JD Sports forced to refund thousands in gift card refunds, CCPC confirms

Following an investigation by Ireland’s Consumer and Competition Commission (CCPC), an undertaking has been secured for JD Sports to return thousands of euros worth of gift card credit to customers.

JD Sports will not have to return almost €250,000 of unspent gift card credit to Irish consumers. This decision follows reports that gift cards had been sold to Irish consumers with incorrect expiry dates.

Under Irish legislation introduced in 2019, gift vouchers must be valid for at least five years. Gift cards bought online by JD Sports were issued with a one-year expiry date.

Following discussions with JD Sports, the company admitted the error and offered to take steps to remedy the losses to Irish consumers.

JD have noted that most of the gift cards sold by them in Ireland had the correct expiry date, with affected ones representing a small percentage of the total.

CCPC Chairperson, Brian McHugh, said: “Ireland has stricter gift voucher rules than neighbouring jurisdictions, with a 5-year minimum expiry period. This case shows why consumers need that extra time to spend gift vouchers. Customers of JD Sports lost out on almost a quarter of a million euros when their gift vouchers expired after only 12 months. Following a CCPC intervention, that loss is now going to be set right.

“JD Sports cooperated fully with the CCPC, and we were glad to be able to move quickly to resolve the issue and confirm this positive outcome for consumers.

“JD Sports has until 4 January 2027 to contact all affected consumers and re-issue their gift cards.

“Full details of the case have been published on the CCPC's Consumer Protection List, which is available on ccpc.ie/CPL. Other cases formally published on the Consumer Protection List today include the outcomes of prosecutions taken against BT Arnotts and Quills, which were completed earlier this year. The details of these two cases were made public at the time of the court hearings.”