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Mary Hopkins

Persistence pays! Got a refund on expired rebate gift card

Mary Hopkins |  December 21, 2007

I was in a perfectly good mood before I called to find out the balance on a Visa rebate gift card from Cingular, now AT&T.

The gift card was a rebate that I got after buying a Motorola V3i Razr cell phone from Cingular in January 2007. At the time, I didn't notice the fine print on the back of the card: It would expire in June 2007.

I was too busy thinking that a rebate sent in the form of a Visa card with $50 on it meant that I would actually get to spend the money, no matter what.

Shortly after I activated the card on some murky date in spring 2007, a grocery store "team member" wouldn't take it as payment for part of my total bill, and told me I'd have to call the card company to find out the balance. I put the card in a "safe place," meaning another purse, and recently rediscovered it.

I had to find out why the card was being rejected. Before the call, I hadn't checked out the gift card legalities in my state or in the state where Cingular-now-AT&T might be located.

I was going to doggedly ask for the balance regardless of any bogus "expiration date." I wasn't going to yield to that "tiny" legal point until I'd gotten shot down by the top person at the company.

As I hit rep after rep who told me the card had expired 120 days after I got it, my "insides did not match my outsides." As an experiment, I didn't let it show in my voice.

I channeled Oprah's "calm assurance" (a description of her I'm borrowing from Cesar Millan, "The Dog Whisperer") to see if it might help.

I went through four reps, all of whom curtly told me the card had expired, flat out. No dice.

With each rejection, I asked to speak to that person's superior. As I climbed the ladder, I repeated my "case" in an extremely calm voice: "I don't think that's legal, because I didn't have a chance to finish spending the balance on the card."

The first rep (Miss $5.85 an hour, living at home and walking to work in ragged tennis shoes?) said in a completely unservice-y tone, "Excuse me?"

I asked to speak to her supervisor. A bored male ( $7 an hour, crashing on the Goodwill sofa of his friend's one-bedroom apt., surrounded by empty pizza boxes?) told me I could speak to his supervisor as well after he told me the card's balance was not valid, but I would just hear the same thing. The card was a promotion, and it had expired, he scolded, as if I were a customer who'd tried to use a stolen card.

"Well, it was supposed to be the promised rebate for my cell phone, so I'm going to keep going up," I said.

After the call, I found out that the fine print, at least in Texas, where I bought the phone, can entitle the card company to reclaim the funds on an expired gift card, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. It shows that Texas Business & Commerce Code Ann. §35.42 says that "Expiration date must be disclosed as specified," and Texas Property Code Ann. §72.1016 says that, "The stored value card is presumed abandoned to the extent of its unredeemed value on the earlier of: the card's expiration date; or three years after the card was issued, if the card is not used after it is issued, or the date the card was last used." But Cingular is now AT&T, based in Sacramento, Calif., and California Civil Code §1749.5 says, "Expiration date prohibited."

The card was an "open-loop" or "spendable anywhere" Visa with $50 loaded onto it via MetaBank, not a "gift certificate." California Civil Procedures Code §1520.5 says, "Gift certificates purchased after 1997 are not subject to escheat. The escheat law does apply to any gift certificate that has an expiration date and that is given in exchange for money or any other thing of value." But this was a rebate, not a gift card I got in exchange for money. "Escheat" means the state can reclaim the money.

I wasn't backing down, regardless of which state's civil code did apply, and again, while I was on the phone, I still hadn't even checked.

I was hoping they'd honor the card for the sake of that old-fangled concept, soon to be forgotten (?), "customer service."

Rung by rung, the reps stubbornly said I had a zero balance. The card had expired. I didn't use a "tone," with anyone, but repeated, "I didn't have a chance to use it that fast, so I would like to speak to your supervisor."

I thought about hanging up when the third rep ($10 an hour?) left me on hold forever, but finally I reached a supervisor ($20 an hour, own apartment?) who said she'd mail me a replacement card.

"Persistence pays!" my co-worker said when I told her about it. Of course, we both said, we'll believe it when the replacement card arrives in the mail.

I don't know whether it was the fact that AT&T is in California, where cards can't expire, or whether my voice, as calm as if I were choosing glazed vs. sprinkles at Dunkin' Donuts, soothed the reps on all those recorded calls, or if the last rep I spoke to had just been taken out to lunch by her new boss and figured, "Hey, it's not my money!" or what.

Next time I find a gift card with a balance, I could channel Tony Soprano and see how far that gets me.

And now that I work at CreditCards.com, I know that gift cards can expire.

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13 Comment(s)

Happy Camper said:

Well following Mary's suggestion, I called back and asked for a supervisor and used a very friendly and soft tone throughout the entire exercise. The supervisor Tonia was very responsive in getting me a replacement rebate card immediately. Merry Xmas to everyone!

