Barnes and Noble Never use a Gift Card to buy Online Books- you may be robbed by BN.com New York, New York

I was given a $30 gift card for Christmas. I enetered the card information into the website at BN.com to be able to order Nook Books.  I made three purchases. Book 1 $ 2 were 9.99 each. The third book was 7.99. The first two books were paid for by my gift card balance as shown on my account page. The third book was charged to my Visa Debit card (aka checking account). I discover this when checking my account.  I returned to the account page. It said I had a zero balance. I re-entered the gift card number.  "This card has been used and has a zero balance."

Looking at my receipt, I saw that $.03 from my gift card went toward the third book. But where did the remaining $9.99 go?

I called customer services and wait onhold for 20 minutes. When I finally got a human, he went to check something, put me on hold again and I was disconnected.

I called again, waited 5 minutes and the customer service person promise that the situation would be solved.

So far, nothing.

Further investigation on their support forum boards, I have learned this is not unheard of and that they have had issues with gift cards and the nook since day one.  

Why has this company not solved their problem and what will it take to get my $9.99 back?

I want to use Nook and not Kindle, but I have not yet invested in a reader.  I am using the PC and android apps.

This may have turned a loyal customer of Barnes & Noble away forever.