Providers earning up to €380 mil. per year from unspent gift cards

Netherlands residents are fanatical about gift cards, but often leave them unspent. The cards sometimes prove too complicated to redeem, and the money ultimately ends up with the providers, who earn an estimated €190 million to €380 million per year in this way, AD reports.

Dutch people buy 53 million gift cards, worth approximately €1.9 billion, per year. Karin van Ovelen, a sales manager at YourGift, told the newspaper that 19 to 20 percent of gift cards are not redeemed: the equivalent of €380 million. An industry spokesperson said 10 percent, which amounts to €190 million.

WNL recently investigated gift cards and found that they don’t offer the wide selection promised. Consumers often experience limited choices, unexpected costs, and other logistical issues. For example, hotel vouchers are difficult to redeem and sometimes require additional payment, WNL discovered when trying to redeem a Bongo gift card through the provider’s customer service.

According to the program, there are companies that see gift cards that can’t be redeemed as a business model.

The Consumentenbond previously filed a complaint against gift card providers Wonderbox and Bongo with the Advertising Code Committee, accusing them of misleading information. The Advertising Code Committee ruled in the consumer association’s favor.

“Both companies have promised to improve, but nothing is happening,” a spokesperson for the Consumentenbond told WNL. “We’ll have a discussion first. If that doesn’t lead to anything, we will file a lawsuit.”