What a hassle.
Written: Feb 26 '08 (Updated Feb 26 '08)
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My mom is having another birthday and I live out of town. I wanted to get her something special but it would be a complete hassle to return something. Rather than paying shipping cost for an item I reluctantly paid shipping for the gift card. I was able to personalize the card with her name and a personalized message (up to 19 characters). This is a feature that most stores don't offer. I chose the phrase Happy Birthday and hopefully will produce the same amount of embarrassment that singing Happy Birthday does at the restaurant.
I could have gotten a free gift card at a lot of places, but I wanted my mom to have the freedom to purchase anywhere she wanted because you never know who might be having a sale this time of year. They just got a new Simon mall in their hometown so I figured it would be a novel gift card. The gift card doesn't need to be used at the mall though, it can be used anywhere that Visa is accepted.
I was ready to call my mom to see if she got the gift card but instead I received an email from Simon stating the gift card was mailed. After closer inspection, the email notes the day prior as the shipping date. I'm disappointed that it took Simon 5 days to put the gift card in an envelope and mail it. I'm not sure where the gift card is mailed so I am not able to determine how long it will take in the mail.
Now that I've paid for the card and shipped the receipt says 5-7 business days for receipt. I know they can't guarantee how fast the Post Office gets the envelop there, but why say 3-5 days before ordering and then 5-7 days after ordering? Simon was suppose to be in Indianapolis, which is just 20 minutes from her house. I didn't expect it take a week in the mail.
Yes, I could have ordered the gift card earlier but this is a time sensitive present. I want it to arrive on her birthday, not a week before and not a day late. Luckily, they do have a card that can be sent. I chose not to send the card when I ordered it because it was too early. I logged back onto my account and would be able to send an email message at any time which is their only redeeming feature that they have over other sites. Of course, I could just email her directly with the information and not risk the chance of the message going to junk mail.
The gift card must be activated before use by the recipient entering their phone number. I suppose this is suppose to be a security feature....for those who don't know how to use reverse lookup on Superpages. The card can also be activated online.
The email receipt was informative. All the appropriate information was neatly organized on the email. There was a bunch of fine print at the bottom that had a $2 off coupon at the bottom of the email.
Poor Selection of Gift Cards
There were 9 gift cards to choose from. The cards had logos or names of companies on the cards which I didn't like. If I'm going to have to pay a fee for the card, I don't want any advertising on it. Besides, I didn't want my mom to think that because it had the name, Longhorn on it that it could only be used at Longhorn.
There are a few cards like Longhorn, Indiana University and Perdue University cards cost $1 more.
Fees for the Gift Card
- $5.95 handling fee per Giftcard paid by the purchaser at time of purchase.
- $2.50 monthly administrative fee, from the thirteenth month until the Giftcard expires.
- $5.00 fee to replace a lost or stolen Giftcard.
- $15.00 fee to replace an expired Giftcard.
Fees for Gift Account (can only be used online)
- $2.00 handling fee paid by the purchaser
- $5.95 replacement fee
- $5.95 conversion fee to transfer to a Simon Visa Giftcard
- $15.00 expired Gift Account fee
- $2.50 monthly fee after the first 12 calendar months.
Arriving
The gift card arrived in a discrete regular white envelope. If my mom wasn't looking out for something in the mail, she said she may have mistaken it as junk mail.
How did she like it?
My mom said, “You shouldn't have” which it what she always says when she doesn't really like the gift. She did like the idea of having a credit card that she could enter on the Internet because she doesn't feel comfortable entering her personal credit card online.
Overall
The website if very cluttered with information. I spent more time than necessary trying to figure out what the gift card was all about. The gift card selection was also poor.
I would have been better off going to the local grocery store and picking up one of the many gift cards that they have on display and adding it to her Birthday card. I even saw the Simon Gift card locally but the service fee was still required and it was not personalized.
This was a hassle. Never again.
Recommended:
No
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About the Author
Location: Nashville, TN
Reviews written: 723
Trusted by: 187 members
About Me: DNT TXT & DRV
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