Equipped with a coupon and store credit, Scott thought he was in a great position when he placed an order on Borders.com. But a snafu left Scott empty handed, with his order canceled, his balance drained and his coupon vanished. [More]
gift cards
This Chipotle Gift Card Is Kinda Chuckle-Worthy
By 11.30.10
You can say what you want about Chipotle’s food, but whoever put together the legalese on the back of their gift cards has a pretty good sense of humor. [More]
If You Want An Apple Store Gift Card, Don't Order It Online
By 11.17.10
We at The Consumerist are known for our anti-gift card stance, but sometimes you find yourself in a situation where a gift is required and cash seems tacky. Vivian writes that she got an Apple gift card for her sister as a nice present, and it disappeared from her sister’s mailbox. Unlike other high-value items that they sell, Apple mails gift cards using U.S. Postal Service first class mail, and someone stole and spent the card. [More]
Home Depot Won't Let Me Use My Electronic Gift Certificate Without Printout
By 11.4.10
Lucas saved up his credit card reward points to buy a Home Depot eGift Card with the understanding that he only needed the number to make a purchase. A Home Depot clerk denied his purchase, insisting she needed to see a physical copy. [More]
Xbox Live Marketplace Card Already Used, Even Though It Was Opened Only Moments Ago
By 9.22.10
Tyler says that on four different occasions now, the Xbox Live points and subscription cards he’s bought have been invalid when he redeems them. He had a friend at Gamestop help him out with the invalid subscription card, but he’s stuck with useless paper when it comes to the points cards. [More]
Radio Shack Screws Up My Pre-Order, Threatens To 'Burn' My Gift Card
By 9.3.10
Corey pre-ordered a phone at RadioShack, placing a whopping $50 down on the handset of his dreams. Once the phone came in, the clerk couldn’t find a way to sell him the phone without charging an extra $200. When Corey withdrew his order, the clerk told him he’d “burn” the $50 gift card as a result. [More]
Target Sells Facebook Gift Cards
By 9.2.10
This holiday season, give the gift of Mafia Wars addiction with Facebook gift cards from Target. [More]
Best Buy Promised A Forgive-Me Gift Card, Pretends It Didn't
By 8.23.10
After complaining on Twitter about a Best Buy customer service failure, a company rep said she would give him a $25 gift card. Now his emails go unanswered and he’s thinking he won’t get the reward. [More]
How Buying Gift Cards To Shop Online Can Backfire
By 8.4.10
S. tells Consumerist that she had a bad experience with Lane Bryant, and now she doesn’t know where to turn. She doesn’t use credit cards, but couldn’t pass up a great online-only sale on jeans. She went to a brick-and-mortar store and purchased a gift card, then used the gift card to make the purchase online. Simple, right? Nope. Lane Bryant canceled her order, and now S. is stuck with a $50 Lane Bryant gift card she had budgeted for two pairs of jeans. [More]
Gift Card Error In Your Favor: When Do You Tell The Hotel?
By 8.3.10
A reader emailed us to ask what he should do about an accounting mistake he discovered with some gift cards. He suspects the different parts of the hotel don’t update the card balance in real time, but it could also be that the hotel’s employees aren’t processing the card correctly. Now he’s wondering whether he should have said something. [More]
My Best Buy Gift Card I Got From A Trade-In Is Nothing But Trouble
By 7.15.10
Kate and her husband sacrificed some laptops at the Best Buy trade-in altar, hoping for a painless process that would quickly result in an easy-to-use gift card. They were disappointed on all fronts and denied at the cash register when they tried to use the card they received. [More]
Last $10 On Visa Gift Card Proves Seemingly Inextractable
By 7.7.10
Kate has a $50 Visa gift card. She used $40 on it and then tried to buy some DVDs for $7, but the card was rejected. What gives? [More]
Someone At Duane Reade Needs To Learn How To Activate AmEx Gift Cards
By 5.14.10
Stephanie did a wonderful thing, and bought a $100 American Express gift card as a gift for her assistant this past Christmas. Unfortunately, she tells Consumerist that the Duane Reade store where she purchased the card did a terrible thing, and failed to actually activate it for her. Twice. Now her assistant was embarrassed when she tried to use the card at a spa and it was rejected, and Stephanie has had to pay $11.90 in card-loading fees with no working gift card to show for it. [More]
FTC Keeping Eye On Possible Blog Payola Cases: Ann Taylor Not Punished
By 4.29.10
A reminder to any bloggers who like free stuff, and companies working on exciting new Internet marketing strategies: the Federal Trade Commission is watching you, so keep to their guidelines that dictate bloggers must disclose any compensation that they receive for posting about or reviewing a product. While they didn’t take any action against clothing retailer Ann Taylor for offering gift cards to bloggers who posted about a new collection, the scrutiny was an important message in itself. [More]
Latest Facebook Gift Card Scam Nabs 37,000 Victims In One Day
By 4.12.10
When you see a free gift card offer on Facebook, just stay away. Last Friday a fake IKEA gift card scam attracted over 37,000 eager Facebook users, and it’s at least the third one to successfully go viral on the site since late March. [More]
My Friend Gave Me A Completely Useless AmEx Gift Card
By 3.31.10
Have you ever exchanged an American Express gift card for goods or services? Luke writes that he received one as a gift, but hasn’t been able to use the card to make any purchases. All he’s managed to do is prove the futility of giving people credit card-branded gift cards as presents. Cash, my friends. Think cash. [More]
Fed Makes Sure Gift Cards Are Still A Bad Deal
By 3.24.10
When the CARD Act went into effect in February, it also included new rules designed to limit some of the more egregious practices of gift-card issuers, like early expiration dates and “dormancy” fees. However, Congress put the Federal Reserve in charge of interpreting the new law, and yesterday the agency unwrapped its new collection of rules. Is it too late to return this one? [More]
JetBlue Takes 2 Hours And Charges $15 To Redeem Customer's Gift Card
By 3.17.10
Angela won a “Wish List” contest from American Express, which let her buy a $100 JetBlue gift card for $70. JetBlue managed to wipe out that $30 savings and any good will Angela might have felt by making her waste 129 minutes trying to redeem the card–and then charging her $15 for the service. At the end of her letter to AmEx and JetBlue, Angela writes, “I don’t know about other AmEx cardholders, but spending almost two hours on hold in order to be able to use something you’ve already paid for is not on my Wish List.” [More]
