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Friday March 7, 2008
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If you happened to be one of the unlucky few who were given a Sharper Image gift certificate over the holidays, odds are that you've been following the recent gift-card shenanigans with a keen sense of interest. First the high-end retailer announced that its gift cards weren't worth the plastic they're printed on. Then in a bit of nudge-nudge marketing, fellow mall retailer Brookstone offered cardholders the chance to score a 25 percent discount in its stores using the defunct cards.
Today Sharper Image renewed the power of their cards--with a catch. According to The Consumerist, shoppers have to use the entire value of the card in a single transaction, while applying it to something worth twice its value.
"While not a complete solution, it does provide immediate satisfaction to customers on a voluntary basis," said the company's chief executive, Robert Conway. In a release the added that this move didn't necessarily mean that the card would retain its full value at some time in the future.
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March 7, 2008 8:59 PM
i think it stinks. the whole point of a gift card is to be able to buy what you want not something based on price.
March 8, 2008 4:12 PM
what a ripoff, what needs to happen is that every time someone buys a gift card for someone that the money from each time one of these gift cards is bought the money should be put in a special interest bearing account and that way the imense amount of money these stores are drawing in would be safe for when these cards are redeemed and gathering interest at the same time, that way the money would be safe, stores that do this kind of crap saying that the cards are not worth the plastic they are printed on, or that they change the rules should not be allowed to sell anymore cards until everyone that has a card and wants to redeem it has redeemed it under the rules it was sold, none of this crap of changing the rules and having to buy something worth twice the price, and further more none of the profits should go to the share holders until people have redeemed their cards, the thing that this company has done by changing the rules of the game IS NOTHING MORE THAN THEFT, THEY HAVE STOLEN THE MONEY THAT THE PEOPLE USED TO BUY THE CARDS, SHAME SHAME SHAME ON YOU SHARPER THIS IS NOTHING MORE THAN ROBBERY, JUST LIKE THE SHOPLIFTER IN A STORE IS NOTHING MORE THAN A COMMON THIEF THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT SHARPER IMAGE IS AS FAR AS I AM CONCERNED AND WILL NEVER SHOP THERE EVER AGAIN, THIEVES ALL OF YOU
March 10, 2008 1:48 PM
After a 25 year loyal cusotmer of TSI. They can go directly to hell and not pass go. I will never EVER EVER, you reading this Shaprer Image give you a fringin penny every again. You might as well just close your stores tonight and do the world some justice, knowing you will never ever steal money from the public again.
You got #300 bucks from me and I got more from you. I was the one who tipped CNN that your gift cards are woth zero or this new joke of a campaign. I hope I did more hurt with CNN coverage world wide than the $300 bucks you got from me.
The best $300 in world wide negative exposure a company could get!!! I wait for the day when you store signs get taken down and thown in the dumpster. Its where you belong after you treated your customers this way. Burn in hell TSI! A true customer divorce after 25 years!
April 8, 2008 2:05 PM
I had 400 bucks to sharper image. It sucked. I seriously went the day after the bankruptcy date to find out that they no longer accepted it. We need some type of protection against that. Turns out, there is a company, and I quote from marketwire: "Leverage Inc. today announced a new bankruptcy insurance policy that allows customers holding gift cards purchased via its LeverageCard.com destination from Sharper Image and other merchants filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to transfer remaining, unredeemable balances to gift cards from other retailers available on the Leverage site."