Ticketek is among a number of companies to amend the expiry dates on their gift cards in New Zealand following a campaign by Consumer NZ.
The ticket vendor was described by the consumer rights group as having “the meanest gift card” on the market because it currently expires after “a measly” six months.
According to Consumer NZ, Ticketek has now offered to amend its cards, but has yet to reveal further details.
Consumer NZ head of research Jessica Wilson said Ticketek is among 25 retailers that are changing the 12-month expiry dates on their cards as a result of its 'Drop the Dates' campaign, which was launched in September. Some retailers are dropping expiry dates altogether, while others have extended them to up to five years.
Wilson said: “Some of these retailers have said they offer grace periods, will honour expired cards or issue replacement cards in certain circumstances but these practices beg the question, why have a date at all?”
Consumer NZ said shoppers could be losing up to NZ$10m (€6.6m/US$7.3m/£5.9m) a year on expired gift cards. It added that “if companies don’t lift their game, we want the Fair Trading Act amended to make imposing expiry dates on gift cards an unfair practice”.
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