I would take them to small claims for that.

There needs to be something particularly around the whole card expiry thing. How can they justify an expiry date on what is essentially another form of currency?

k-mart gift cards no longer expire, i know because Ive used some old ones recently that were past their date.
I dont think there is a use by date anymore on gift cares, it was ruled invalid by the ACCC.

Many shops use gift cards as refunds.
Credit Card rewards use gift cards too.
You should always get cash as a refund.

Billy Hydes huh ?
Didnt they recently buy out some other music store ?
nearly everyone i know buys online now.
shocking mark-ups on music gear in Australia.

Gift cards are worse than money in every conceivable way. Don't buy them. Companies don't even give you a bonus for basically converting your money into something worth less than the money...

I would take them to small claims for that.

The end result would be that you are just another debtor owed money by a company that's in receivership. Further, you would be very low on the priority of debts owed and like most debtors would just never be paid by the failed company.

Pretty disappointing to hear about Billy Hyde.

You pay the company $30 they refund $30 onto that card that only works within that company, why should they have to be responsible? They make nothing out of it until you have completed a purchase from them.

Companies don't have any responsibility with gift cards unless the gift card is faulty.

Yeah, id rather cash instead. Goddam gift cards. It sucks when they are for a store you dont shop at (i had a rebel sport one expire) but popular stores like bunnings dont last long with me.

You pay the company $30 they refund $30 onto that card that only works within that company, why should they have to be responsible?

No they make 30 dollars until you use it. If you use it, then they still make profit margin.

Profit margin from giftcards are around 20% higher on top of profit margins because the number of people who let gift cards expire.

Yes they are, but they're also income generators directly too from users doing the opposite of defaulting.

If anything technically a company could afford to sell you a giftcard at a price lower than the face value of the card and still earn money off it from other people reverse-defaulting and profit margins. You actually see that a lot in japan, corner 'gift card' sale stores where you can buy gift tickets etc for stores, all face valued higher than the cost to buy.

That and they don't owe you product when the company does go south.

It's just kind of a shit that they're treated as less than money. Like they're worthless the minute they've sold you the hundred dollar piece of plastic and they aren't well governed by normal financial laws, or consumer protection laws.

Edit: Went on a bit of a tangent there with that japan story.. lemme put that somewhere better..

I think it would be a much fairer system if they money was held for some time in some form of trust
(ie the value of the card was guaranteed for 3 months from the date of purchase then normal/current arrangements after that time)

The msg is pretty clear - stop buying gift cards and chuck cash at ppl instead if that's the way you roll.

I had an Event Cinema card that expired start of this month. they didnt accept it at the cinemas this month to the point that they scanned it for me and showed me that the screen said 'expired card'.
fucking lame.
Also, sux that Billy Hyde is going under. Got some good friends that have worked at the Valley Store for years and have always gotten sweet deals there regardless of who served me. Maybe all those discounts is why they are going bust.

The prepaid visa cards cost a small amount to buy of course.
The one I received a couple of years back was a $50 gift card but apparently it cost $5 to buy. Not complaining obviously, but I was scratching my head as to why they didn't just chuck a pineapple note into the card and save themselves the charge.

Many shops use gift cards as refunds.
Credit Card rewards use gift cards too.
You should always get cash as a refund.

They give gift cards to stop you spending your moeny elsewhere.

Billy Hydes huh ?
Didnt they recently buy out some other music store ?
nearly everyone i know buys online now.
shocking mark-ups on music gear in Australia.

Yeah they bought out Alans Music.

my understanding is you buy a gift card, say $100 (and sometimes pay extra for getting that gift card), then the company holds that money in good faith until redeemed or forgotten about and the money is the company's when the card expires

From my experience that is absolutely not the case.

Also, get with the times, I'm not sure if you heard about GAME AU's demise, but Gift Cards and game pre-orders were 'consumed' (not in their entirety in all cases but a good portion of the 'value' credited to gift cards/pre-orders from memory).

Short version, you're shit out of luck.

Gift-cards are a liability (unless specifically given for essentially 'immediate' consumption, ie "I know x wants a power drill, but can't afford the whole unit... here's a bunnings gift-card for $100 toward a power drill". Of course in that example, you're limiting 'x's option to purchase from somewhere other than bunnings, but yeah unless they are GOING TO SPEND that gift card immediately, it's a risk to the consumer.)

