Problem with Smyths Gift Cards?

[grommit]

For his birthday my son was given two Smyths gift cards. One card had no receipt in the folder so I had no idea how much the card was for, the second folder had a receipt for €10.

In Smyths, I asked the girl to check the value of the first gift card. She told me they can't check it that way, you have to make your purchase and then they can swipe the card against the total. Items came to €27.49. Girl swiped card, and told me the value of the card was €19.48!! I thought that was strange but that maybe someone had given my son the remains of a previous gift card, fair enough. The balance of my shopping was now €8.01.

I handed the girl the gift card that had the €10 receipt with it. She scanned the card and my receipt shows that the gift card now has a balance of €1.09 on it instead of €1.99. Needless to say I didn't notice this until I was home and am not going to drive back to shop for 90 cent, but was wondering if anyone else has experienced this. I don't believe people would give gift cards in the amount of €19.48 and €8.91. Do Smyths charge transactions fees on these cards? I can't find any information on their website saying that there are extra charges using these cards.

 

[emaol]

Have you still got the cards or the card numbers?

Most retailers use a platform from a company called Givex, and if Smyths are the same, the software allows a cashier to review the card history.
If you can't get to the shop, try emailing the card numbers to their customer service and ask for the info.

 

[mariagalway]

I've both bought and received gift cards from Smyth's recently - there are no transaction charges and I've never had any problems with thenm.