• Mr Fish@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    6 months later, all three cards have expired, so all three companies get $25 of free revenue, and no one really got anything for Christmas.

    Gift cards are a fucking scam

    • JimVanDeventer@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Gift cards expiring isn’t legal in Canada. We just expect you to lose them, and there is still plenty of profit in that, apparently.

      • misophist@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        They don’t expire here, 3ither, but I found a 10-year-old gift card after a move and the company had switched to a new gift card system, so I had to spend an hour calling around to get my ancient gift card converted to modern store credit. It was not worth it for $20.

    • runner_g@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      11 months ago

      If you are in the US, gift cards are required to be valid for at least 5 years (federal rule) and many states have longer rules. Also some states require unspent money to be paid back to the card holder as cash. There was a thread a couple of days ago on Lemmy all about gift cards and relevant consumer protections.

    • Honytawk@lemmy.zip
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      11 months ago

      I hate them.

      They basically force you to go to a specific store after the holidays before the allotted time expires. What if I don’t have time to go to that store? What if I don’t need anything from that store? What if I don’t like the store?

      I’d rather they give me something useless than a gift card that is going to expire anyway.

      • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
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        11 months ago

        What if I don’t have time to go to that store?

        How short is the time in your gift cards that you can’t find the time to use it??

    • Sprokes@jlai.lu
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      11 months ago

      Another story of Americans (or from countries following American model) getting screwed? Where am I gift cards can be used for multiple purchases.