What do you think?

[bizybea]

I work at a Hallmark/bookstore, one of eleven owned by the same people. Yesterday, I heard about something that happened in one of our stores. We had an elderly lady that frequented the store, as she was an avid reader, and she had many family members and friends that gave her gift certificates to use towards her purchases. Sadly, she passed away recently. Her daughter sold some of her books in a garage sale. The other day a woman came into the store and tried to redeem a gift certificate written out to the elderly lady that had just passed away. She told the clerk that she had bought a book at a garage sale and that the gift certificate was in it! The clerk knew the name on the certificate was the lady who had passed away, as she was a frequent customer. She told the customer that she could not redeem the certificate, as the certificate did not belong to her. The lady was infuriated and she stated, "Finders keepers!" Needless to say, she left without purchasing anything. We have a feeling that she will try to go to the other stores and try to redeem this certificate. In my opinion, what she is doing is wrong, the certificate does not belong to her, as she is not the person that it is written out to, and it was not intended for her. Finding it does not make it yours. It's as bad as finding a check written out to someone else and trying to cash it! What is your opinion on this matter?

 

[Pin Wizard]

Wow! If I bought a book at a garage sale and there was a GC in it, I'd probably go to the store with it also. Especially if the person weren't around anymore. (They really put names on them? I've never seen that.) The store does have the money for that GC. Should they keep the money that someone isn't redeeming a GC for? That doesn't seem right either.

 

[honeywolf7]

I kind of agree with Pin Wizard on this one.

 

[dizneegirl]

I'm probably in the minority around here, but I really don't think it's a crime, nor do I think it's akin to cashing a check you found.

The store has received money for the gift certificate, it really shouldn't matter who's using it.

Especially if you know the lady it was given to has passed away. Someone should get some good out of it.

Now, if you knew the woman was still alive, and someone else had her g.c. - that would be another story.

I've received gift certificates that I couldn't use, or didn't want to, and I've given them to friends & relatives - is that wrong?

 

[bizybea]

The gift certificates that we issue do have names on them. They are written out like a check. The store is not keeping the money, they know the lady's family well,(the store is located in a small town, everyone is well known) and they have contacted her daughter to let her know. She is the only one able to redeem the certificates (she still has some in her mother's name.) Since her daughter bought her most of the certificates, the manager felt that she should be able to get her money's worth.

 

[browneyes]

I think she was in the wrong. Why didn't the clerk keep the certificate? Surely there's a record of who purchased it and it can be returned to the person who gave it to the elderly lady?

 

[bizybea]

"Now, if you knew the woman was still alive, and someone else had her g.c. - that would be another story."

Why?

 

[dizneegirl]

If it's a small town, and the store is refunding the money to the daughter, that's cool.

In that case, I guess it would be the daughter's call on whether or not the other woman could use the gift certificate she, in effect, bought.

If the store was NOT refunding the money, I'd still say there was nothing wrong with someone else getting use out of the already paid-for gift certificate.

 

[bizybea]

browneyes~ I said exactly the same thing! I think that the clerk should have kept the certificate. I don't know why she didn't. But if you read my above post you can see that they did contact the lady's daughter to let her know that she could use the certificates.

 

[dizneegirl]

Originally posted by bizybea
"Now, if you knew the woman was still alive, and someone else had her g.c. - that would be another story."

Why?

Because, if you KNEW she was alive, it would probably indicate that someone had stolen her gift certificate. Since you KNOW she's passed away, and that this woman bought the gift certificate (by accident) at a garage sale, it's just two different scenarios.

 

[honeywolf7]

Now that I know the whole story, I agree with dizneegirl.

 

[Kermit]

Somebody should get cash back for the gift certificates. I guess one choice is to refund the money to the lady who bought them (altough I'd expect her to bring them in for the money). I think it's okay for somone to use a gc that has someone else's name on it, provided they came by it legitimately. I think if I found a gc in a book or something else I bought at a garage sale, I'd at least try to return it to the owner.