You are probably aware of my attitude to gift certificates or other rewards from businesses that aren’t worth a crumpet!

By that I mean they have so many restrictions or conditions they really aren’t worth receiving. They are not available at certain times or they must be exercised with another purchase or used only for purchases of more than a certain amount or only during a narrow expiry window.

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I believe that they should have no restrictions and have always encouraged my clients to take the same view. ‘Why,” I often ask, “have an expiry date because if a customer turned up with an expired certificate you would probably just shrug your shoulders and honour it?”

Here’s an example of the sort of conditions I hate… short expiry date, can’t be backdated and a minimum purchase requirement.

Not much of a gift really is it.

How much better the welcome gift have been if it read:

“No restrictions, use any time!”