Sealed gift cards lost $2,500 in value over 18 months

It was labeled as “the perfect gift” but $2,500 in gift cards given to Judy Ham as part of a retirement party after a 50-year career, turned out to be useless.

“Beware of the perfect gift,” said Ham Friday.

The five pre-paid Visa cards, purchased for her at a local Shoppers Drug Mart, were sealed in packaging but had been somehow compromised.

After receiving them last year, Ham tucked them away, aware they wouldn’t expire until the fall of 2025, and pondered what she would buy to remember five decades with local law firm, Waterous Holden Amey Hitchon.

“I knew I wanted to get something special to celebrate my 50 years so I waffled about whether to get a piece of jewelry or go on a holiday,” says Ham.

Eventually, she picked out a pair of diamond earrings and, at the store, her card packages were cut open for the first time.

“The very first one was declined. We said ‘How could that be when I’ve never even opened the package?’.”

A second card was declined but three others returned messages saying there was money “owing” on the card.

In shock, Ham visited the store where the cards were purchased, beginning the challenge of trying to understand what happened to her retirement gift and how to get it back.

The fraud department of Shoppers Drug Mart got involved but eventually said Ham should have notified them within 60 days of the cards being illegally used.

A search of activity on three of the cards found purchases had been made on them in places as diverse as California and Hong Kong.

“I guess I’m partially to blame because I sat on them for so long, but the public should be aware of this danger,” Ham said.

Ham also learned the system began deducting a service charge of $3 a month after the cards were one year old.

Although the cards come from a third-party seller, Ham’s husband, Peter Ham, known for his involvement in high-level hockey, scolded Shopper’s Drug Mart.

“Shame on them. They’ll sell (the cards) but they won’t back them up.”

There have been many other scams reported involving gift cards, including warnings from Toronto Police about false bar codes that were being attached to cards, covering the legitimate codes.

It was reported that one Hamilton area person had funds stolen from a card within minutes of a purchase.

When contacted about Ham’s issue, a spokesperson for Loblaws, which owns Shoppers, said they wanted to “investigate this for the customer”.

The spokesperson added that gift card fraud is a general problem in retail and staff are trained to recognize tampering and try to intercept fraudulent cards before their purchase.

Staff Sgt Jeffrey Spencer of the Brantford Police advised anyone else who has been scammed on gift cards to start with a report to the store where they were purchased and then tell the police.

“It would be nice for us to know as well, in case there’s a rash of problems,” Spencer said.

But Ham’s story had a happy ending.

After a day of probing by The Expositor, Ham got a phone call from Shoppers customer care offering to fix the entire issue.

“They were very apologetic and are issuing a check for the full amount of the gift cards,” said delighted Ham.

Still, she said, she’s leery of ever buying gift cards.

“I think you’re better off giving cash.”

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@EXPSGamble