You mean 12.5 years old?

They'll let him redeem it. It's not worth arguing over $40.

Guaranteed they'll say you made it up and call the cops. This ought to be fun.

I just used a williams sonoma one that was abou 8 years old that we found in a collection of older wedding things. They looked at me like I was crazy, but didnt have any issue with taking it.

I think that the laws about gift certificates vary from state to state. He should try to find the relevant law in his state.

Whereabout in Illinois? If you're in the city, the store on North Ave. is great. They won't hassle you at all. They marked down a 50" plasma by $400 to match the price of Fry's.

@R3PUBLIC0N: Yeah, sad as it is, I think the pimply faced underpaid, overworked minions at Worst Buy will probably wind up doing just that.

I don't see why they wouldn't.. but then again, people are stupid. In general, I mean. We just hear more about the stupid people who work at retail, thats all.

They'll accept it but only in exchange for a Best Buy gift card which has a $1 activation charge and a $1 monthly charge back dated to 1996. I'm afraid you're going to owe them some money :-)

wow, I think that you should print 765 § 1025/10.6 from the Illinois state law. Also, make sure there is no fine print on the certificate, or and information on their web site regarding expiration. Print any and all information and walk into the store with it. If they give you an issue, calmly show them the state law, and that there is no fine print on the gift certificate or their web site. They'll probably put up a fight, but if you make enough noise, they'll give it to ya.

@hypnotik_jello: Math hard. Updated headline from 11 to 12. Thx.

[consumerist.com]

I recently used a Barnes and Noble gift certificate that was around that age. The cashier didn't bat an eyelash at it, she just had to call up the proper supervisor, which took a second, but there was no questioning that it would be accepted. I'm in MA.

Here in Georgia, all fees and expirations have to be clearly disclosed on the card or certificate in order for them to be enforceable. Otherwise the card/certificate is valid as long as the business is open. Thank consumer grief with Simon Malls for that ;)

@Gramin:
ha. North Ave Best Buy wouldn't price match some RAM to Fry's for me so I just said thank you very much and went to Microcenter

If they do deny it (and my guess is they will), you should file a claim at
[www.treasurer.il.gov]
since the value of expired gift certificates has to be turned over to the state as unclaimed property. My eyes glossed over reading through the legal code about the unclaimed property act ([www.treasurer.il.gov]) but I think the funds have to be turned over after 5 years for a certificate without an expiration date if they don't plan to honor it. (IANAL of course)

You can use it, but only for a 28.8 baud modem or perhaps a Macarena CD.

@laserjobs: that's for gift cards. not gift certificates.

the company i work for sells both and they are treated very differently.

our international properties are not set up to take gift cards, but they can take gift certificates. our domestic hotels will take both.

@zachff:

Maybe you should pick up some people skills. If you go in there with the right attitude, it's not hard to get what you want. Everyone rails on Best Buy, but I've never had a problem with them.

@I Love New Jersey: Did you even bother reading this article? It was a really short one too.

"Illinois' escheat laws don't have anything specific to say about my $40. They do mention gift certificates in 765 § 1025/10.6, but my situation isn't discussed, as it has no expiration date. I believe this lack of expiration is a point in my favor, but Best Buy might not agree."

What does the fine print on the back say?

If I was the store manager, and if policy prevented redemption, I'd try to find a way to fake a price match or something in order to somehow give him the $40. Sadly, I don't believe that most retail managers are that concerned.

@temporaryerror:

Says void in Illinois probably...

My local BB price matched Target's sale of a DVD set, and still threw in the $5 gift card with the promotion they were offering. It endeared me to them just a little. My local BB is really good about price matching.

@mrgenius: And maybe some sweet videocassettes.

@pecan 3.14159265:

I think some of these posters walk in the store with the wrong approach. If you're polite and talk to the right people, Best Buy is more than willing to help out. I've never had a bad experience with them.

You should be able to use it. Gift certificates aren't supposed to expire (some states have laws against it) because the business has actually received the money.

@I Love New Jersey: Despite the sniper above, I agree w you. Escheatment has nothing to do with the question, it's whether the state allows a store to let gift certificates expire.

@MyPetFly: I would fire the manager who "fake price matched" on the spot. Fraud against an employer is not something to advocate.

