On Apr 9, 2006, at 5:24 AM, Bob W wrote:
gift tokens are also a form of lending money to the retailer.
Sometimes it's
even a gift when they don't give change on the token.
That's another practise that should be banned. Nowadays, in these
parts, retailers usually give more tokens as change, or cash if it's
under $5. I think the Commerce Commission may have nudged them into
doing this, and I think it's a fair compromise.
Unfortunately the one company that has the CC house-trained is
Telecom. Telecom phone cards (usable for public phones) are sold in
set denominations and expire after a couple of years. When they do,
the remaining money on them evaporates. There is no way to
reactivate it, and you cannot return the card for a refund. This
was, of course, done for "security reasons" which is the standard
excuse for anything that can't really be justified.
There's also the issue of unused credit on pre-pay cellphones
evaporating if you don't top it up every 6 months. Actually I'd
better check mine...
- Dave
