Gift Cards: Another reason to hate them
OK. I had a whole diatribe written for you about one more reason why you should hate gift cards, but my butterfingers clicked the wrong button and lost the entire (and rather lengthy) post (filled with links). ARghH!
Here's the gist of what I was going to say: The Sharper Image, that seller of electronic can-you-believe-they-make-something-to-do-that-people-will-think-of-everything doodads filed for bankruptcy protection last month. While they come up with a reorganization plan and try to pay off debt to a long line of creditors, the company will suspend gift card redemption.
Here's what the Sharper Image had to say on its Web site:
The company intends to continue to conduct business as usual while it devotes renewed efforts to resolve its operational and liquidity problems and develops a reorganization plan.
However, The Sharper Image is suspending the acceptance of Gift Cards, Reward Cards, Gift Certificates or Merchandise Certificates as a form of payment.
We appreciate your understanding that according to Bankruptcy law, store employees, managers and the Company do not have the authority to override this directive.
The Company is urgently working with the Bankruptcy Court to quickly come to a solution for this issue. Please check back with us in mid-March for further updates.
To receive updates, including status of the Company's Card and Certificate programs:
Visit a store
Visit our website www.sharperimage.com
Call customer service at: 1:800-344-5555
Visit www.kccllc.net/sharperimage for all public filings related to the case.
So, if you're holding a Sharper Image gift card. You're S.O.L., at least for now. You have one of two options. You can wait in that long line of creditors to see if the company works out a plan to redeem those cards or turns itself around financially. Or, you can take your card to Brookstone, a rival, which announced that it would give Sharper Image gift cardholders a 25 percent discount on purchases. Brookstone won't cover the face value of the card, but it will offer you that discount. Not a bad deal.
Me? I loved flipping through the Sharper Image catalog. Being a Star Wars fan, though, I still saw no need for the $129.95 R2D2 Interactive Astromech Droid or the $119.95 Official Darth Vader FX Lightsaber Replica... but I was definitely thinking hard about those FresherLonger Miracle Food Storage containers (what?! I hate it when my food spoils faster than I can eat it!).
Problem is, I always wondered if everything they sold worked the way it was advertised so I never bought anything from them (for fear of the product not living up to expectations since it cost too much money to just try it out for fun). I only ever bought something once when my nephews really, really, really wanted a robot dog and a hand-held fan in the store.
Anyway, this is just another reason why gift cards stink. Even a major retailer can go belly up and leave you hanging with practically useless plastic. Anyone out there stuck with these cards? Better yet, anyone else think that the bankruptcy fiing was due since who buys this stuff anyway?!
A native of Vietnam, 
Comments
Another option, and act fast, is if the gift card was purchased within the past 90 days maybe more, most credit card companies will give you a refund after a period of time. Mastercraft Furniture went bellyup with a 5K deposit. When I contacted AmEx they made good on the WHOLE charge as I didn't receive the goods I paid for. When Sharper Image comes back boycott.
DD: mdlrvrmuncher, great tip! Thanks for reminding everyone of this credit card dispute option!
Posted by: mdlrvrmuncher | March 3, 2008 9:36 PM
One of the alarming things about this Sharper Image story is that apparently the law treats gift cards as a "loan to the company", which is why you'd be way behind the other creditors in terms trying to recoup your money if the company went belly up. I doubt most consumers would view gift cards the same way!
With the fees, values that decline each month of non-use, and now this loophole regarding companies filing bankruptcies, do you think there will be any decline in the appeal of gift cards? Or, is the public at large just too hooked on them?
DD: PK, did you see the earlier post about WSL's report on gift cards passing their peak? They seem to think that even though people still give gift cards, more people dislike receiving them for a variety of reasons. I think the reason why people give them at all is because it's easy. The convenience factor (for the gift giver) makes them attractive.
Posted by: PK | March 3, 2008 9:59 PM
Companies going out of business screw people over. Welcome to real life.
I have never been a fan of gift cards. I do not give them and wish I knew some way to tell people not to give them to me without sounding like the rude, greedy, self-centered sort of person who dictates what others are supposed to give her. That said, my dad always gives everyone gift cards from Sears. (Being a John Wayne prototype, he always chooses the cards with Craftsman on them!) I have forgotten to use my card for as long as 2 years and Sears has never given me any trouble or penalized me in anyway. Sears is not a "cool" place but they have the basics of customer service in place.
Posted by: Eve | March 4, 2008 9:00 AM
DD, sorry, I did see the WSJ comments about gift cards passing their peak, although it was after I had already made my first post. Oops!
DD: PK, no worries! I am here to serve!!
Posted by: PK | March 4, 2008 11:22 AM
I just tried to redeem my Sharper Image Reward Card online. They are accepting them now, but only if your total purchase is TWICE THE VALUE of the card! They don't reveal this little fact until you're just about ready to check out.
Posted by: traber | April 2, 2008 12:00 AM