Home Depot Changes Gift Card Policy
06-27-02, 09:13 PM
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Home Depot Changes Gift Card Policy
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/020627/home_depot_1.html
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- The Home Depot Inc. agreed to deactivate and replace customers' lost or stolen gift cards under a deal announced Thursday by state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.
The home improvement retailer changed its national policy after Spitzer's office received two complaints, Spitzer spokeswoman Christine Pritchard said.
The agreement makes Home Depot among the nation's first retailers to change its corporate policy on the plastic cards -- long considered the same as cash.
"Although these gift cards resemble credit cards, they do not have the same legal protections against loss or fraud," Spitzer said. "This agreement will reform practices at Home Depot and set an example for other retailers."
The Atlanta-based company agreed last week to pay $45,000 to cover the cost of Spitzer's investigation. The new policy took effect last month, Home Depot spokesman John Simley said.
"We think it's a pretty good agreement," he said. In the past, "if the card was lost, it was like losing a $100 bill. This provides an avenue for someone to get the replacement value, without causing a risk of fraud."
Customers can get another gift card -- for the amount remaining on the one being replaced -- if they can provide an original sales receipt, valid identification and proof of payment, such as a canceled check or credit card statement.
Spitzer's office began its investigation after a Long Island woman reported that Home Depot refused to help her after she lost a card with $1,900 remaining on it. Customers can put up to $2,500 worth of credit on Home Depot gift cards.
Ann Becchina bought a total of $15,000 worth while renovating her home in Stony Brook, 45 miles east of New York City. One night in February, after shopping at a Home Depot in nearby Setauket, she realized one card was missing.
When she returned to the store -- with original receipts in hand -- to cancel the card and get another, she was told that wasn't possible.
"They were incredibly unhelpful. They couldn't trace it, couldn't cancel it. They had a policy of not giving money back, which I found hard to believe," she said. "It was really quite a shock. So I screamed to everybody who would listen."
In March, she eventually got her money back, after a local TV station broadcast her story.
Simley said the company's policy was simply never an issue in the past. He estimates that only a "handful" of people complained about it in the past year.
The cards have become "very, very popular, especially for newlyweds," he said. "There are a hundred uses for these things, and yet very few are lost or stolen or damaged."
Last year, Home Depot sold about 645,000 gift cards statewide, worth more than $33 million, Spitzer said. Simley declined to give national figures, citing competition concerns.
As for Becchina, she now prefers going to locally owned hardware and lumber stores.
"It left a bad taste in my mouth," she said.
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- The Home Depot Inc. agreed to deactivate and replace customers' lost or stolen gift cards under a deal announced Thursday by state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.
The home improvement retailer changed its national policy after Spitzer's office received two complaints, Spitzer spokeswoman Christine Pritchard said.
The agreement makes Home Depot among the nation's first retailers to change its corporate policy on the plastic cards -- long considered the same as cash.
"Although these gift cards resemble credit cards, they do not have the same legal protections against loss or fraud," Spitzer said. "This agreement will reform practices at Home Depot and set an example for other retailers."
The Atlanta-based company agreed last week to pay $45,000 to cover the cost of Spitzer's investigation. The new policy took effect last month, Home Depot spokesman John Simley said.
"We think it's a pretty good agreement," he said. In the past, "if the card was lost, it was like losing a $100 bill. This provides an avenue for someone to get the replacement value, without causing a risk of fraud."
Customers can get another gift card -- for the amount remaining on the one being replaced -- if they can provide an original sales receipt, valid identification and proof of payment, such as a canceled check or credit card statement.
Spitzer's office began its investigation after a Long Island woman reported that Home Depot refused to help her after she lost a card with $1,900 remaining on it. Customers can put up to $2,500 worth of credit on Home Depot gift cards.
Ann Becchina bought a total of $15,000 worth while renovating her home in Stony Brook, 45 miles east of New York City. One night in February, after shopping at a Home Depot in nearby Setauket, she realized one card was missing.
When she returned to the store -- with original receipts in hand -- to cancel the card and get another, she was told that wasn't possible.
"They were incredibly unhelpful. They couldn't trace it, couldn't cancel it. They had a policy of not giving money back, which I found hard to believe," she said. "It was really quite a shock. So I screamed to everybody who would listen."
In March, she eventually got her money back, after a local TV station broadcast her story.
Simley said the company's policy was simply never an issue in the past. He estimates that only a "handful" of people complained about it in the past year.
The cards have become "very, very popular, especially for newlyweds," he said. "There are a hundred uses for these things, and yet very few are lost or stolen or damaged."
Last year, Home Depot sold about 645,000 gift cards statewide, worth more than $33 million, Spitzer said. Simley declined to give national figures, citing competition concerns.
As for Becchina, she now prefers going to locally owned hardware and lumber stores.
"It left a bad taste in my mouth," she said.
06-27-02, 11:58 PM
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Wow, the lady gets her money back and still is complaining. She should feel lucky, I'm sure there are plenty of people who lose or misplace these items as well as some that expirre before they can be used.
