I received a gift certificate to Amazon.com from my sister-in-law who didn't want to spend too much time shopping for the guy who took her sister away from her and her mom. The amount of the gift was modest and I was happy to receive it.
After a couple of weeks I decided to redeem the GC as a partial payment for a pair of outdoor loudspeakers for my home. I was surprised to see that Amazon.com offered a wide selection of home electronic equipment - I though they just sold books and videos.
I guess that was too good to be true. When I entered my Gift Certificate claim number (20 times) the web page indicated that there was "something" wrong with my claim code. Eventually, I called their "customer service" desk and notified them of the problem.
That's when I was told that the item I was attempting to purchase was not actually offered by Amazon.com, but by a third party that is under contract to offer products for sale through Amazon.com. The "customer service" agent advised me that Amazon.com gift certificates may only be redeemed toward the purchase of select products on the site. She directed me to the legal armpit of their website, where they've managed to cram encyclopedic disclaimers in the space of a postcard.
I told the "customer service" agent that I would advise everyone in my family that I will no longer accept Amazon.com gift certificates as gifts. I would rather get nothing at all. After she inquired about whether she could "help" me with anything else, she politely thanked me and probably went on to rip-off some other customer.
Bottom line: Amazon.com has found a way to take real U.S. Dollars and turn them into Amazon Pesos. Too bad for us that Amazon Pesos are only good for cheap skeleton trinkets and straw sombreros. Don't drink the water...
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