An embarrassing thing happened to me last month. I didn't know what to do, so I thought I would do some research and then blog about it. What I did is what millions of people have done over the past couple years. You maybe asking your self," what did he do that so many people have done that is so embarrassing?"
I gave a gift card to a client. Now you ask," what is sobad about giving a gift card, that is good ,right?" When my client wentto use their gift card at an Overland Park business, the business took nearly 75% of the value off for fees. Upon hearing this from my client, I did some research. Ihave found that many Kansas businesses that issue gift cards charge issuance fees, handling fees, replacement fees, maintenance fees, user fees and so on. There are so many kinds of fees that can be charged. I had a manager from a Kansas City business tell me that 10% of their store profit is from people who do not use their gift cards and another7% is from the fees they charge as add on fees.
In the past, I have had Blockbuster not accept 1 year old gift cards because they said they were expired.
A manager from Omaha Steaks said that when they get a giftcard from the Town Center Mall office they need to call the mall office to verify the amount on the card. He said that he has seen fees starting at the four month mark on mall gift cards. An employee at the bookstore in the Town Center Mall also confirmed the Omaha Steaks Manager comment. They said that they have had people in theevening leave mad because they could not process the gift card. The manager said he will not process a mall gift card until he verified the amount on the card.
When I talked to the Town Center Office, they said fees do not get charged until the 1 year anniversary date. The Town Center Mall office did have documents on the counter pointing that there is an issuance fee and a maintenance fee. When I asked the representative about the fees, she said they have not had a single problem with gift cards and she also informed me that the mall offices are not under the same rules as retail stores. She said that they use third party gift card companies. While I was in the Town Center Mall office, a lady purchased a $40 gift card. There was no mention about fees or paperwork given outlining potential fees. The mall representative did mention that thereis small type on the back of the card outlining fees.
In my research I have found that different rules apply to gift certificates, store gift cads, shopping mall gift cards and prepaid bank cards.When a typical consumer purchases anyone of these as a gift and gives them away they probably do not pass on the fees and user rules to the person they are giving the gift to.
Not to complicate matters but what happens to a gift card purchased from a business that is out of business now? Businesses like Comp USA 'Circuit City or your neighborhood restaurant go out of business go out of business all the time. What do you do with gift cards purchased from the places? I have been told that nothing can be done.
My blog is not an anti Town Center Mall. My wife loves the mall and I do believe that they don't have the gift card problems like some otherstores in Kansas City. They did post their disclosure notices where anyone purchasing the cards would see them. I did observe many businesses in Olathe and Overland Park that did not disclose their fees upfront to the consumer. In my case, there was no mention of fees and the back of the card did not mention fees. It did state that the gift card expired in 1 year, which to my knowledge is against Kansas Statelaw. House Bill No. 2658 states that no person, firm, partnership, association or corporation shall sell a gift certificate or gift card to a purchaser containing an expiration date which is less than five years from the date of purchase. My research found that many Kansas businesses violated this House Bill. That is right, the businesses you maybe shopping at in Kansas City, knowingly break the law. Why do I say knowingly, because nearly all the businesses that I confronted about their gift card policy knew that their policy may in fact be against Kansas law.
Another business said off the record that the gift card amounts are so small in the scheme of things that people walk the other directions and no good attorney will do anything about it because they would have to get thousands of gift cards in a class action lawsuit to make it worthwhile.
My lesson from this, is research your options. I will look for another idea gift idea. Over the years my wife and I have given many gift cards to clients, family members and friends. We have given Blockbuster gift cards, Comp USA, Circuit City and Mall cards. How many gift cards actually get used as I intended? I don't know. Maybe there is more. Maybe myclient opened up a big issue. Is there another gift I can give that could be better? Maybe, do you have any suggestions?