– Shops pocket £300m a year from the gift cards we never use (Daily Mail, Dec 20, 2014):
If you’re thinking of giving someone a voucher for Christmas, take note. High street stores are pocketing more than £300million a year from gift cards that are never used.
Shoppers are caught out by confusing small print and hidden fees that eat into their balance.
In some cases, 90p a month is taken off the card if it is not used for a certain period, while in others the entire balance can be snatched. And even big name stores do not always make it clear to recipients when their gift card will expire. Perhaps most outrageously, if a store goes bust it does not have to honour gift cards, so shoppers lose their money.
All in all, £6 of every £100 put on gift cards is never used by the recipient but simply ends up in stores’ coffers.
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