We purchased Yokohama tires for my spouse's Volvo last June through Discount Tires. Yokohama advertised a rebate and issued us a gift card within about 6 weeks of the purchase.
The problem is the gift card expired 12/17. For each month over the expiration date, they charge a fee to the account. This was never disclosed in the advertisement. I have also been told that the card does not comply with state gift card consumer protection laws. So, because it does not comply, I have filed reports with the BBB of Santa Ana, the FTC, and the California attorney general.
Robert
Irvine,#2Consumer Comment
Fri, April 06, 2018
You are correct that many states have various "Gift Card" laws, but they are often with several restrictions.
Generally the regulations only apply to "Store Branded" cards, that is cards that can only be used at a specific store. If they have a Major Logo(Visa, MasterCard, AmEx..etc) that can be used at any store, they do not fall under these regulations.
These regulations also generally do not apply to "Promotional" cards such as rebates or incentives, as long as their is an expiration date printed on the card.
So it is likey your card fell into one of these if not both of the conditions. So the fees taken out would be valid.
Regardless of what you were or were not told in the "advertisement", when you received the card you received a booklet with the terms and conditions that included the fee structure. This along with the fact that there was an expiration date you were aware of you likely out of luck.