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Fee for Non-Service
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Business New Haven
12/08/2003
By: BNH
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HARTFORD - Retailers love gift cards and gift certificates. After all, not all intended recipients ever use them, rendering the purchase price in effect free revenue for the store. In addition, many retail chains have tacked an "inactivity" fee onto dormant gift cards - for example, deducting $5 a month from the card's value after 24 months of non-use - that can rapidly erase the card's value.
In Connecticut, that practice is now illegal. According to a new law, gift cards or certificates sold on or after August 16 in the state may not in most instances carry inactivity charges or expiration dates - potentially good news for shoppers this holiday season.
"Under no circumstances should the value of a purchased gift card or certificate be eroded because the consumer did not use it by some arbitrary time," said state Treasurer Denise L. Nappier. "Consumers paid for it and have every right to keep the full value until they use it completely - according to their own timetable."
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