However since the Giftcard has no expiry it should still be accepted. And if not managers have the power to issues giftcards for customer troubles.

@sir_eccles:

Best Buy has no fees or expiration dates on their current cars...your attempt to troll was fail. ;)

Best Buy (as bad as they can be a lot of the time) has been surprisingly helpful with gift cards and coupons. They have reissued several coupons that expired for me on numerous occasions.

I understand that there is a law stopping the expiration of Gift Certificates, but this may be grandfathered in (I don't even know if there was a grandfather clause in the bill).

@Gramin: It doesn't look like it has a UPC code on it so their system likely won't allow them to accept it. They may be able to issue him a Best Buy gift card for it though. It seems with Best Buy it all comes down to the store's manager. I would call Best Buy's help line and see if they can tell the OP anything though.

@Gramin: Of course by "the city", you MUST mean Chicago...because there are no other cities in Illinois. LOL. Just kidding - fellow Chicagoan here, who has actually never been to any other part of Illinois other than "the city".

@ncpeters:

They don't need a UPC code. The manager will just give him a $40 discount on whatever he wants to buy. If he's not going to spend the full amount, then they might issue a gift card.

The blueshirts may WANT to let you use it, but the POS system probably no longer has a mechanism to allow you to use it. Maybe they'd be nice enough to reissue it as a gift card, but I'm putting my money on accusing you of printing it yourself, if not flat-out calling the cops.

@dave_coder: Then I wouldn't want to work for you. It would be a mistake to fire a manager who used a workaround to honor a gift certificate that SHOULD be honored to help a customer.

So it wasn't per policy, you still established a good business relationship with that customer. There's no reason to fire a manager for something like that.

@KP1973:

There aren't any other cities in Illinois. Maybe towns... or municipalities... or villages. But there's only one city, and that's Chicago. I'm actually from a small town in central Illinois. There's a big difference between 35,000 and 3,000,000.

I see you're last name is BLUE RECTANGLE. I knew some BLUE RECTANGLES in Cleveland. Are you related?

@Cupajo: "your"

goddammit

I'm guessing they won't take it, but only because their POS system probably isn't capable of taking it anymore. He'll probably be able to exchange it for a gift card by contacting the corporate office.

Having worked at a Best Buy (YEARS ago), I have seen one of these come through. You can't just scan it through because it doesnt match the current system, but a manager came over and treated it like a check or cash, actually... and then took it.

I think he ended up having to talk to corporate about the details, but this was all long after the customer was gone!

I had a similar situation with my Mom--she is notorious for stashing things away for when she "really" needs them. We recently went shopping with my kids--her grands--and every store we went to she managed to find something in her bag to use to buy them presents. At both Barnes and Noble and Williams Sonoma she dug out gift certs that were over 10 years old.

Both stores accepted them with out a problem--graciously even. Kudos to them.

In another instance she dug out a (current) Bed Bath and Beyond coupon and used it at Buy Buy Baby for 20 percent off.

This lady is a black belt shopper and even the crankiest retail clerks were hesitant to be unkind to the nice Grandma.

Granted, this all took place on a not very busy weekday afternoon, so people were a little more willing to take their time.

Oh yeah, this was also in New Jersey where there are alot of malls to choose from so that could be a factor too.

Good luck on Friday!

If the exp is not stated on the card, why should it expire?

I once sent in a Subscription Card for New York magazine from 1972. It had no expiry date, and the subscription was $2.29 for the year. They honored it!

I know, not the same, but funny nonetheless.

@dmolavi: It should be interesting because most of the employees were probably 8 years old or younger when this certificate was issued.

@KP1973:

Why haven't you ever made it out of the city!? So much to experience in other parts of Illinois. There's a great place about an hour south of the city. It's called Coal City. As far as I know, it's the only place you can buy porn out of the back of a truck parked on Main Street.

If they won't accept it, perhaps you could call Wal-Mart from the phone at BB Customer Service and ask them if they'll accept it?

@Gramin: Not true. There are many other cities in Illinois: Champaign, Rockford, Springfield, just to name a few.

This ought to be interesting.

I say it's a crap shoot. Depends on the person on the other side of the counter.

@R3PUBLIC0N: That's only if you try to use those counterfeit $2 bills, which don't really exist.