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General discussion

Beware of the New Mall (Visa) Gift Cards

Dec 10, 2003 4:36PM PST

The tag on the ?giving tree? said that a 15-year old girl wants a gift certificate to a mall. So I trotted out to a nice mall and bought a gift card for her, the only kind you can buy at this chain of malls.
But this card was a bit different, they told me. This has the Visa logo on it and is good anywhere Visa is accepted. Sounds good, so far (though I had to pay a fee $1.50 on top of the value of the card).

When I got it home, I noticed there were rather detailed instructions:

You really have to pay attention to how much value is left on the card, because if you purchase something that is more that your card balance and don?t tell them IN ADVANCE that you will be making part of the payment by another method, the card will be rejected without explanation. The stores cannot check your balance (I think there?s an 800 number you can call to determine it).


Grrr?I won?t do that again. I?ll bet this will cause such a furor that they have a better system by next year. The salesclerks will likely also be confused about how to handle it.

Sad

Paula

Discussion is locked

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NT giving tree?
Dec 10, 2003 8:53PM PST

.

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Real or symbolic Christmas tree representing
Dec 11, 2003 3:34AM PST

a needy family. Usually the family's wants and needs are listed, then people can contribute cash or items listed which then go to the needy family.

Cindi

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There was one at my work and another at my church
Dec 11, 2003 6:21AM PST

At work we "sponsored" several families, and employees have been very generous.
At church it would have been perhaps a dozen or so families--also a great response.

The coordinators "decorate" the tree with tags identifying a 'wish list' item for a person identified by gender and age (and code number for larger programs). Each donor picks out a tag (or more) and buys the item on the tag. The donor wraps the gift and puts the tag on the outside. The coordinators deliver the gifts either directly or to an agency.

Happy
Paula

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Re: Thanks for the info Paula (nt)
Dec 10, 2003 9:07PM PST

.

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I wonder. Paula...
Dec 10, 2003 9:27PM PST

Paula, I can't help but wonder if there is a "tranaction fee" extracted from the balance of the card for the unsuccessful attempt to use it. Nah...they couldn't possible be that sneaky.
But... usually those cards are not good forever. Usually, there is a fee taken from the balance every month or so that it sits idle after some period. With that in mind, what if that fee is "X" for every month that it sits idle. You bought it on the 10th of December. As it was a Christmas gift, it may not be given to the child until 25 December. What if the kid does not get to that mall before 10 January and over a month has passed since you bought that card. After 1 month, is it still worth $15, or has any fee been subtracted? There has got to be more "fine print".

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This has been a "consumer alert" item recently
Dec 10, 2003 10:47PM PST

Hi J,

My take is that they are good at full face value for a time (6months - 1yr from purchase) then lose some % each month after that. We had filed away (OK, put somewhere under the auspices of organization or disorganization as it was!) a restaurant gift card my hubby's employer gave us one year. I unearthed it two years later and it had no expiration date ... but there in the small print were the terms rendering it worthless by that time.

I wonder how those new American Express giftcards work.

Evie Happy