I wouldn't think forcing someone to take a refund for faulty goods in the form of a gift card is legal, unless the goods were purchased with a gift card? i.e. if you've paid with cash/credit always insist on cash/credit reimbursement
If you chose to accept a refund in the form of a gift card it's probably ok though.

It varies.
Case 1
If the purchase is within the terms of the stores returns policy and product warranty in AU (in the case of dealing with an AU retailer) you are entitled to a cash refund.
This goes for the gift card itself as a 'product' too. If it was purchased with cash at say, Dick Smith, and the 'gift-card receiver' simply asked for a refund (and complies with T&C's, ie has the receipt in the case of a refund, and also is within the '14 day' return period) then boom, that GC is cash again.
Case 2
Earlier in the year I bought a headset from the DSE 'sale' that turned into a media shitstorm, a few weeks afterwards, the headset died. I took it back to DSE and asked for a 'replacement unit' as it was less than 30 days old (was happy to get it repaired too). As the product was no longer in production replacement wasn't an option. I asked for repair (unit was sent away and I heard back a week later), this too wasn't an option. As this product is now outside 30 days old, and repair/replacement wasn't an option DSE gave me the option to 'exchange' the credit with something in store (not an appealing alternative) or give me a gift card with said credit to use at a later time as they, to-my-knowledge, aren't required to refund me in cash under these terms.

(The ACCC can decide on what is a reasonable amount of time for any purchase to perform if there is disagreement between the customer and the business.)

That's crap if it's true. So what, they say something should last for 30 years, it only lasts 10 so even though you've been abusing this poor item (whatever it is) and using it for other than intended purposes that the store should replace it just because the ACCC thinks it should have lasted longer?

Case 1 in my mind on shaky ground as well:

This goes for the gift card itself as a 'product' too. If it was purchased with cash at say, Dick Smith, and the 'gift-card receiver' simply asked for a refund (and complies with T&C's, ie has the receipt in the case of a refund, and also is within the '14 day' return period) then boom, that GC is cash again.

It's up to the store whether they let you redeem the gift voucher for cash, but it'd rarely be in the store's interest to do so. I reckon you'd have a hard time arguing that the gift card is faulty in order to exercise statutory rights, and those rights don't usually extend to changing your mind on a purchase.
In other words, if you bought a gift card and you or the person you gave it to wanted a refund on it (even holding the receipt) the store would likely be within their rights to say no.

In other words, if you bought a gift card and you or the person you gave it to wanted a refund on it (even holding the receipt) the store would likely be within their rights to say no.

Yeah this is definitely also true, a company is not obliged to offer a refund for any product without a reason such as it being faulty or falsely advertised/not doing what was promised.

They could well have decided on a returns policy that guarantees refunds within a specific time frame, in which case they would have to, but if their policy doesn't say anything about refunds then they are under no obligations to.


Edit: I'm saying all this as someone who about 5 years ago worked for the highest level of customer service/complaints within a pretty large Australian retail company and dealt directly with the ACCC on many occasions.

Incidentally the best returns policy I've ever encountered was in New York at Macy's where they had a 180 day full cash refund policy! I even bought some pants from there, then travelled around South America for a while and went back and returned the pants (unworn and still with tags and receipt of course) without even a question from them as to why I was refunding! If only all retail companies could be that awesome.

Some of those prepaid visas have fees attached to them. I had one that was no fees for 6 months and then $2.50 deducted each month thereafter until balance reaches zero.

I sometimes get rewards gift cards from the credit card for coles. I just buy the shopping with it and then the cash I would have used for shopping I use elsewhere and shower myself if luxurious gifts.

BTW where is Teq, did he e-leave?

Gift cards are a credit note with an expiry period assigned. They're just a promise to provide credit backed by the company in question.

In the case of a company entering administration petty credit note holders are very, very small fish creditors and the only sensible thing to do is write the debt off if possible.

They're not currency backed by a reserve and people really need to stop thinking of them that way, a money order is superior in almost every possible way.

glynd that is an incredibly relevant comment to this thread! You might even say that's the topic of this thread...

Yes.

But since they went out of business because they have no money you're shit out of luck.