Expired Gift Card
For our anniversary in June, he gave Tony a card for us, which was a total surprise! Inside the card was a gift certificate for a nice restaurant, not a huge amount of money $25, but it was really nice. The certificate wasn't dated. Friday night, we went there for dinner. It turns out, the certificate was about 4 years old, and the signature was from an old owner, who had sold the restaurant. Our bill was over $100, and they refused to accept the gift certificate. Ok...now I'm not upset with the guy who gave it to us, becuase, they were probably regifting it to us, because they didn't use it. Which was fine, much more of gesture than he needed to do. But I think the restaurant was wrong! I think they should have accepted it, if for nothing else, good will. It really left a bad taste in my mouth (sorry for the pun). What do you think? |
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| I think they should have honored the gift certificate. It was "the same" restaurant that issued the certificate. They were relying on the reputation of the restaurant to keep/build business so they should honor the "debts" of that restaurant. If they had changed name and theme/ambiance then it is a different restaurant in the same location. |
| I would check with your BBB, because at least in my state, if the
company doesn't honor the certificate by the expiration they have to send a claim and it is unclaimed money for tax purposes. AND they are still obligated to allow you to use them up to 2 yrs past the expiration date. Plus - didn't you say yours had no date?? A local tv station did something about this a few years ago, and said that most businesses don't realize this. So I printed the article and took it with me to use a certificate. They fussed about it, but in the end they let me use it, because otherwise I could have reported them. I would post the article but I can't find it anymore. It might be worth checking into. Shellie |
| Yes, in some states at least, the issuer of the gift certificate must send the value to the state if the certificate goes unclaimed. Then the holder of it can apply to the state for the return of the value (if they can prove it, of course) and usually have to pay a fee, which would probably be more than the value of the certificate.
This process is called "escheatment". Sounds about right, doesn't it? In Massachusetts, gift certificates are like cash and cannot expire in under 5 years, and their value must be sent to the state if unclaimed. You'll have to check the laws in your state, try the Attorney General's office's website perhaps. BBB isn't a bad idea, either. |
| Thats really interesting. I know, a business cannot just void a check that hasn't been cashed, that they are "suppose" to send the monies to a fund in case the payee is trying to get the money they are intitled to. Very interesting stuff. Same principal. |
| If the gift certificate was not date, had no expiration date and the name of the restaurant was the same I would expect for it to be honored. I would go to your local Chamber of Commerce or Better Business Bureau. It's a "principle" issue. |
| The restaurant should have honored the gift certificate. I wouldn't go the BBB or pursue any legal channels. Just tell EVERYONE this story. There is such as bad publicity.
What did you have for dinner???? |
You mean, tell everyone about Jameson's Charhouse in Arlington Heights? Naw...that wouldn't be nice to blow the whistle on Jameson's Charhouse in Arlington Heights, Illinois, wouldn't it?  We had NE clam chowder, salad, I had a rib eye steak, Tony had a NY strip, then I had creme bruelle and he had some sort of sundae at Jameson's Charhouse in Arlington Heights, Illinois. BTW...the food was mediocre  |
| I'm not saying you should make an issue of it legally, but if you
contact the BBB or AG office they may be able to tell you what you could do if you chose to go back to Jameson's Charhouse in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Maybe they could give you the law in a printout of some sort, like I had. Then they would be hard pressed to argue. Or maybe it is different in Illinois, I don't know. That kind of thing really ticks me off. I had that happen with some movie tickets too. They were issued to everyone seeing a movie when the electric went out, so you could come back for free to see the movie again or any movie. When I went to use them they said they had "not used those raincheck tickets in a long time". I didn't bother trying again. I wish I could find that article, I'd take it along! Shellie |
| Shellie...I probably won't do anything else. We never go to that restaurant. We only went because we were in the neighborhood (about 20 miles from home) and had the certificate. There are other restaurants there we love, and would have gone if we had known what was going to happen. I'm simply venting. Cuz the guy's attitude really angered me. |
Shellie is my kind of girl 
I would definitely make sure my giftcard was used. Sorry, you had a bad experience debcram!! |
| Debcram,
We are so sorry to hear of your disappointing experience at the Jameson's Charhouse in Arlington Heights, Illinois You should let the Phantom Gourmet know-- its a dining forum for New England but often folks post where or where not to go to dine when travelling. www.phantomgourmet.com |
| That's a drag that,
Jameson's Charhouse in Arlington Heights, Illinois. didn't honor the gift certificate. And that is too bad that you had MEDIOCRE FOOD at Jameson's Charhouse in Arlington Heights, Illinois |
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