused my search, and voila. Paydirt.
It turns out that California is one of the few states in which gift certificates, by law, cannot expire. (Note: This usually applies only to gift certificates that were paid for, not promotional gift certificates.) This is great news for me and my travel plans, the only hurdle is convincing JetBlue to honor my “expired” gift certificate.
I call Jet Blue and get right down to brass tacks — I’d like to use this 18-month-old gift certificate, please. As soon as I’m told I cannot, I ask to speak to a supervisor, knowing the first person to answer the phone won’t be able to break the internal rule I need broken. In a surprisingly short period of time, I have a supervisor. I answer her questions politely and thruthfully, while staying on point:
A) I acknowledge the purchaser was likely informed of the expiration date, but an expiration date on a gift certificate is illegal in the state in which it was purchased;
B) Yes, I see where it says “good for one year”, but, again, the expiration date is illegal in the state in which it was purchased;
C) I don’t care that your internal system doesn’t call it a gift certificate (it’s called a “flight shell” or something like that), the paper in my hand says “gift certificate”.
I don’t blame her for the effort and I almost crumbled. But I stuck to my guns and once we were at an impasse, she put me on hold to “speak with our legal department.” (Note: I’m impressed with the fact that JetBlue customer service supervisors have the authority/chutzpa to “speak to legal.”)
After waiting on hold for 20 minutes, success: She comes back asking me when I would like to fly.
Apparently, the legal department agreed that my arguments were correct, but had not gotten around to changing the language on the gift certificates (as far as I can tell, the law is at least three years old). I was told that the language will change soon, so be on the lookout for “…except where prohibited.”
In closing, my reccommendation to you is: Use the gift certificate before it expires. Corporations must love expired gift certificates, and why not? It’s free money. But also don’t forget — wasn’t it a gift? The polite thing to do is use it.
Failing that: Make sure the expiration language meets the requirements of the laws of your state. If it does, sorry, see the preceding paragraph. If it doesn’t, don’t let them get away with it.
State Summaries
I have summarized the summaries from this PDF. Again, I am not a lawyer — if the quoted text was ambiguous or too unclear to summarize, I listed a caveat. Make sure to read the PDF for the complete texts. (PDF dated September ‘03.)
- Alabama:
- Five years for gift certificates.
- Alaska:
- Five years for gift certificates.
- Arizona:
- No specification re: expiration.
- Arkansas:
- No specification re: expiration.
- California:
- Gift certificates that were sold after 1997 cannot contain an expiration date.
- Colorado:
- Five years for gift certificates that are redeemable in cash.
- Connecticut:
- Effective on August 16, 2003, gift certificates may not contain expiration dates. (w/ caveats)
- Delaware:
- Five years for gift certificates. (w/ caveats)
- District of Columbia:
- Five years for gift certificates.
- Florida:
- No specification re: expiration.
- Georgia:
- Five years for gift certificate. Gift certificates cannot contain expiration dates.
- Hawaii:
- Five years for gift certificates. (w/ caveats)
- Idaho:
- No specification re: expiration
- Illinois:
- Five years for gift certificates.
- Indiana:
- Three years after December 31 of the year sold for gift certificates.
- Iowa:
- Three years for gift certificates.
- Kansas:
- No specification re: expiration
- Kentucky:
- 7 years is implied. (w/ caveats)
- Louisiana:
- Three years after December 31 of the year sold for gift certificates.
- Maine:
- Three years after December 31 of the year sold for gift certificates.
- Maryland:
- No specification re: expiration
- Massachusetts:
- The expiration date of a gift certificate or merchandise credit must be stated on its face, and it cannot be less than seven years.
- Michigan:
- Five years for gift certificates.
- Minnesota:
- Three years for gift certificates.
- Mississippi:
- Five years for gift certificates.
- Missouri:
- Five years for gift certificates.
- Montana:
- Three years after December 31 of the year sold for gift certificates.
- Nebraska:
- Three years for gift certificates.
- Nevada:
- Three years for gift certificates.
- New Hampshire:
- Gift certificates of less than $100 may not have an expiration date and are not subject to escheat. Five years for all other gift certificates.
- New Jersey:
- Gift certificates must remain valid until presented by the holder, or they must have all conditions and limitations disclosed to the buyer at the time of purchase and printed conspicuously on the gift certificate.
- New Mexico:
- Three years after December 31 of the year sold for gift certificates.
- New York:
- Five years for gift certificates.
- North Carolina:
- Three years for gift certificates.
- North Dakota:
- No specification re: expiration
- Ohio:
- No specification re: expiration
- Oklahoma:
- 3 years is implied. (w/ caveats)
- Oregon:
- No specification re: expiration
- Pennsylvania:
- Gift certificates unredeemed for two years after the expiration of their redemption period, or five years from the date of issuance if they contain no expiration date, are presumed abandoned.
- Rhode Island:
- Three years for gift certificates. Gift certificates issued by eating establishments cannot have expiration dates or other time limits on redemption.
- South Carolina:
- Five years for gift certificates.
