When did the public become so impersonal that we can’t even spend the time to buy actual gifts for loved ones? The multi-billion dollar industry for gift-cards has given companies a leg-up on their consumers. We are at the mercy of remembering to use these gift cards to purchase items, but in fact a large portion of cards are never used or have unused balances remaining on them. Often, there is even an expiration date on the cards (that isn’t easily noticeable), but this point will be saved for a different blog.
Consumers should not bear the burden for a company’s filing for Chapter 11 and eventually going into bankruptcy. Most often, the company remains in business after filing, so there should be no reason that a consumer’s rights should be taken away. The company owes the consumer a product or at least its money back. The companies, in essence, are stealing from individual consumers and this kind of behavior is unacceptable. The public should not have to “write-down” the value of goods it would have received from its gift cards as losses. It is also worth noting that without these consumers, many of these retailers would not be in business to begin with.
There should be a law that protects customers from being robbed of their gift cards. As we all know, laws take forever to be put into action, so use your gift cards as soon as you get them so you don’t fall victim to the machine.
Yes, I think a standardized system for gift cards might be a possible solution, but maybe not with an expiration date. Perhaps a required disclaimer or warning label would do. Such label would warn the holders of the gift cards that any possible bankruptcy would pose a risk for redemption.
It seems though that all the responsibility is put on the gift card holder, otherwise they would have no problems “cashing” in there gift cards at any time including bankruptcy. Perhaps the answer is that a time limit should be set to when a user must redeem their gift cards for merchandise. I know there are expiration dates on a lot of gift cards today, but these are well hidden from the consumer (another advantage to the retailers). If this deadline was standardized and thus known to the gift card holder, we may be able to level the playing field for everyone.
Protecting customers is one thing, but more responsible should be placed on the gift card holders. Even if some of the companies did not file for bankruptcy, it can be assumed that those respective gift cards would still be sitting in drawers collecting dust.
As Justin and the article have pointed out, “Use them quickly to avoid any problems”. If majority of the gift card holders diligently use the cards as soon as possible, then bankruptcies would be of little risk to gift card holders. As a matter of fact, I have one sitting in my drawer that should be spent before I fall victim to this situation.