November 28, 2008 6:48 PM
Marcela Lozano said:

Thanks heavens I read this. My promo card expired yesterday 12/31 I was aware of that (I got to say it, my fault) but I procastinate and just didn't get to it. I thought for a moment that I had lost the $100 !!!! This morning my first thought was ohhhhhh!!! man!! the ATT card... I didn't use it!!!!noooooo...After I had already throw it away, I google "ATT expired card rebate" , read this and run back to the garbage, took it out and call customer service.

I put on my nicest voice, wish a happy new year to the rep and told her the story. At first she said no, but I contain myself and very nicely asked for help, I mentioned the looming economy, the state of my home finances, me being a loyal ATT customer... I tried everything I had. Finally she went to talk to someone and came back and agreed to re-issue the card.

If I didn't read your article this wouldn't happen. I promise to spend the $$ as soon as I get the replacement . Thanks!!!

January 1, 2009 9:47 AM
Happy Mom said:

I also had a $100 AT&T rebate card that's getting reissued after just one phone call! I had written it off---then found this article and decided I had nothing to lose by trying. For anyone who finds this article and has the same situation--AT&T Rebate Dept number is 866-852-8617. Yay!!!!!!! :D

January 13, 2009 6:53 PM
Guest said:

I'm sure glad I came across this post. Before reading this, I had tried the hardball approach, "this can't expire. I'm in California! You have to fix this." This did not work.

I then read this post, called the 866-852-8617 number, and approached it calmly and nicely. Success! They're going to reissue my expired card.

Thanks AT&T!

February 28, 2009 4:28 PM
David P said:

Not me. My AT&T Visa debit card expired without my realizing it, and when I called to ask oh-so-nicely for a new card, I was told no. I'll bet they count on people like us to forget about the expiration date so that they don't lose their money. I live in CA, but I'm not sure if the no-expiration law on gift cards extends to something like a debit card. I know that for a store gift card, it can't expire. Anyone?

March 10, 2009 6:01 PM
Guest said:

So you're saying by being a persistent as$hat, you force them to be annoyed enough by you to give you more money that you already had a chance to use, but were too lazy and unobservant to correctly spend? This seems less like entitlement and more like taking advantage of a system, just like all the fraud stories posted on this site.
Also, due to your disrespectful tone about the people talking on the other line, I highly doubt you were cool and calm, instead bitching at them until they were tired of you. If you ever actually worked in a customer service job, you would know that people bitching is the easiest way to get what you want, but don't ever come back because it only works once.

April 21, 2009 2:48 PM
Larry K said:

Called today 5/14/09, and they are going to reissue my $50.00 card. Card expires about one month ago. Be nice and see if that works. Had to go through three different people but life is good sometimes, you win when you should.

My comments on Guest is that they must work in customer service, and hate that people do make mistakes, and if you have money coming, why not issue a new card?

Larry

May 14, 2009 12:59 PM
guest said:

Thanks to those who provided the rebate phone #. I called and asked very nicely and they lady basically said one time exception. I will be very careful from now on.

September 4, 2009 4:01 PM
ayrton said:

I saw this post prior to calling SanDisk, ended up speaking with a rep at the Visa clearing house who said had no way of reissuing the card but gave me the SanDisk number.

Long story short I spoke to a Rep that checked to see if the offer was still valid and told me she couldn't do anything. I politely asked to speak to a supervisor, she put me on hold for about 3 minutes. When back she said all supervisors were busy but got a one time permission to reissue the card. It's in the mail!

Perseverance does pay, thanks all of you for the ideas.

September 21, 2009 11:22 AM
mia said:

Don''t give up! My cards expiration showed 09/09. I was able to use it on the 29th but when I tried to buy gas yesterday, wah wah wah wahhhhh. Embarassing. I called this morning and was told too bad so sad and I let it go but then googled as I knew I was right and now have been told a new card for the remaining amount is on its way! Whew! The money is needed these days!

October 1, 2009 12:27 PM
Lindsay said:

If you are reading this and not sure if you should call back to ask for a supervisor - CALL BACK! I got shot down twice for this rebate card that i never received back in dec 2008. i am just now calling about it in nov 2009 and was told it has been expired since april 2009. It's been expired for 7 MONTHS!!! I called back and KINDLY asked to speak with a supervisor. I'm serious when i say i was really super nice and explained that I feel like i was making a valid request for money that was truly owed to me. I also work in customer service and its true that being threatening just makes an enemy of you and you won't get what you want. Anyway I spoke to the supervisor who got the card reissued to me witin about 2 minutes and without any hassle. SO GLAD I CALLED BACK - YOU WILL BE TOO!!!

October 8, 2009 2:09 PM
happy said:

thank you so much for this blog! i just called on my expired (9/09) rebate card and got a new one re-issued! it helped to speak to a supervisor!
Thank you!

October 23, 2009 3:06 PM
CSTRICK said:

Just got off the phone with att rebate center 8668528617 after talking to two different reps I got my card reissued(Thanks to the info I received from this site). Just be polite.

October 27, 2009 10:39 AM

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