Skydive Gift Certificate life

[Rover 11]

The DZ where I work sells gift vouchers which have a 'life' of 6 months. This leads to conflict whenever a voucher that is past its due date is presented.

I understand that a 'life' is required if the business is sold or to take into account increased costs that may occur in the future.

That being said I personally believe that if someone has paid hard earned cash that the payment should be honored, no matter when the voucher was issued. There may be an additional fee incurred to cover any increased costs. Obviously, if the business has changed hands the situation would be different.

What are the policies of other DZs and how do they deal with customers who are disappointed when they are told that there hard earned cash has disappeared into thin air?

2 wrongs don't make a right - but 3 lefts do.

[AggieDave 6]

Why was the gift certificate, with a clearly stated use by date, not used by the expiration date? A significant life situation such as medical problems, family problems, etc? Sure. A person who was simply too lazy to use it by the date provided and wants a special exception? No.

Many dropzones are not financially solvent enough to be able to operate if the large number of Christmas gift certificates were to come back to the dropzone 18 months later, at once.

Would you expect a dropzone to honor a lift ticket from a year ago that you found in your gear back? How about 5 years ago? What about 10 years ago? What would you consider to be a reasonable time limit?

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[Rover 11]

On the other hand the DZ has had the use of someone elses money for whatever period of time before the voucher has been redeemed, which could be used for debt servicing or gaining interest depending on the individual operations circumstances.

And yes, I would expect that the face value of a certificate I own should be honored. If a cash top up is required, so be it. But at the end of the cash has passed hands and it should be recognised.

2 wrongs don't make a right - but 3 lefts do.

[airdvr 210]

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On the other hand the DZ has had the use of someone elses money for whatever period of time before the voucher has been redeemed, which could be used for debt servicing or gaining interest depending on the individual operations circumstances.

And yes, I would expect that the face value of a certificate I own should be honored. If a cash top up is required, so be it. But at the end of the cash has passed hands and it should be recognised.

I agree. The DZ receieved the benefit of the funds, there really shouldn't be an expiration date at all. So what if you don't use it for 2 years...you paid what it would have cost at that time and you should be able to redeem it. I can see an expiration date for a coupon where no cash has yet changed hands, but not for a gift certificate.

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

[IanHarrop 42]

there are (or will be) rules that vary by state:
http://www.consumersunion.org/pub/core_financial_services/003889.html

Rules will be different every where. Check where you live.

"Where troubles melt like lemon drops, away above the chimney tops, that's where you'll find me" Dorothy

[airdvr 210]

Quote

there are (or will be) rules that vary by state:
http://www.consumersunion.org/pub/core_financial_services/003889.html

Rules will be different every where. Check where you live.

I'm betting those don't apply to NZ

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

[CSpenceFLY 1]

The number of time this would come up at any one DZ it should be a non issue. Expiration dates on things like this are equal to stealing in my book.

[Rover 11]

Happened to us twice yesterday and the DZO was away. So the guy at the front desk had a ball of shit to deal with. I think the negative impact to the DZs reputation is large as even though they were able to jump, there was a lot of negativity created. If they were refused, what would they be saying now. Word of mouth is a powerful medium.

2 wrongs don't make a right - but 3 lefts do.

[DSE 5]

Like it or not, expirations are part of many business offerings. In many cases, it must be so.
Representations and warranties could become a clusterfu** when buying or selling a business, property, or other tangible.

If you don't agree, what *is* reasonable?

What if you bought a DZ to only later discover that the DZ had 5K in outstanding certificates? You really think you're gonna recover that from the previous owner if he failed to let you know about the outstanding liabilities in his P/L statements?

[CSpenceFLY 1]

I understand the reasoning but on a day to day basis it is not a problem and as the other poster said the word of mouth damage can be large

[tkhayes 348]

depending on what state you are in, new laws are/have come into place to protect gift cards, gift certificates and the like from expiring.

Mostly this is to protect the 'cash' you paid for it, i.e. it has to retain at least that cash value.

We honor gift certificates always (generally), even though we put expiry dates on them. However, if I sold a gift certificate on some special deal, or discount or for an event as a giveaway, then sure, I put expiry dates on them and I stick to that.

I will at least honor the amount of money that was paid for it, regardless of the date.

Buyer beware, not everyone does that and if you buy a gift certificate, gift card, voucher, whatever, you should fully understand what the T's and C's are before you buy.

[chuckakers 425]

Quote

The DZ where I work sells gift vouchers which have a 'life' of 6 months. This leads to conflict whenever a voucher that is past its due date is presented.

I understand that a 'life' is required if the business is sold or to take into account increased costs that may occur in the future.

That being said I personally believe that if someone has paid hard earned cash that the payment should be honored, no matter when the voucher was issued. There may be an additional fee incurred to cover any increased costs. Obviously, if the business has changed hands the situation would be different.

What are the policies of other DZs and how do they deal with customers who are disappointed when they are told that there hard earned cash has disappeared into thin air?

If the DZ clearly represents that its certificates are good for a specified period, what's the problem? If a customer doesn't like the policy they can go elsewhere.

While you may not like the DZ's 6 month "life" for a certifictate, there's not a thing wrong with it as long as the customer knows the policy before making a purchase.

Chuck Akers
D-10855
Houston, TX

[JohnMitchell 16]

Our DZ has a one year expiration but has worked around that in cases of bad weather, etc. With that said, I tell my friends and coworkers that when giving a tandem for a gift, just give a card with a "promissory note" in it and then pay for the jump when the recipient actually comes out. You can save a lot of dough that way.

DSE's point of the DZ changing hands? Too true, and as a new owner I would not like to be in that situation. As a new owner I would not like to discover a bad engine, equipment with more wear and tear than represented, or mass of delinquent accounts. I'm sure there's a lot of bad stuff you can hide when selling a business.

[JohnnyD 0]

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What if you bought a DZ to only later discover that the DZ had 5K in outstanding certificates? You really think you're gonna recover that from the previous owner if he failed to let you know about the outstanding liabilities in his P/L statements?

Absolutely.

[redramdriver 0]

Couldn't agree more. We had an exact issue of this come up after the prior owners had packed up and left. Customer X arrives and wants to jump. He received a Cert for his birthday...18 months ago. The prior owners would have probably honored it (it also had an expiration date clearly printed on it) had they still owned the place. But, we couldn't just pull the money out of our pocket and give the guy the jump. Yes we received some flack, but in the end, it was the owner of the Certificate to honor it themselves and present it in a timely manner. And if he woud have honored the expiration date on the Certificate, the prior owners would have still been the SMFIC. Just my 2cents.

So, you bring your beer?

Its 5 o'clock somewhere
POPS #9344

[Andy9o8 2]

Quote

there are (or will be) rules that vary by state:
http://www.consumersunion.org/pub/core_financial_services/003889.html

Rules will be different every where. Check where you live.

Similar database to your link. A bit more detail. (Yours is easier to read. )

http://www.ncsl.org/IssuesResearch/BankingInsuranceFinancialServices/GiftCardsandGiftCertificatesLegislation/tabid/12474/Default.aspx