Toys R Us gift card ripoff Kennesaw Georgia

My mother purchased a gift card for my son's 8th birthday back in January of 2004. She chose a specific amount with a certain toy he wanted in mind. My son received the card as a gift in February 2004.

The card sat around, forgotten, until late June of 2004. When we went to use the card for a purchase we were told there was on balance on the card. The manager of the store came over and asked if we had the receipt. We did not (it was a gift) but my mother still did.

So, I gave the giftcard back to her and she took my son to the original store where the card was purchased along with the receipt. Again she was told the card had no balance. When she showed them the receipt it was discovered that the card number and the number on the receipt did not match.

The manager of the store, Will, then made a call and claimed that the card that matched the receipt was used on July 2, 2004. Just a few days before my mother's visit and a few days after mine. Seems pretty coincidental after several months after purchase.

The store could give no explanation of how this happened and made no effort whatsoever to make it right for the customer. So, my 8-year old son got an education in corporate ripoff and now will get an education in principal when no one in my family ever steps foot in a Toys R Us again.

I don't really care for any response from a Toys R Us employee on this matter because I'm sure it would be similar to other responses on this site. Basically that the customer is always wrong and they don't care at all about customer service.

Never mind that the only way I can see that this could have happened is that the original employee that sold the card must have switched them and given my mother an unactivated card while keeping the card with a balance for him/herself.

Toys R Us is losing a $4000/year plus family of customers over this ripoff. Good bye Toys R Us, hellow Target and Walmart.

Thom
Powder Springs, Georgia
U.S.A.