Posted on 12/27/2004 9:36:19 AM PST by babygene
Sorry for the vanity... This isn't in the news, but it should be.
This year my wife bought American Express gift cards for family members. She didn't give me one, because last year I made such a stink about getting them from my kids. I told everyone that if they weren’t from Home Depot, then don't bother.
To make a long story short, I knew she bought them but since they were from American Express, I thought they would be OK. Boy was I wrong.
The first indication of problems was when my daughter-in-law tried to use hers and it was rejected. She didn't know why but she didn't want to deal with it, so she gave it to my son (who was the unlucky recipient of his own card.
He went to purchase a par of slacks at a local dept store and his to was rejected. The reason was that the slacks were more than the value of the card. No problem, he thought, I'll just use both cards.
WRONG! You can't do that. The total purchase must be equal to or less than the amount of the card. And guess who gets to keep the change? (And there will almost always be some)
If you can find a cooperative merchant, you may be able to get them to split the charges - part on the gift card and part as cash, check, or other credit card, but that would probably mean getting the manager involved.
The best solution if you receive one of these things may be to take it to Home Depot and buy one of their gift card with it.
Probably expires in one year also
Red Lobster and all the other restaurant chains use the same company, which starts deducting from the value of the card each month it is not used until the value is zero.
In other words, use it right away or have the card company steal it from you.
And how long have you worked for Home Depot? ;^)
Business as usual from a company that has Vernon Jordan on its board.
Actually, I believe that behavior from merchants was curbed in the past year.
Lawsuits were responsible for that.
You know, I wondered about this with the Shell (gas station-convenience stores) gift cards; in the small print, one finds that he cannot "split" the card with cash or another credit card (i.e., on a $25 certificate, and a $29 purchase, he cannot charge the surplus $4 to a credit card).
There was also a minor brouhuahua here in Nebraska, just before Christmas (since resolved satisfactorily), when someone was charged sales tax on gift cards from the Gas 'n Shop chain (gas station-convenience stores).
Even worse...I gave one to my son this year in lieu of theater passes...the theater's computers were down and they recommended using the Mall's gift cards backed by American Express.
Well, the daughter-in-law read the fine print and discovered that the card loses $2 in face value for every month that it isn't used.
Again, guess who gets to keep the money?
Please contact American Express. My family happens to do business on the internet and it is very discouraging when customers fail to contact us immediately when they have a problem. While I think the internet is fabulous for the free enterprise system, often problems can be quickly addressed and much harm can happen when customers tell the world there is a problem when it might in fact be a quickly fixable issue. Thank you.
Hmmmm... much like their food value. Seems like a good match to me.
Now if I could just find a Borders closer than 120 miles.
How much did Kerry/Edwards rake in?
Try their website, you can use the gift card there. You just enter the number off the back (sometimes under a silver "scratch off" surface.
Use Borders' card on Amazon....
They said "slacks," not "plaid slacks."
I think the law requires anyone over 82 years old to use the word slacks...
:)
You all might want to try www.swapagift.com - you can sell or trade gift cards you don't want for ones you do.
My husband and I have always said to ourselves while watching the AM EX gift card commercials, "If you can spend them anywhere, why not give people cash?" It seems like such a stupid pain in the butt way of doing things. Just reach into your pocket and pull out cash and give it to people.
The numbers have been obscured from being in my wallet so long.
LOL
My wife thinks I work there... as much time as I spend there.
Slacks yes, but what really got me was the word "par"
I hate that word Slacks too, LOL!
It is amazing to me that the same people who bitch about Gift Cards from a private company do not say jack Shit about the ponzi FDR govt scheme "Social Security"!
I got one for xmas... They do *not* work at gas stations at all, even inside for stuff. I wasn't too happy about that. Can't even prepay on them or buy anything. But otherwise, I've been ok with it.
How many laser levelers can you possibly own? Come on! Buy yourself something exciting for goodness sakes.
You may have a retailer problem rather tan a AX problem
That sucks. Mind as well toss it or have it scanned at a store. The magnetic strip might still be good. :o)
Let me guess..you work for MasterCard, right?
I would suggest you call American Express.
It doesn't look like they keep the change. It just stays on the card.
I don't quit understand why merchants wouldn't let people pay more, to cover the difference, if the item you buy costs more, than the gift card. This doesn't make any sense.
Read more about it here:
http://www10.americanexpress.com/sif/cda/page/0,1641,22145,00.asp
PS. I have no association with AE, but while I believe your experience, it sounds more like a problem with the particular merchant, who should be catering more to his customers, instead of giving them grief.
You can use that American Express card in an ATM to pull out the exact balance remaining on the card. Or you can use it in a restaurant for the exact balance and pay the excess in cash. Or fill you car up with gas using the card and stop pumping at the exact balance, etc., etc.
Also sears give cards, sears will not use them online or on the catalog. They want you to come into the store only. There are things in the sears craftmans catalog not in the stores.
What's wrong with good old CASH?
OK. Just send the two gift cards to me.......I'll straighten this out this whole mess.
bump
I received a Red Lobster gift card for Christmas. It's for 45 dollars. So if I don't use it immediately, the monetary value will not be the original amount? I also have a card for See's Candies. Same deal?
For examples of what has happened in regards to those declining card balances and lost cards:
http://www.pjstar.com/stories/120404/TRI_B4TKBNKD.007.shtml
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/10375082.htm
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/ma_gift_cards.html
actually a person just needs to know the exact amount and tell the cashier how much to take off, its tedious but i get it all the time at william-sonoma.
"You can use that American Express card in an ATM to pull out the exact balance remaining on the card."
If that works, that's a great solution.
Earlier in this thread somebody said that it is no longer legal for them to do that.
Good suggestion. I have had very positive experiences with customer service at American Express.
I don't know what you're talking about. In California, there is no expiration date and I've NEVER heard about deducting a fee every month. Prove that.
I received one of these "gift cards" for Christmas and have had problems using it. Thanks for the heads up.
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