- South Dakota:
- Five years for gift certificates.
- Tennessee:
- A gift certificate is presumed abandoned on the earlier of (1) the expiration date of the certificate, or (2) two years from the date it was issued.
- Texas:
- 3 years is implied. (w/ caveats)
- Utah:
- Five years for gift certificates of more than $25.
- Vermont:
- Five years for gift certificates.
- Virginia:
- 5 years is implied. (w/ caveats)
- Washington:
- Five years for gift certificates.
- West Virginia:
- Three years after December 31 of the year sold for gift certificates.
- Wisconsin:
- Five years for gift certificates.
- Wyoming:
- Three years for gift certificates of more than $100. (w/ caveats)
May 17th, 2005 at 5:00 pm
Love your piece above!!! I’m an HR mgr. for a company in California that purchases Simon Gift Cards (increments of $25. ea.) every Christmas for their employees. I have several cards sitting here from 2003, with no current value. Their gig at Simon (based in IN) is that it says on their gift card that the card does expire when the remaining value is $0 or on the expiration date shown on the front of the card, whichever comes first. Then, an administrative fee of $2.50 per month will be deducted from your balance beginning in the 7th mo. from the month of card purchase. Nice, huh? If you have a balance remaining after the exp. date, call 1-888-203-9678 to request a new card. Best part is this: The new card will have the value equal to the remaining balance of the expired card, minus a $7.50 reissue fee. Or, apply the remaining balance before the expiration date toward the purchase of a new card (the handling fee for a new card will apply or course). I’m currently requesting to speak with their legal team and I’ll let you know the outcome. Wish me luck!!
June 7th, 2005 at 10:38 pm
The whole expiration date/ service fees thing infuriates me!….My husband bought me a g.c. to a local day spa…$100, one of my employees also…same place $75……
One was purchased 02/03, the other 01/04…..
had a manicure and pedicure today, which they had a “special on…buy the upgraded pedicure ($45 !!), get a manicure free….”
So I do it, go to pay and find out, first, that you can’t use a gift card on a “special” - so I have to pay for my manicure, another $11, so my tab is $56…
Second, the receptionist tells me that my g.c. is expired, and useless….56 bucks please….So I pretty much lose it, tell her that I have another g.c. which I’m sure is also expired; she verifies that it is, and is seeking payment!
Of course I refuse - “you have $175 dollars of our money…period!”
She confiscates the $75 g.c., because it is not as old as the $100 one, and tells me she is taking it for the full value! I demand to speak with the owner, who happens to be her sister, but she is out of town…
So I will speak with her on Friday…trying to get some research before our discussion….
Looks like I may have paid $175 for a manicure & pedicure!!!
I’m livid….even more so, because I own a retail store in town, and our gift certificates NEVER expire, and we’ve been there over 12 years!
It’s heinous!…Unethical! Lawmakers, get involved!!! Money paid for a gift certificate should never expire! Since when does cash expire?!!!
July 15th, 2005 at 2:23 am
http://www.usegiftcertificates.org/associations/3747/files/ESCHEAT%20LAW%20SURVEY%20091503.pdf
Above site lists all states as of 2003.
July 15th, 2005 at 5:30 pm
Thanks Barbara!
December 8th, 2005 at 5:38 pm
This is little after the fact, but I called a Simon Property Mall, armed with this info and within 5 minutes of on hold-off hold, I was told to come in and be issued a new card. The cost will be $2.00 for the cost of issuing a card. I didn’t feel like arguing the point. I was happy!!! (by the way my card was issued in (OUCH!!!) Dec of 2000. Thanks for the great HELP!!!
December 8th, 2005 at 5:56 pm
Sweet! :)
December 21st, 2005 at 3:51 pm
I am trying to find the gift card laws for Florida. I can’t seem to find them under anything I search. Would you have any idea where I could find what I’m looking for? I do not live there so I can’t very well go to the library and look it up very easily.
Thank you,
February 15th, 2006 at 4:59 am
I live in California and I purchased a prepaid certificate for services at a day spa from one of the day spa’s door to door sales reps, in California. I was reading over the certificate and it says, “This certificate expires 4 months from date of purchase”. As far as I know, this is illegal in the State of California to have a prepaid certificate expire. Am I correct?
February 20th, 2006 at 5:28 pm
Cindy: Yes, you are correct. Call and complain.
The portion of the linked PDF relevant to you says:
“Effective in 1997, gift certificates that are sold cannot contain
an expiration date. Such gift certificates must be redeemable for their cash
value or replaced with a new certificate at no cost to the customer.”
March 9th, 2006 at 2:26 pm
I stumbled upon this when researching gift certificates on google. Just wanted to say thanks for the post! I’ve been working on drafting my own gift certificate for my jewelry business, and I was unsure if I should put an expiration date on it or not….I’ve decided not to, based on your blog and some of the other peoples’ posts….very informative! Thanks again!
