A men's clothing store has been praised after honouring a 23-year-old voucher.

Conor McKenna, director of McKenna Man in Dundalk, said the store was happy to honour the voucher.

"In 1995, the voucher was bought for £60. There was a 25-year-old who brought it in, they were only two at the time. We honoured the voucher for €76."

Mr McKenna said that he isn't sure where the voucher has been for the last 23 years.

"Often times it's when the place gets cleared out, you just find it but we don't have any expiry dates on our vouchers. There was no problem there.

"We were happy to honour it. The customer bought a new shirt."

He added that gift vouchers are "fantastic for businesses".

"For that very reason, if you say to a customer that you're not going to honour it, you've lost that customer. You'll never get that customer again and we're in the business of keeping customers."

Some vouchers and gift cards expire after just six months, with amounts being deducted from their value for every month over the use-by date.

Chief executive of the Consumers’ Association lobby group Dermott Jewell warned shoppers not to delay spending their vouchers and gift cards.

“The key is to use them rather than put them away. If you do put them away set a reminder on your phone to tell you to use them before they expire. Some expire in as little as six months,” he said.

Mr Jewell said that a monthly deduction could wipe out a €20 voucher very quickly if it had hit its use-by date.

Currently stores, shopping centres and other issuers of vouchers and gift cards are entitled to stipulate an expiry date on the voucher and also within their rights to charge maintenance fees, he said.

Online Editors