But I'm afraid you won't get anywhere with this. The buyer of the gift card probably never looked at the attached information that always comes with these things. They don't hide their onerous terms but people often never read them. The moral of the story is to always use a gift card as soon as you possibly can.

I buy them from my daughter's school, and they get a cut of each card purchased. I only buy for stuff I use, and it's easy money for the school.

The fact that the issuers count on people not using them quickly, or at all - they make a fortune on that. Gift cards have their uses, of course, but you have to read the fine print and use them right away.

no date on the card nor on any of the printed material I received with the card.

T&C the purchaser agreed to? The T&C I got states that maintenance fees "commences on the date stated on the Card back" however there is no date on the Card or on any of the paperwork. However if I am barred from suing them then I suppose my tactic will be to inform them that if I am not compensated then I will go the media and expose this contemptible scam.

slithery a**holes have done.

The brochure with the T&C states that unless where fees are prohibited by law the date the maintenance fees commence is printed on the back of the card. As I stated there is no date on the card however, I now see in very fine print at the bottom of the card a statement that for activation date call Customer Service. When I didn't see a date "printed" on the back of the Card, I assumed I was in a jurisdiction that prohibited fees which is why a date wasn't printed on the Card. An utter scam.

...for the terms not to expressly exclude TPB's.

Cards are activated at the time they are purchased, so there's no way to actually put the activation date on the card. MC defense would probably be that the terms and conditions state that there is an inactivity fee, and it isn't their fault you didn't receive the card until it was devalued.

the card so how is one to know when fees start getting applied?

A simple card reading swiper can tell you both.

The brochure with the T&C states that unless where fees are prohibited by law the date the maintenance fees commence is printed on the back of the card. As I stated there is no date on the card however, I now see in very fine print at the bottom of the card a statement that for activation date call Customer Service. When I didn't see a date "printed" on the back of the Card, I assumed I was in a jurisdiction that prohibited fees.

Now the companies are required to disclose any possible fees before the purchase is finalized. That may not have been the case when the card was purchased if it was done earlier last year.

agreed (unknowingly ) to such a charge , their leeches no doubt.

This is the kind of thing they can at least make noise about.

The Durbin Amendment locked down debit card fees, so the moguls are going to really push prepaid cards so they can steal your money (and this is effectively what's happening here, wholesale theft).

Form to fill out is here:
https://help.consumerfinance.gov/app/ask_cc_complaint

I can't tell you from anywhere else, but if you buy a gift card from a bank, the disclosures are required to be handed to the client prior to receiving the payment for the card (we are also required to furnish them "on demand&quot . We have to not only give it to them before the purchase, but we have to give it to them with the disclosures face up and on top. Also, the disclosures are by law required to be in no smaller that 12(?) point font with certain parts of it in bold.

The problem is that most clients throw away the disclosures without reading them, or they don't pass them on in the gift envelope. I *completely* understand that people don't want to give a gift with legalese attached, but it lets the recipient know what to expect.

This probably started 2 years ago or so, and our gift cards are through Visa, so if the purchaser bought it from somewhere else, the laws may be different.

Probably not what you wanted to hear, but it's a transaction we had to compliance test our tellers on before the holiday season got going.

is a lengthy process and not worth it.

make a threat that is empty due to their having the bases covered. I find it hard to believe they can state that fees commence as per the date printed on the Card but then are not required to print the date fees commence. If suiing them is out of the question then I will threaten to contact the media if they do not compensate me.

(1) Printed in large case;
(2) Explained in common language, not in legalese
(3) The reason neither of the above are done is because it doesn't benefit the card companies to do so.

Sorry about you loss and your distress, but you don't have a leg to stand on.

which I'm relatively sure I would not do...

Do any of the TV news shows in your area have one of those consumer advocate type people where you can write or call in and have someone handle this for you with Master Card?

Maybe a consumer protection advocate could get you satisfaction on the money part of it.

The humiliation and emotional suffering part? Probably not. If we could all sue someone for simple humiliation, the courts would be nothing but a chaotic mess.

To tell the truth, I would probably just let this one go.