
At Richmond Park Therapies, we pride ourselves on providing excellent service and maintaining transparency with our clients. One of the ways we do this is through our gift certificate program. However, we often receive inquiries about using expired gift certificates, and we’d like to take a moment to explain why it’s not possible for us to accept them.
Clear Terms and Conditions
When you purchase a gift certificate from us, the terms and conditions for its use are made very clear at the point of purchase, they have to be accepted formally by the purchaser and are then provided separately again for the recipient. These terms are also available on our website's gift certificate page at any time. Transparency is key, and we want to ensure that everyone understands how gift certificates work (not just ours, any company's).
Reasonable Validity Period
In the UK wellness industry, a six-month validity period for gift certificates is considered more than adequate time to enable someone to book a service. It protects business process flexibility whilst ensuring that the gift certificate can be redeemed within a reasonable timeframe. After the expiry date, the reference code provided with a gift certificate will expire and no longer work on scheduling, booking or payment systems.
Small Business Considerations
Just as you wouldn't expect John Lewis or Marks & Spencer to accept an expired voucher code, we ask for the same understanding as a small business. The sale and subsequent redemption (or non-redemption) of gift certificates within a given timeframe are standard business practices. Extending expired gift certificates is not feasible for us as that would affect our ability to maintain services, scheduling and accounting processes.
Accounting Closure and Charity Donations
Each month we close off our accounts, including processing any gift certificates that were either redeemed or expired during that period. When a gift certificate is redeemed, the business is paid for providing that service. In the case of expiry, the payment for the expired gift certificate value (or treatment) is donated to a charity aligned with our client base. Over the past years, we have proudly supported MacMillan Cancer Support, Tommy’s, Richmond Borough Mind, and Richmond Carers Centre. This process allows us to close off our accounts professionally and legally, while maintaining the spirit of the original payment—a gift.
Respecting the Terms
We kindly ask that you do not ask us to "honour" or extend an expired certificate reference. The funds for expired certificates will have already been processed, and we are unable to reverse this. Our system is designed to ensure fairness and consistency for all our clients whilst enabling the smooth running of our business.
We appreciate your understanding and continued support. If you have any further questions, please feel free to reach out to us or visit our gift certificate page for further information.
Warm regards,
Richmond Park Therapies
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