Gift cards are supposed to last three years. So why was mine rejected?

September 6, 2025 — 5.01am

Hi Nicole. My pensioner parents bought a voucher for me from Village Cinemas for Gold Class. It was $210 and had Gold Class tickets, meal, drink, etc. When I got it, I assumed it was a gift card and so thought I had time to use it – i.e. three years. When I went to use it about 16 months later, they said it had expired. It has, in tiny font at the bottom, “valid for only 12 months”. They can get away with it because they say it is not a gift card, which is unfair in my eyes. A look online shows that I’m not the only one who’s been stung. Regards, Robert

Robert, you have come across a legitimate but frustrating loophole in the now universal Australian requirement for companies to honour vouchers for three years. In fact, it’s more like a gift card carve-out.

Offering vouchers instead of gift cards is a common practice at many cinemas.Credit: Scott McNaughton

I contacted Village Cinemas on your behalf and, as you allude to, the company is technically doing the right thing. Its spokesperson said: “Village Cinemas takes its legal obligations and the experience of our customers very seriously. We are committed to ensuring compliance with applicable laws and regulations.”

The thing is that, under the Competition and Consumer Regulations Act (2010), “gift cards must have a three-year expiry unless they fall within an exemption”.

And this exemption is squarely where these fall – indeed many companies other than Village Roadshow (Village Cinemas’ parent company) also make sure of it. A gift card or voucher is permitted to have a redeemable period of less than three years provided it:

• is only redeemable for a particular good or service; and
• is supplied at a discount on the market value of the good or service that a reasonable person would consider to be a genuine discount on that market value.

It is absolutely following the letter of the law. The problem is that law is ridiculously loose.

Your Gold Class Indulgence voucher was precisely that: a genuine discount on the market value of a particular package of goods and services. In fact, Village Cinemas has a current three-month deal on cash back service ShopBack – it is both prescriptive and discounted from face value.

Therefore, the legal requirements have been met.

But specific deals from competitors Event Cinemas and Hoyts are valid for a similar amount of time (I found one Event Cinema deal that gave six months). This time – with movie vouchers from all three companies – also often ticks down from the date each tranche of vouchers is released, which means there can be just weeks or even days left when you make a purchase.

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So, Robert, it’s not just Village Cinemas offering less than three years – it is cinema-wide practice. They each apply watertight conditions that mean there is no customer recourse, either.

Village Cinemas’ fine print, for example, says: “Lost or expired vouchers will not be extended, replaced or exchanged for cash.” Hoyts says: “[A voucher] is valid until the expiry date indicated and cannot be exchanged, extended or replaced.”

But it’s not even just cinemas that seek to structure voucher deals such that they can be valid for a shorter time. Indeed, I’ve had it happen to me with a discounted voucher for beauty products. Cynically, that voucher had only three months validity.

And the problem – as you have encountered, Robert – is that because we now expect gift cards to be valid for three years, nearer-term expiry dates can slip straight past us … and the money is easily wasted.

It’s really only the gift cards that are akin to cash and valid for purchase of basically any wares from a merchant, that need to carry an expiry date three years hence.

Village Cinemas said: “We pride ourselves in providing high value and premium experiences for our customers while operating in accordance with the law.”

It is absolutely following the letter of the law. The problem is that law is ridiculously loose.

Nicole Pedersen-McKinnon is the author of How to Get Mortgage-Free Like Me, available at www.nicolessmartmoney.com. Follow Nicole on Facebook, X and Instagram.

• Advice given in this article is general in nature and is not intended to influence readers’ decisions about investing or financial products. They should always seek their own professional advice that takes into account their own personal circumstances before making any financial decisions.

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