Diana
March 24th, 2006 at 11:01 pm
My husband bought me a certificate to a day spa about 3 yrs. ago in the state of California. I called the spa and was told they had to honor the certificate if I presented it, which I did along with the receipt for $185.00. After receiving the treatment I was told there was no record of the number on the gift certificate, that the business had changed hands twice since being purchased and they would only credit me $75.00 toward the services, they were doing me a favor. Needless to say I’m still steaming, so to speak. Is there anything I can do?
March 27th, 2006 at 4:52 pm
I work at the corporate office for a small resturant chain based out of MN, I get quite a few calls each day only to be cursed at by people who are upset because they “now” read that the card has a service fee after 1 year of non-use. Well guess what? That note on the back of the card has been there since the card was made….it didn’t just appear!
Since it appears that you have a lot of time on your hands, I would like you to look into the laws that penalize businesses for having cards activated that have not been redeemed.
Companies have switched to these cards for a number of reasons…they are easier to track, they are more convenient for the consumer, and lots dealing with accounting purposes.
however, they also have they’re downfalls, THEY ARE EXPENSIVE!!
The cards that we have:
-cost us (the business) 50 cents each time someone wants to check a balance
-cost us 75 cents each time they are activated
-cost us 50 each time they are redeemed
-cost us 1.00 each time we reactivate the cards
-each card costs us money every month for just having them activated
We never charge our customers for these charges. If you want a gift card for $50.00 you got it, but PLEASE use it in one year….thats 365 days!!! If you cannot take a half hour out of one of those 365 days to use the card then thats a problem, but people sure have a half hour to bitch about it!
If our company didn’t have the service fee:
So after 3 years of this person not using that gift card. the company has paid about $5.00 to keep this card active!
Then the state of MN comes and says “hey, you recieved $50.00 for gift card that was never used, that $ now belongs to us!” (unclaimed property)
So our Company just paid the state the $ back for that card…….Then here comes Joe Customer to use his $50.00 card, and because they don’t expire he can eat $50.00 in food!!
We just lost $55.00!!!
A business isn’t a business if its losing money!
March 29th, 2006 at 6:42 am
I would love to know where to find the laws for my state regarding gift certificates. I live in NJ and am also having a problem with a merchant. Thans, Lori
May 15th, 2006 at 6:57 pm
I live in Cali too; and had the same problem with Abercrombie and Fitch. But it was with a Merchandise Credit card; does this law also apply to Merchandise Credit in Cali as well? thanks so much for the great info!
July 23rd, 2006 at 7:48 pm
HELP! I called Jet Blue to use our 13.5 month old gift certificate. I spoke to a supervisor, gave them the legal argument as suggested above and was told that, as an airline, Jet Blue follows Federal Law and that the state law does not apply. They will not honor my gift certificate and, by the way, were very nasty about saying so. So, I’m confused…the gift certificate says that it is “valid for one year from the date of puchase, EXCEPT WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.” Doesn’t the current law in New York State still provide for 5 years before expiration? Does anyone have any advice on this?
September 15th, 2006 at 8:28 pm
My sister and 1 bought our parents gift certificates to a day spa almost two years ago. This is in Ca. My mother recently went in to use it and the owner wouldn’t take it. She said it has been too long since it was bought. HOWEVER, it was clearly written on the GC that an expiratioin was N/A. My mother left because she’s pathologically non-confrontational. I am going back there to bitch them out. They’re going to take that GC even if I have to take them to small claims court for it. Business owners should know the laws of their state concerning their product. If they don’t, they simply shouldn’t be allowed to run their business.
October 18th, 2006 at 11:06 am
Gift certificates assuage our guilt for not having the time (or taking the time) to buy a proper and decent gift. It makes it appear that an effort has been made (albeit minimal effort) and for some reason we think it looks better than cash. I will no longer purchase gift certificates. I do not feel a need to proselytize to the “gifted” as to why I no longer will give gift certificates - but I will proselytize to you all.
I give the retailer $50 - they give me a piece of paper that is ostensibly worth $50 - with the difference being that they can spend my $50 anywhere at any time - and I must spend their $50 at their place of business and within a time artificially determined by them. 2) I give them business - they give me nothing.
From now on they (retailers) are going to have to pony up and offer me a little something besides a colorful “plastic gift card”. If they want my business they will have to ante up something like 5% off purchases made with the card; sell me a $50 card for $45; some type of bonus for shopping at their place of business.
Consumer demands will be met.
November 3rd, 2006 at 1:02 pm
There are many people being fooled about these gift certificates, and i don’t think it is right.
November 9th, 2006 at 3:33 pm
im a little behind on the replys.. but what about oregon? i found this
http://www.leg.state.or.us/05reg/measures/sb0800.dir/sb0845.intro.html
December 1st, 2006 at 1:26 pm
I was wondering what experience Daisy had with Abercrombie & Fitch. I am currently arguing with them about a merchandise credit. Does anybody know if merchandise credits are the same as gift cards. I would think they would have more weight if anything because that means we actually bought something and are real customers.
December 17th, 2006 at 10:19 pm
what about North Carolina and their Gift Certificates?