KickstarterForum.org

Gift cards suck-- especially in this modern environment where companies don't have any customer service

and if you've got a problem they basically say
"f*** you, your problems are not worth the hassle for us to deal with today."


Today I went to use a gift card for breakfast at Burger King.

It had a good positive balance on it . I was sure because I save d the receipt the last time I used it; I knew what the balance was!

Result: "card declined."

Tried card twice. "CARD DECLINED" again.

I sat down called the customer service number, got some Indian call center; the lady could barely speak English but eventually we figured out that my card was valid and had exactly the balance that I thought it had.

But aside from that she couldn't help me further because she said that her call-center only dealt with the validity and balance on gift cards they did not handle any complaints about telecommunications breakdowns or lack of customer service at the store level.
She referred me to a Miami-area phone number for Burger King's corporate headquarters.


So I called that number, at 9:30 AM on a weekday and I got this message:
"You have reached Burger King headquarters. We don't accept calls of this type. You cannot leave a voice message. You can try again another time. Goodbye."

I got tired of giving people gift cards that either never got used or just sat around until they expired. I ended up switching to physical gifts from a corporate gifts supplier Singapore friends recommended, and it’s gone a lot better. People seem to like getting something tangible, and it feels more thoughtful than just handing over a piece of plastic with some money on it.