Bring Back Our Mall Gift Cards?

[GreyEyes]

Greenwood Mall, Mic Mac Mall and Halifax Shopping Centre have launched www.bringbackourmallgiftcards.com, a website where consumers can encourage their MLA and the Nova Scotia government to revise regulations to allow gift cards to continue being sold by shopping centres in Nova Scotia.

New regulations in the province, which came into effect on February 1, 2010, effectively eliminate the current shopping centre gift cards from the Nova Scotia marketplace.

The gift card program offered at shopping centres before the regulations were applied charged no upfront fees and had no expiry date. The program only began to collect a small fee of $2.50 per month, 15 months after the card had been activated. 96% of all funds on mall gift cards were redeemed prior to the 15 months. For these consumers no fees where ever charged.

"We support consumer protection; however, shopping centre gift cards are much different than single store cards," said Terry Harvie, General Manager, Mic Mac Mall. "Regulations in New Brunswick, British Columbia, Ontario and Manitoba all allow shopping centre gift cards to charge small dormancy fees beginning 15-18 months after purchase.

http://www.bringbackourmallgiftcards.com/

What's up with this anyway? I thought I read a notice in the paper last week that these Malls had decided to cancel gift cards because of the new regulations that were supposed to benefit the consumer.

[mr. mom]

HAHAHA what a joke.  They won't issue cards because they cannot get to keep that 4% that does not get redeemed.  Chances are the cards that were unused will stay unused.  I don't get their problem.

[Angie]

The malls themselves stopped selling gift cards. Then they launch a website saying bring the gift cards back?

Bring them back yourselves, you stupid morons. Stop trying to prey on the consumer with your damn service charge.

Walmart gift cards all around.

[Gravitas]

I'm of two minds.

On one hand, if legislation exists in other provinces that would allow mall cards to stand on their own, then how hard is it, really, for NS to just 'cut and paste' that legislation and do the same thing here? Why do we always have to do our own thing?

And failing that, don't charge the consumer. Add a small 'card membership' fee to your tenant's monthly rent (based on a percentage of sales volume). Use that to pay the bank fees. Seems easy enough to me.

On the other hand, I find it difficult to take a website seriously when the first words I read are: "Our apologizes ..". Come on, people. It's called proofreading. Try it. 

[hfx_chris]

The malls themselves stopped selling gift cards. Then they launch a website saying bring the gift cards back?

Bring them back yourselves, you stupid morons. Stop trying to prey on the consumer with your damn service charge.

What a pile of bullshit! I'm surprised they even have the nerve to do that; voluntarily cancel them, and then get us to write letters to our MLAs to bring them back?