Gift Card Law

[First Lady]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

Isnt it working the way its supposed to?

A citizen of the province complains to his frendly PC MLA. The MLA then raises the issue in cacus and they decide to act.

Sure in this case the citizen is the MLA (or more likely the wife/mistress who got "shafted" at La Senza) but either way, it worked the way its supposed to - kind of.

Yes and no. I am sure there are citizens with bigger issues that they have been calling their MLA's on for years; yet the pet issue of a brand spanking new MLA gets priority???

Heather:

"I'm a real person. I like real issues. I want to talk about something real. I like to solve real problems. This is something real we can do for Albertans." That's a whole lot of real.

Heather says she has teenage kids who have used gift cards. She knows all about gift cards expiring or cards bought and then losing value the longer they aren't used.

"You can be sure everybody has a gift card nightmare story. As we move into the festive season a lot of people buy gift cards without knowing the implications of the little print on the back."

http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/...31411-sun.html

.... and people wonder why women don't get into politics.....

Top of her agenda..... is easing her shopping during the holiday season.... good grief.

[fredr123]

It was passed as a regulation. Much less debate and legislative tap dancing required in order to get that baby through. We don't have to worry about this monumental issue taking up a lot of our elected leaders' time.

It's a nice addition to consumer protection legislation in Alberta meant to bring our province in line with measures taken by others such as Ontario.

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Holy crap, the complaint department chimes in again in what looks to be nothing more than a great opportunity to complain.

The MLA is acting on an issue that had the potential to cause harm to Albertans, albeit minor and monetary in nature and she's taken action to prevent stores from screwing ordinary citizens, sounds like a good thing to me. Who cares if her motivation was a bad experience with a gift card, I'm sure we've all had them and never thought that it's big enough to bring up to our local MLA to have changed, so she's done it on her own. Way to take some initiative.

[First Lady]

Originally Posted by fotze

I agree the other 478 MLA's can stick to the big issues that they don't do anything about. At least this small issue was dealt with and completed so she can get on to something else. She got stuff done. Hopefully she orders Bell expressvu next so she can deal with those a-holes.

LOL...

Don't get me wrong; I am all for protecting consumers, I just think that there must be other things that would (should) take a higher priority.
Actually, I have been researching her a bit today... she does have bigger fish to fry.... yet the media is concentrating on this....

btw... there are only 82 other MLA's.

[Temporary_User]

I love it!
Does this now mean that I can use my lift ticket that I received as a gift and forgot about? I just recently found it. The thing expired @ the end of the season in '03

[OBCT]

I think it's a good rule change.

The idea of never-expiring gift cards had never crossed my mind until I moved to California. They've had this law (regulation?) for years and it's a great thing IMO.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by First Lady

LOL...

Don't get me wrong; I am all for protecting consumers, I just think that there must be other things that would (should) take a higher priority.
Actually, I have been researching her a bit today... she does have bigger fish to fry.... yet the media is concentrating on this....

btw... there are only 82 other MLA's.

If I didn't know any better, I would say someone almost sounds jealous.

[First Lady]

Originally Posted by Rathji

If I didn't know any better, I would say someone almost sounds jealous.

Of what exactly?

[jammies]

I really thought this thread was going to be about compulsory card buying on all the major holidays, as well as anniversaries and at least half a dozen random days during the year. Brought to you by the "Jammie's Ex-girlfriends Wondering Why He's Such an Insensitive Jerkface" lobby.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by First Lady

Of what exactly?

I don't know. One politician who got elected who is from another party and got something accomplished that actually seems to help prevent people from getting screwed. Your immediate response was that there were more important things that could have been done.

I am sure this major bill blocked many more important legislative matters from being discussed that it is actually a bad thing to the province.

That would of course be if I didn't know any better, which I do.

[First Lady]

Originally Posted by Rathji

I don't know. One politician who got elected who is from another party and got something accomplished that actually seems to help prevent people from getting screwed. Your immediate response was that there were more important things that could have been done.

I am sure this major bill blocked many more important legislative matters from being discussed that it is actually a bad thing to the province.

That would of course be if I didn't know any better, which I do.

I realize you don't know me; thus, you may not realize that I don't get jealous over things like someone else getting elected. People with that mindset likely shouldn't run.

Nor am I jealous that she got something accomplished. In fact I have said I am in favour of this particular matter.

Am I calling into question how they are prioritizing issues. And if I plan on running again, I think it is important for me to keep tabs on things like this. I also enjoy reading the responses, especially here, in a non-partisan setting.

As for the green-eyed monster it does not see the light of day in my business or political activities.... but if you plan on flirting with my husband.... LOL...

