[akaivyleaf]

Here's an article about bad gift cards:

Mall owner sued over gift card rules

By RENEE DEGROSS
Cox News Service
Thursday, December 09, 2004







ATLANTA — Former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes is taking on the nation's biggest mall owner in a fight over fees and expiration dates on gift cards and certificates.

Barnes, an attorney, is representing two Atlanta area shoppers in a lawsuit filed Wednesday against Simon Property Group, owner of Lenox Square and several other metro area malls.

The suit contends fees and expiration dates on Simon's gift cards and certificates are illegal and should be stopped. The suit seeks class action status, which if granted would likely expand the case to thousands of Georgians.

A spokeswoman for Simon said the company hadn't seen the suit and had no immediate comment.

The challenge comes as holiday shoppers buy fistfuls of gift cards as an alternative to regular presents. Gift cards are expected to account for $17.2 billion in holiday sales, or 8 percent of the total, the National Retail Federation says.

Cards sold by some big retailers, such as Wal-Mart and Home Depot, do not expire or carry fees that cut the value over time. But others do. Simon cards lose $2.50 in value each month, starting seven months after purchase, and expire one year after purchase.

Andrea Nay-Richardson, one of the lawsuit plaintiffs, bought $400 of Simon gift certificates at Lenox Square in May 2001 and wound up keeping them for herself. Upon trying to use one in 2002, she was told it had expired and was worthless, the lawsuit said.

"I was upset that I spent my money on stuff that I wasn't able to redeem," Nay-Richardson said. "After I tried to redeem the first one [and it had expired], I tossed the rest of them."

The other plaintiff, Betty Benson, claims she also lost money after her employer gave her a $75 Simon gift card that expired before she used it.

"That's just not right," Barnes said. "This affects everyone. These are small claims and these are consumer rights."

The suit contends that the value of an unused gift card is unclaimed property that must be turned over to the state so it can be reclaimed by the owner.

"It's like any other abandoned property in the state," Barnes said. "It's a long-standing law in Georgia and even if it's never claimed or used, it belongs to Georgia, not Simon."

The suit also claims the expiration dates violate Georgia law requiring Simon to honor cards for five years. It contends that the administrative fees are not properly disclosed, and that Simon does not incur actual expenses of $2.50 per month on cards not used after seven months.

The lawsuit seeks damages for defendants, plus reasonable attorneys' fees, not to exceed $75,000 per person.

Simon sells gift cards at its more than 300 malls nationwide.

The company converted its gift cards recently to Simon Visa gift cards, which now list expiration dates on the front of cards