OT "Gift Cards" A legal Scam?

[dagnamit at gmail.com (Brian Wagner)]

Farking bastiges


On Wed, 17 Nov 2004 14:10:13 -0600, Michael Abatzis <mabatzis@gmail.com> wrote:
> not to mention that when you buy a gift card you are, in effect,
> giving the merchant an interest free loan. they have your money, and
> until that card is cashed, they're making money on your money.
> 
> On Wed, 17 Nov 2004 12:29:20 -0500, Chris <vze28h54@verizon.net> wrote:
> > With the holidays approaching beware of giving or getting "gift cards".  A
> > replacement for gift certificates, etc, these bank and merchant issued
> > cards often have fees which render the cards valueless or of much lesser
> > value if not used within a certain time period or with a certain
> > frequency.  How about a $50 card that expires after 6 mos - then is charged
> > a service fee of $10/mo after the expiration date.  Oh, for a service fee
> > of $10 you can file for a refund of the balance, if any. The "gotchas" are
> > not readily apparent.  In addition to that, a fee of about $8-$12 or so may
> > be charged to get the gift card.
> >
> > See:
> > http://www.consumerreports.org/main/content/display_report.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=519061&bmUID=1100711013734
> >
> > If there were two classes of stealing, a) legal stealing, and b) illegal
> > stealing; I guess this would be an example of legal stealing.
> >
> > For some scam artist on the street hustling people for a few dollars here
> > and there it would probably be a crime.  For big business it is not.
> >
> > Don't waste dollars that could be used on the Scirroco to fill some
> > banker's/merchant's pocket with hidden fees.
> >
> > Chris
> >
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> >
> 
> --
> -Michael Abatzis
> New Orleans!
> '88 2.0L Scirocco (RIP)
> '87 2.0L Scirocco...
> 
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