[Thunderball]

Originally Posted by Rathji

I don't know. One politician who got elected who is from another party and got something accomplished that actually seems to help prevent people from getting screwed. Your immediate response was that there were more important things that could have been done.

I am sure this major bill blocked many more important legislative matters from being discussed that it is actually a bad thing to the province.

That would of course be if I didn't know any better, which I do.

But does it prevent people from being ripped off, or simply act as a stupidity buffer?

Really, if you know that a gift card starts diminishing after 6 months... USE it within 6 months. They don't hide that fact. We don't go bitching to Safeway that our expired milk isn't drinkable because we took too long to drink it.

Plus, now you'll see retailers charging $55 for a $50 card now because the new regulation says they can, and the same goofballs that couldn't figure out expiry dates will now pay that extra $5 for convenience. Responsible people will have to pay that, or lose the convenience of the service.

It was a waste of government time. People should not be rewarded for failing to read the fine print.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by Thunderball

It was a waste of government time.

Perhaps, but at least it was a waste of time that didn't bugger us over like half the things they do.

Originally Posted by Thunderball

Plus, now you'll see retailers charging $55 for a $50 card now

How many people would pay 55 bucks for a 50 dollar bill that you could only spend at Best Buy? I may not be a marketing guru but that would be at the bottom of my list of things I would be trying to do to make money.

And to First Lady, perhaps I should have used green text, since I was simply pointing out that in any other context than on CP your comments would seem petty and soley politically motivated. Not that it would be much different than how every other politican does things when they get to take a shot at their opposition.

Since it was on CP, you were clearly just doing what the rest of us message board addicted Flames fans are doing, and venting about our government, regardless of what they do.

[Dan02]

Originally Posted by Thunderball

Plus, now you'll see retailers charging $55 for a $50 card now because the new regulation says they can, and the same goofballs that couldn't figure out expiry dates will now pay that extra $5 for convenience. Responsible people will have to pay that, or lose the convenience of the service.

Some of us goofballs get gift certificates to help buy some larger priced items that we might not be able to afford for awhile and need to save up some cash in the mean time to be able to afford the rest of the big ticket item. I might have also got a gift card from a place like say Future Shop last christmas but haven't had anything i wanted to buy from them til say Rock Band 2 comes out on Sunday.

Why should I be forced to go out and blow this gift certificate on something i don't want or need just because the retailer wants to close the sale right now??? It has nothing to do with not understanding expiry dates and everything to do with me not wanting to be forced to spend it on someone elses schedule.

These retailers were getting away with robbery before, you'd think a guarentee that the 50$ would eventually be spent in their store would be enough incentive for them to sell them. The only reason they got away with it because the end reciever rarely ever saw the fine print because they cant fit it all on the cards. Then they went to redeem it and it was too late.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Thunderball

Plus, now you'll see retailers charging $55 for a $50 card now because the new regulation says they can

I guess I don't expect to see this from retailers. As of right now they are allowed to do this anyways, and most don't. Right now they are allowed to have expiry dates, and most don't.

But I have seen some that state that after 6 months a service fee of $2 per month begins to apply; effectively giving the card an expiry date as it will eventually become worthless.

Like most laws; this isn't going into effect because most people (or in this case companies) are being unfair. It is coming in because a few don't want to play by rules we consider fair.

[flamesrule_kipper34]

Hi all,

Thought someone could give me some advice on this topic.

My company gave me 2 "gift passes" valued at $250 each to giftcertificates.ca (basically I can buy gift cards via the gift certificates website up to the values of my gift pass).

I didn't realize that there was an expiry date on this and they have now both expired.

I went on their website and noticed that if you purchase the gift certificate through their website there is no expiry date, but if you're a corporate client (like my company of course) there is.

Just wondering if there's anything I can do here, or if this falls under the gift card violation piece...I looked through AB and Canada's "what falls under a gift card category" but couldn't find out if what I have applies.

Just curious if anyone knows if I can still get them to honour and redeem this or if I'm SOL...thanks in advance CP!

[DownhillGoat]

Originally Posted by flamesrule_kipper34

Just curious if anyone knows if I can still get them to honour and redeem this or if I'm SOL...thanks in advance CP!

You're SOL unless the company feels like being generous.

[Street Pharmacist]

Not sure on the law, but as gift cards now get taxed the same as a cash bonus, why do so many companies go through the bother of giving blank gift cards? Seems like so many more hoops, and if they want you to spend it on anything you want, there's these lovely polymer paper gift cards that come in easy denominations like $5, $10, $20 and $100. There's even a $1000 option for those big spenders out there

[Barnet Flame]

Companies may get a reduction on the face value price.

[DownhillGoat]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

There's even a $1000 option for those big spenders out there

Those have been out of circulation for 10 years...