Hoc
TUG Lifetime Member
I'm still shocked at the whole situation here. Yesterday, my girlfriend decided that she wanted to go out for breakfast. We decided to go to a local restaurant where I had a gift card, in order to save money.
I had bought the gift card 4 years ago for $100, and used it once last October for about $27. My girlfriend remembers at that time that the waitress showed me the receipt and said, "you still have $XXX (she can't remember the amount) left on it."
In California, gift cards can't expire. What's more, the card said on its face: "Does not expire in California," and "treat this card like cash."
Obviously, they refused to take it. They said that they had thrown out the machine that could show what was left on it about a year ago. I told them that they could accept it as payment for the meal and I would not use it again, or they could refund me the approximately $73 left on the card. They refused. I called the manager over, who said, "I don't know what to do." I told her that she should either accept the card or refund my money. I then wrote up a couple of lines on a piece of paper that said that I tried to use the card, and they refused to allow me to do it.
Her response: "I'm not signing nothing." I told her to call the owner and resolve it, because either she would need to give me a written statement saying that she was rejecting the card, or otherwise take the card or refund the balance.
She made a call and then everyone proceeded to ignore me for the next 15 minutes. I went up to the checkout register with the card and the paper. Suddenly, a police officer showed up. They had called the police!!!
I explained to him what was going on, and he said to her, "Why don't you just sign the paper?" She responded, "I don't have to sign nothing." I told him that I just wanted evidence that they refused to honor their card, and then I would sue them. He said that he would write a police report, which would provide the evidence.
That satisfied me, so I paid with my American Express (no tip, obviously). Yesterday afternoon I wrote a letter to the owner explaining the situation and advised that the conduct was an Unfair Business Practice under California law, entitling me to damages in a minimum amount of $1,000. I offered to settle the matter for half, $500.
In response, I got an email suggesting that I pulled the card out of the trash, falsely stating that the Restaurant never sold cards in excess of $100, and that I "must have" won the card (which allegedly could not have been worth more than $20) "in a raffle." That prompted me to go digging through my credit card records in 2004, and lo and behold, I found the statement with the charge to the restaurant for $106.50. I advised her of that and that my settlement offer was still open until next Monday.
She then responded by calling me "a bold faced liar," and stating that my $106.50 receipt must have been for food (this in a restaurant where the average entree is $8.95), and threatening to have me criminally prosecuted for "defrauding an inkeeper."
I have never sued anyone on my own behalf before, but I don't like bullies or liars, and I finally had enough. I probably would have let the matter drop if she had just signed the paper. Not worth it. But calling the police and threatening to use them again to gain advantage in a civil matter, well that's extortion in California.
What a bully. I sued the company today, for $73 plus a $1,000 penalty under the law. I will be representing myself. The company must hire a lawyer, because it's a corporation. Just to defend itself it will have to pay several thousand dollars in legal fees, which it cannot recover even if it is successful. What a stupid move by an obviously stupid person.
I had bought the gift card 4 years ago for $100, and used it once last October for about $27. My girlfriend remembers at that time that the waitress showed me the receipt and said, "you still have $XXX (she can't remember the amount) left on it."
In California, gift cards can't expire. What's more, the card said on its face: "Does not expire in California," and "treat this card like cash."
Obviously, they refused to take it. They said that they had thrown out the machine that could show what was left on it about a year ago. I told them that they could accept it as payment for the meal and I would not use it again, or they could refund me the approximately $73 left on the card. They refused. I called the manager over, who said, "I don't know what to do." I told her that she should either accept the card or refund my money. I then wrote up a couple of lines on a piece of paper that said that I tried to use the card, and they refused to allow me to do it.
Her response: "I'm not signing nothing." I told her to call the owner and resolve it, because either she would need to give me a written statement saying that she was rejecting the card, or otherwise take the card or refund the balance.
She made a call and then everyone proceeded to ignore me for the next 15 minutes. I went up to the checkout register with the card and the paper. Suddenly, a police officer showed up. They had called the police!!!
I explained to him what was going on, and he said to her, "Why don't you just sign the paper?" She responded, "I don't have to sign nothing." I told him that I just wanted evidence that they refused to honor their card, and then I would sue them. He said that he would write a police report, which would provide the evidence.
That satisfied me, so I paid with my American Express (no tip, obviously). Yesterday afternoon I wrote a letter to the owner explaining the situation and advised that the conduct was an Unfair Business Practice under California law, entitling me to damages in a minimum amount of $1,000. I offered to settle the matter for half, $500.
In response, I got an email suggesting that I pulled the card out of the trash, falsely stating that the Restaurant never sold cards in excess of $100, and that I "must have" won the card (which allegedly could not have been worth more than $20) "in a raffle." That prompted me to go digging through my credit card records in 2004, and lo and behold, I found the statement with the charge to the restaurant for $106.50. I advised her of that and that my settlement offer was still open until next Monday.
She then responded by calling me "a bold faced liar," and stating that my $106.50 receipt must have been for food (this in a restaurant where the average entree is $8.95), and threatening to have me criminally prosecuted for "defrauding an inkeeper."
I have never sued anyone on my own behalf before, but I don't like bullies or liars, and I finally had enough. I probably would have let the matter drop if she had just signed the paper. Not worth it. But calling the police and threatening to use them again to gain advantage in a civil matter, well that's extortion in California.
What a bully. I sued the company today, for $73 plus a $1,000 penalty under the law. I will be representing myself. The company must hire a lawyer, because it's a corporation. Just to defend itself it will have to pay several thousand dollars in legal fees, which it cannot recover even if it is successful. What a stupid move by an obviously stupid person.