I bought a $50 gift voucher for my Mum for Mother’s day, and I noted after purchasing it that it had a ‘use by’ date; which basically says that if my mother doesn’t use the gift voucher within 24 months, she forfeits the money (or, I do as the actual purchaser), which means effectively that the company that issues the gift card keeps our money and we get nothing for it… correct me if I’m wrong and stupid, but isn’t that called ‘stealing’!
Forfeits the money…?! This gift card is not a free promotional product from the company, this is a card that effectively represents $50 cold hard cash of my money… no different than a personal cash cheque.
Where are the two opposing laws for stealing written, they must be somewhere, because apparently businesses and corporations all over the world seem to be abiding by them… Apparently there must be one law that says if you and I, ordinary citizens, steal, we get punished, fined or sent to jail; the other law apparently says ‘certain select and privileged people can steal without being punished, provided they are stealing from their customers. The amazing thing with this law is, if you or I try to use it, that will immediately invoke the first law… you see, if the customer steals from the business… the first law automatically applies… amazing isn’t it!
Are we all so blind we cannot see that these businesses, companies and corporations are just outright stealing from us and making no apology for doing so… and they are making millions (billions world wide) from this little scam of theirs.
Airline companies tell us, that if we pay good money for our ticket, but for whatever reasons miss our flight… too bad they keep our money; you even have to fight to get it back if you miss your flight because you were ill or in an accident, even if you are dead; of course then they don’t care, because they know they aren’t going to make any more money out of you. Mobile and cell phone service providers tell us that if we don’t use up all our ‘pre-paid credit’ by the end of a given time period… too bad they get to keep our money too. And now with this new fashionable life injected into the gift card practice, these companies have seen the glistening light of the golden treasure and so we are told if we don’t use ‘our own money’ in the form of the gift card in a certain period… to bad the company providing the card gets to keep ‘our’ money… this is not a ‘company policy practice’, this is an excuse for ‘STEALING’!
How long will it be before banks decide to bring in a ‘policy’ that says, ‘If I don’t use the $50 dollar note in my wallet by a certain date, the bank gets to keep it’! Well it’s no different to all the other ‘scam policies’ to steal our money that we seem to just accept and allow.
These companies are thieves, they are stealing from us and getting away with it by telling us, “oh it is in the contract in the fine print”. I didn’t enter into a contract that I’m consciously aware of when I swapped my $50 note for a plastic card substituting as the tender amount, and I certainly didn’t sign anything saying, if I don’t use this $50 represented by this card in 24 months, the company can keep my money!
It is not only an absolute scam, it is a criminal offense to steal our money. If we go into a shop and see an item that has been sitting on the shelf for a month and hasn’t been sold, or is at its use-by date, can we then just say, “Oh I’ll have that, you forfeit it because you have not sold it and it’s out of date” and then walk out with it? No…we would be charged with shoplifting which is stealing, and treated as a criminal!
Stealing may be defined as ‘acquiring or taking possession of someone else’s valuables, belongings, property or ‘money’ without permission, consent or authority’… the problem with these policy scams perpetrated by these companies and corporations is the ‘fine print‘ whereby you, without your genuine knowledge, give consent or permission. What we all need to do is make it quite clear to these rogues that we DO NOT give our permission or consent for them to take our money, regardless of when we do or don’t choose to spend or use ‘our’ money in whatever form it might be; a gift card, a pre-paid flight, a pre-paid holiday, accommodation or phone account or deposit on goods… it’s all the same and it’s all the same scam. Certainly an organization has the right to recoup any out-of-pocket expenses that may have genuinely occurred through these transactions, but if you investigate these costs you will discover they are a mere fraction of the total amount, so at the very least the major percentage of that money should be returned to it’s rightful owner… the customer, you and me!
How long are we going to just let these companies and organizations continually rape us and steal from us before we say… hey we’ve had enough of you stealing from us, if you do it again, we will file for criminal prosecution under the laws of theft and stealing.”
Stealing is a federal offense in most countries, so why aren’t all the policy making executives of these companies and corporations either paying off hefty fines or in jail for multiple repeat offenses of stealing from their customers.
There is an easy way to stop this… don’t buy from them or be prepared to take them to court every time they steal from you, but at the very least, don’t just accept it as ‘policy’ anymore… happy shopping!
