Complaint Review: GiftCardRescue.com

 I did provide everything you requested in a timely manner. Blaming the customer when I did everything you asked within the timeframe required just shows how unethical you are. In response to your assertion that you must be running an ethical company since you have been in business for five years falls short now that you had to close your company because your bank account was frozen due to you not paying your lender. I am still waiting on your basis for what the standard business practices are. I've used your competitors for cards with higher values and had no issue resulting from the fact that I didn't have a receipt, as these were gift cards. Keeping my cards as a donation to yourself when I explicitly did not give my consent is not standard business practices- it's stealing

Stating that you "may" require a receipt is not the same as you "do" require a receipt for gift cards you purchase. You can't relying on common business practices when your terms of service state otherwise. You are being deceptive by using the term "may." When you are having so many complants, why don't you change that one word in your terms. You should know the law. You can't relying on common business practices when you have created your own terms of service. Your statement that it is "common business practices" to require a receipt for a high value gift card is incorrect. Please cite which other companies that require a receipt for a GIFT CARD. Your "policy" of not returning the gift card and kept it as a "donation" to GiftCardRescue.com unless the person sends you a self addressed envelope within 30 days of the rejection is illegal. Once you reject the purchase of the gift card, you don't have a binding contract to rely on. You are tricking people into thinking you have a contratual right to do that. For there to be a binding contract there must be an offer, acceptance, and consideration. There is no consideration on your end, and therefore no binding contract. You shouldn't represent to know the law when you are in fact not acting in accordance to the law. The fact that a class action lawsuit has not been filed against your company yet is surprising. Your place of business is located in Maryland and you are bound by Maryland law. I highly anticipate your response to this comment/rebuttal.

I understand where this may be confusing for some of our customers. I appreciate your feedback and we are looking in to getting this updated on our website. We would like to avoid any future complications and prevent confusion regarding our Order Verification process. 

Thank you,

GiftCardRescue.com

I have to disagree. When you know the value of the gift card and you do not explicitly state during the transaction process that you need the documentation, that is deceiving. Your Terms state "We may also request purchase receipts for high value gift cards before we make payment." (http://www.giftcardrescue.com/terms-and-conditions). The word "may" is a conditional statement, it does not mean it is a requirement. You stated "Requiring order verification forms is standard practice when selling a high value gift card to our company." Do you not see the disconnect between what you state, what your terms state, and what the transaction process states? If it's a standard process, DISCLOSE that when the offer is made. But you don't, you allow the customer to send in the card without knowing whether they'll need a receipt, yet you know full well that you'll be requesting one....and yet here you are brushing it off as a "standard practice", when your terms don't even state that it's a standard process. That, in my opinion, is hiding behind your Terms. And it leaves one to question why you'd do this when it's so easy to put text on the screen saying "Receipt required" when a gift card is over a certain value. I used to build websites, I know how easy it is to code that condition into your transaction process.

That's fine that it's posted in the TOS, but since requiring a proof of purchase is standard practice for high value gift cards, it should be spelled out more clearly than within the FINE print of the TOS.

Dear Chris,

Let me assure you that we are not trying to hide behind our Terms and Conditions. We've been in business for five years now and would no longer be in business if we were deceiving our customers. When entering into a transaction with our company, you are required to check a box stating that you have read our Terms and Conditions. If you do not check this box our site will not let you continue with the transaction. By checking the box this proves to us that you have read, understood, and accepted our Terms and Conditions. Requiring order verification forms is standard practice when selling a high value gift card to our company. This is to protect our customers and company from any potential fraud. We use this information to verify the source of the gift card and the identity of the seller. All of our policies and procedures are outlined before entering into a transaction with our company. 

Almost the exact same thing happened to me. It's obvious that requiring a receipt is standard practice, but they DO NOT disclose this during the offer process. When you challenge them, you're referred to their terms of service which states that they "may require" a receipt.

The admission here that it's standard practice, and the fact that they don't disclose it as a condition of the offer on high-value cards, is incredibly deceptive. This company invites consumers to enter into a transaction at the customer's expense which can never be completed if they don't possess a receipt.

You'll find my very similar account detailed here on RipoffReport.

I would first like to apologize for our delay in response.

We aim to provide exceptional customer service to all of our consumers, so we apologize that your experience didnt reflect our enforced goals. For situations such as yours, when selling high value gift cards, we require that
certain documentation be provided to successfully confirm that the gift card was legitimately acquired. This is a standard process that is conducted for all high value gift cards to verify buyer information and identity. We reserve the right to hold your gift cards until the follow up process is complete. All of these measures are outlined in our Terms and Conditions that were accepted when you promised to sell your gift card to us. We apologize for your unpleasant experience with our company, we hope to regain your trust as a consumer and
give our company another try! 

Kind Regards,
GiftCardRescue.com