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)