In these forums, there a a few posts saying that gift cards expire after 1 year. However, in Canada it is illegal for gift cards to have an expiry date outside of unusual circumstances that don’t apply to the Bambu gift cards. https://www.canada.ca/en/financial-consumer-agency/services/payment/gift-cards.html.
Does anyone know if Bambu follows Canadian laws for gift card rules for the Canadian population?
I don’t know if that will apply as to my knowledge you can’t purchase “gift cards” from Bambu.
- Promotional or charitable gift cards
Businesses may give promotional or charitable gift cards as part of a promotion, loyalty program or to raise money for charity. These cards are usually only for purchases at a specific retailer or group of retailers. They often have an expiry date.
Good catch on the “promotional” part. The link I referenced is a Federal general info site and it mentions that the rules are governed by individual provinces. I haven’t gone through all the provinces individual rules but some mention promotional cards (such as Alberta) while others do not (Such as British Columbia). It appears that BC might not have an expiry but that depends on whether Bambu follows the local rules I guess.
As another Canuck, interested in this as well. Have you created a ticket with BL support on the subject?
You are referring to gift cards that you purchase to give to someone else. However, these are gift cards given directly by Bambu Lab, which you did not pay for. As stated in your link, these can have an expiration date.
Promotional or charitable gift cards
Businesses may give promotional or charitable gift cards as part of a promotion, loyalty program or to raise money for charity. These cards are usually only for purchases at a specific retailer or group of retailers. They often have an expiry date.
100% agree these cards are not paid for by users but as mentioned above, the info you quoted is general information from the federal government of Canada and it further states that " Depending on your province or territory, there may be different rules for gift cards. Learn more about the regulations on gift cards where you live. It also mentions that “Provinces have their own regulations on gift cards.” which appear to vary slightly from province to province. I assume it is possible that all provinces exclude “promotional” gift cards but would have to read all provincial regs to know.
Bambu isn’t a Canadian company so I fail to see how they would be bound to what you think your provincial laws are regarding gift cards. You agreed to the terms and conditions as set forth by Bambu when you signed up. Is it that hard to use a gift card within a year time frame? Seems reasonable to me.
Well, if Bambu wants to do business in a certain country they’ll have to abide by that country’s laws, no matter where they are located.
That being said, I too don’t see those laws apply here, and I’m also reasonably sure BBL has a legal department that checked those things beforehand.
As Cookiedeluxe says, non-resident companies must follow local laws if doing business in a different country. The fact that Bambu charges Canadian sales tax shows they are subject to Canadian laws. Guessing you may have paid local sales taxes on your Bambu printer if you live in a jurisdiction that has sales taxes.
It could be difficult to use a GC within a year if one was saving up for something more significant and depending on the accumulation rate of GCs.
Are you able to provide a reference to the provincial law that you think would apply in this case?
The initial link has separate links to each provinces’ rules and/or statutes. Most of them are similar in nature but there are also differences. PEI stands out as being more encompassing.