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Apr 25, 2008 5:57 pm US/Pacific
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Call Kurtis: Gift Card Cash Back Law Revisited
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS13) ―
We first tackled this new state law in February.
It says as a consumer, you're entitled to cash back on gift cards balances of less than ten bucks, if you ask for it.
But our last investigation showed many stores are not following that law.
We exposed them, and informed them. Three months later, it's time to revisit those retailers.
Hidden camera rolling: gift cards in one hand, the other holding out for change.
Last February we chose ten well-known stores at random.
We bought their gift cards and spent them, bringing the balances below ten dollars. We then asked to cash-out our cards each time. And why not -- the law says we can.
It allows "any gift certificate with a cash value of less than ten dollars to be redeemed in cash ... for its cash value."
One consumer's thought: "Why wouldn't you get it back?"
Another tells us: "You should get your money back. I don't care if it's a dollar."
Out of the ten stores we tested only two -- Pier-1 and Linens-N-Things -- knew about the law and gave us our money back.
Eight of them -- that's 80 percent -- denied us.
It's almost May; nearly 5-months after the law went into effect.
By now we expect all ten stores to know about the law and will comply with it.
We hit the streets. Both the Target and Starbucks in Natomas cash-out our cards -- a complete turnaround from our last test. Next it's the Shell station in Davis.
Our producer makes the request: "Can I get cash back on that? Cash back? No.
No?" The clerk blames it on the register. The producer confirms by asking the clerk "Oh, so it's not letting you do it? Yeah."
Now it's on to West Sacramento, for the Walgreens who last refused us our cash. This time it's a go; the manager makes it happen: "There's your change. $2.47." "Thank you," our producer tells him and we're off.
Next it's Blockbuster. The clerk has us wait for the manager. So we wait ... and wait ... and wait. We'll leave and come back later.
On to Safeway. The checker says "$1.39. Thank you very much." This time they give us our cash.
We cross the street to McDonalds. Our producer asks the cashier "…if it's under ten dollars, or does it matter?" His response is "I don't think it matters." Actually, it does, but at least he complies with the law.
So it's back to Blockbuster. The manager is there and gives us our $5.72. "Thank you, I appreciate it," our producer politely replies as she leaves.
Finally, we follow up with Peet's Coffee and Tea in downtown Sacramento.
But our producer hits a brief delay due to a clumsy customer who spills his new, large, full cup of coffee on her; scalding java down her bare legs. But being the consummate professional, she stays focused on the mission.
She gets to the counter and asks "can I just get cash back on this please? Uh, we actually don't do cash back here. Sorry… Even if it's under $10? Yeah, we don't do it, we don't do cash back at all."
A man with the mop arrives, but no amount of swabbing is going to erase their now-second non-compliance with the law.
After two requests, Peet's explained in an e-mail to us that "…On Dec. 31, 2007... Peet's ... sent out a communiqué detailing the new law to all Peet's stores statewide. Unfortunately, not all staff members ... acted in compliance with the law..."
Why? They don't say. But they did say that Peet's re-issued a reminder message to all Central Valley stores on April 9, 2008 to make sure all employees understand and comply with the new gift card law.
A big improvement for all of the other stores who denied us last February -- this time, 9-out-of-10 followed the law.
(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)