It's Just Money

Gift Card Imbalance Resolution

A few days back, I posted about how the restaurant, Benihana, jipped us of $25 on a gift card that my Mom purchased for my Fiancee and me for Christmas a couple of years ago.  To their credit a representative from the "customer care" department contacted me promptly and genuinely seemed to want this resolved.

He forwarded my email and my parents' credit card statement to his accounting department.  Unfortunately, being an accounting department and not a sales or customer service department, they looked at it and said, "a $50 credit card charge doesn't tell us what happened.  She could have purchased two $25 gift cards."  And while I'm not surprised that was the response from the accountants, that's not what happened.

So, the Customer Care rep calls me and asks if my Mom has the original receipt.  I tell him, "no, we don't have a gift card receipt from 15 months ago.  Would you?  In fact, your company should have a copy of that receipt somewhere in your archives somewhere, shouldn't you?"  He told me that he would make one more attempt and get back to me.

A couple of hours later, I received an email from him stating that the accounting department does not keep receipts for more than six months.  Instead of going back and forth and taking up more of both of our time, he offered a dinner certificate worth "approximately $40."  I'm not sure what approximately $40 means, but I accepted his offer.  Frankly, I would have preferred the cash.  But, I realize that this was probably the best he could do.

Anyway, Kudos to Benihana and their customer care department.  They stayed with the issue and made it right.  The lesson here?  If you are going to give or receive gift cards, always verify the balance at the time of purchase.  Seriously, step away from the counter, and call the number on the back, right there in the store.

Always Check Gift Card Balances After Purchase!

They're still trying to resolve it, but we were jipped twenty five bucks!

For Christmas, 2005, my parent gave my Fiancee and me a gift card to Benihana Restaurant.  On the little cardboard encasing that it comes in, my Mom had written "Amount:  $50.  Enjoy Dinner!  Love, Mom and Dad."  If you have ever been to Benihana, you know that $50 is enough for dinner for two, but just barely.  If you don't know Benihana, it's a Japanese style restaurant where they cook right at the table.  It has been portrayed in TV and Movies including Naked Gun and The Office.  The chef twirls his knife, flings around shrimp tails, and puts on a generally fun show.

We were grateful for the gift, and put the card away for later use.

Did you get any gift cards this year?

I have a question.  How do you spend your gift cards?  Obviously, it will depend on which store the card is from, and whether or not it is a store at which you normally shop.  I got a couple of gift cards this year, down a bit from last year.  Gift cards have become an extremely popular gift.  The Federal Trade Commission estimated that consumers will spend $25 billion in gift cards this holiday season versus $18 billion last year.  Does your local grocery store have gift cards for all the popular retailers?  Mine does.  You can go to Von's to stock up on milk, eggs, frozen peas, a $50 Pottery Barn gift card, and a two day Disney Park Hopper pass.  Dinner, check.  Christmas shopping, check.  All in one trip.

So, how do you spend your gift cards?  The way I see it, most people fall into one of a few categories.

Do you Regift?

Well, it's the holidays.  It's the time of year for friends, family, parties, shopping and gift exchanges.  But what of those last two?  If only there were a way to take the shopping part out of the picture, but still participate in the gift exchange.  Hmmm...  How might one accomplish this?  Ah!  The age old re-gift.  We talk a lot about being frugal and practical, but does this one cross the line?

I can honestly say that I have never regifted.  Not because I'm above it, or anything noble like that.  I totally would.  I guess the problem is that anything that I have received I have either liked enough to wear, eat, read, use or otherwise open and keep, or not liked it enough to either return or let dust gather.

I can remember two occasions when someone I knew clearly recieved a regift.  The first was a friend who is the one in the group who is into numerology, incense, aromatherapy, etc.  Well, in an odd gesture, as our group didn't really exchange gifts at this time, another friend gave her a fake crystal candy dish.  You know the ones that your mom had on her coffee table?  It came in a box, but the brown on the box was a tad faded.  The dead giveaway was the fact that not a soul on this planet who knew the recipient would have been out shopping, stop in whatever section you find things like this, and say, "hey, I know just the person who would appreciate this."  The additional topper was that the recipient was semi-homeless.  She, as I, was crashing at a friend's apartment as she transitioned from moving back to finding an apartment.

The other occasion when a regift was obvious was an office party Secret Santa.  The gift was a couple of mismatched candles and bathsoaps.  They were placed in some tissue and wrapped in a box from the Gap.  Seriously.  If you are going to regift, put some effort into making it look new.  The great irony is that she pulled the re-gifter's name two years later.  I urged her to regift his regift right back to him.  Oh, that would have been awesome!  But she took the high ground and gave him an actual gift.

So, there are rules to regifting.  You can't just go digging in your closet, throw a bow on something and call it a gift.  I found this article about regifting on MSN Money.  The author gives a dozen rules to regifting.  Two that I want to comment on, and one that I would add to the list.

What is a good gift for a graduate?

When I graduated from college, I recieved some money from Aunts and Uncles, a cross pen from my boss, and a few cards.  I haven't given this much thought, but what would I have appreciated more?  Money is always good in my book, but as I have mentioned earlier, I was not a very responsible spender back then.