There was a Title printed on the front:
” SoftServe
__Ability, Agility Advantage”
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I do not know who or what SoftServe is.
Nor am I willing to accept any responsibility to SoftServe or to the card issuer!!!
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I think that cautiously I used it once or twice early on.
But I never received any Account statement.
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Thereafter, reasonable prudence dictated that the risk of overcharge or other fees was possibly too great for further usage.
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I came across it today and, according to instructions on the back of the card, visited http://www.giftcardlab.com to ‘check the balance for free’.
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Clicking the ‘Check balance’ menu item on top, I was presented with an Account Login. Not being aware of any such Account in my name, I looked at the CardHolder Agreemeent.
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It was chock full of restrictions, fees, and obligations of the CardHolder — and open-ended for any others that the Issuer might add. In contrast there were very few, if nay, responsibilities or obligations on the Issuer, Visa, or ‘purchaser’.
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Indeed, the Issuer could refuse any transaction at will. But even if the Card did not have funds available for a requested purchase (at time- and Point-of-Service), the Issuer was not required to refuse the transaction. No option for the CardHolder — only the resulting burden.
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Note that account termination (by User, or upon Expiration) applies a large fee against the Account balance. By the wording of the AGREEMENT, fees and other CardHolder obligations are not eliminated upon termination of the Account. — So, if upon expiration the Account balance does not fully cover the termination fee, the Issuer may still have the right forever (including at some later date to demand collection thereof) to recover the remainder of the fee from the CardHolder.
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Because of the ambiguity of the AGREEMENT, the ‘Enrollment fee’ may have been extracted from the Gift Card’s initial balance.
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The Issuer makes the Account statement available online for free during the month of a purchase. But the CardHolder gets no notice of any charge (valid or not) unless he/she requests it each time. Note that a requested statement is not necessarily free except during the month of a purchase.
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The GiftCardLab’s spokesperson claimed to be well-meaning. But there is nothing in the AGREEMENT to keep future malefactors — whether management, merger partners, or cleverly-established creditor – from making a real killing on the potential value of such hidden resources. They might even apply penalty interest rates to such revived balance-due artifacts, notifying former CardHolders without indicating that they themselves were thus indebted. What a gold mine.
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The possibility of such abuse may seem hard to believe.
But so would have been debt-interest rates of over 8.5% APR, just a few decades ago.
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In those days, that was the province of loan-sharks — along with uncomfortable jail-terms for the sharks.
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For Oprah, $5/mo ($60/yr) doesn’t sound like much.
Of course, for modest gifts of $500 or more, there might be something left — for refund upon request after expiration.
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But for gifts of $10 – $50, that becomes nearly the whole ball of wax.
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Moreover, the FAQs and CardHolder Agreement are so one-sided in their specificity: To the recipient, the Gift Card is more of a threat than a gift.
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Who needs threats and burdens like that in perpetuity!!!

I requested a card over one month ago, to be delivered “within 13-15 business days” the card never arrived its intended destination.

I was told “it got lost in the post, and its not our fault” which may or may not be true, but I can deal with it.

However when I requested that the least they could do was to expedite my order (having already waited for more than a month plus the extra 15 business days that I would have to wait) and they say no way.

This is not a crazy request, is the least most respectable internet sites will do when a shipment gets messed up.
But not to gift card lab.

Sad thing is actually recommended them to our company HR (between 100-200 gift cards per year through recruiting and interns gifts) because of being such a great idea. I can assure you they will not be getting that business any time soon.

There will be no shipping or handling charges in addition to the $5.95 but there will be monthly fees that will start after 6 months, just like other open-loop gift cards in the market. I wish we didn’t have to charge this fee but it is a must in the business because we cannot take on the burden of trying to return money to people if they do not use it.

Unlike our competition (www.giftcards.com) who only offers a limited amount of card designs, we do not charge a fee for each point-of-sale transaction http://www.giftcards.com/company/terms_conditions.html#

I appreciate your commentary about the giftcard business and I agree that our program is not right for everyone. Our program is a unique program that will certainly have its audience of consumers who are looking to have a Visa Gift Card that works everywhere Visa is accapted and with a picture of their child or pet on it. We are not embarrassed of our fees and do not try to mislead consumers. We provide a premium product at a price similar in nature to non-customized Visa Gift Cards. I can assure you that the profit margins we are creating on our cards are far lower than the margins experienced by retailers as a whole.

Have a wonderful holiday!
Dave
CEO
CardLab, Inc.
http://www.GiftCardLab.com
blog: http://www.choresandallowances.com