Buying Experience Days as a Gift

Because we are in the business of helping people choose the right experience day we read all the reviews we can, so we know that the majority of reviewers have had a great time and give positively glowing reports. However we do occasionally come across an unhappy purchaser and it is often the case that their disappointment could have easily been avoided. We hope that this brief article will help you avoid these mistakes so you can enjoy the thrill of giving someone the experience of a lifetime.

1) Shop Around

Often the merchant selling an experience is not the actual provider and experience day providers often allow multiple merchants to promote their activities. When multiple merchants sell the same experience day, the only remaining differences between the merchants are in their terms and conditions, the quality of packaging and, of course, price. These will typically be small price differences (maybe 5% difference in price) but sometimes there can be real savings to be made. If one merchant decides to discount a particular experience or activity day (and discounts can be up to 50%) then shopping around might get you the same thing at half the price. Obviously we can help here as all our pages compare experience days across the main UK merchants and you can also get a quick overview of the offers and discounts available on our discount, off-peak and 2 for 1 pages.

2) Check that the Merchant Allows Transfers

What if the person you bought that Ferrari track day for would rather go rallying in a Subaru or even have a flying lesson or a pamper day? Check that the merchant you are buying from has a good range of different products and that they allow free transfers to other experience days (most of the major merchants allow this but best to check their terms and conditions).

3) Check the Expiry Date and Remember to Tell the Recipient

Experience day vouchers come with an expiry date. This is generally not the date when the experience has to take place (you usually book an experience for a future date that suits you) but is the date by which the booking itself must be made. This is usually within about 6 to 12 months depending on the merchant but may be shorter if the experience day was sold on offer. Often you can extend this date (sometimes this incurs a small fee) but you MUST contact the merchant to book or extend within the expiry date or the voucher becomes invalid. These expiry dates are usually printed on the voucher but can be missed or forgotten. There is nothing more disappointing than digging out a voucher given to you 6 months ago, only to discover it expired yesterday. If you are giving someone an experience day gift then please make sure they know that it must be booked by a certain date - in fact make a note of it in your own diary so you can remind them closer to the time.

We did an article on experience day expiry dates back in October of last year but this information may be out of date so please check the merchant's terms and conditions to be sure.

4) Check any Physical Limitations

Generally this is not a problem but for some activities there are physical limitations that need to be taken into account. Booking a Formula 1 driving day for someone who is very overweight could be quite embarrassing as they would probably not be able to fit in the cramped cockpit of the car. Height can be a factor in some cases and there is no point booking a scuba diving lesson for someone who has a heart condition that might entirely exclude them from taking part in this sport. The merchants generally provide information on any exclusions or physical requirements on their sites under each experience day. Also point 2 comes back here because if you buy someone an activity that they cannot do for reasons that you were unaware of, if the merchant allows transfers then at least they can still choose to do something else.

5) Beware of Going Direct

It may be tempting to skip the experience day merchants and book an experience direct with the supplier. Apart from the fact that suppliers will generally charge the same as the merchants anyway, this can be a big mistake as booking with the supplier can mean you have less flexibility to choose when you go and little or no flexibility to change to a different activity or venue. This is less of a problem if you are buying for yourself as you know what you want to do and where and when you can do it, but if you are buying for someone else then booking through an experience day merchant is probably the better option.

6) What about High Street Shops?

Lots of high street shops now have displays of gift cards and packs for experience days. The key thing to look for is the company through which the booking is being made. If the card you buy is for experience days provided directly by the shop itself (e.g. a ShopX experience day) rather than through one of the big merchants (e.g. a Virgin Experience Days experience day sold by ShopX) then you are likely to find they have only a limited number of experience day options and you may get less flexibility and ability to change for another experience, if this becomes necessary. Ultimately this is your choice but for purchases like this we prefer the internet - where you can get all the information you need and so make a fully informed decision.

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Tuesday January 19, 2010 | The Blogging Team | Advice