Companies have been sued recently for the sales of gift cards whose values are easily stolen, so that those buying the cards lose whatever money they have spent on them. In this case, the parties being sued are Apple, Inc. and Apple Value Services, LLC, for Apple gift cards whose personal identification numbers (PINs) are easily stolen.
The Nationwide Class for this action is all consumers in the US who bought an Apple gift card where the funds on the card were redeemed before use by the buyer. The California Subclass is all consumers in the state of California who bought an Apple gift card where the funds on the card were redeemed before use by the buyer. Excluded from both are those who bought Apple gift cards for resale.
Plaintiff Rachel Shay bought a $50 Apple gift card at a Walmart in Encinitas, California, on April 3, 2020. The card was a gift for her son, but when he tried to redeem it, he received a message that the value had already been redeemed and it no longer had any value.
Shay called Apple to find out what had happened. The date the value had been redeemed was April 3, 2020, the day Shay had bought the card. The complaint claims, “For security reasons, [Apple] would not provide [Shay] with any additional information about the owner account that [had] redeemed the code, other than that it was an account unrelated to [Shay] and/or her son. [Shay] was then told there was nothing else [Apple] could do for her, that her case was closed and any further contact would go unanswered.”
What Apple did not mention is that Shay is not the only consumer who has had this problem with its gift cards.
Apple Value Services, LLC is a subsidiary of Apple, Inc. that is responsible for “issuing and managing” Apple gift cards in the US. The complaint alleges that the companies “have known that the Apple gift cards they sell to consumers are defective, unsecure and easily subject to fraud.” The number of complaints from consumers, it says, should have been enough to put the companies on notice of the problem by now.
“Despite this knowledge,” the complaint alleges, “Apple failed to take adequate and reasonable measures to ensure that third parties did not tamper with its gift cards and to date continues to sell the Apple gift cards easily prone to security breaches and theft as described herein.”
The complaint alleges violations of California’s consumer protection laws and its Consumer Privacy Act, negligence, negligent misrepresentation, and breach of implied warranty of merchantability.
Article Type: LawsuitTopic: Consumer
Most Recent Case Event
Apple Gift Cards Value Redeemed Before Purchase Complaint
August 21, 2020
Companies have been sued recently for the sales of gift cards whose values are easily stolen, so that those buying the cards lose whatever money they have spent on them. In this case, the parties being sued are Apple, Inc. and Apple Value Services, LLC, for Apple gift cards whose personal identification numbers (PINs) are easily stolen.
Apple Gift Cards Value Redeemed Before Purchase ComplaintCase Event History
Apple Gift Cards Value Redeemed Before Purchase Complaint
August 21, 2020
Companies have been sued recently for the sales of gift cards whose values are easily stolen, so that those buying the cards lose whatever money they have spent on them. In this case, the parties being sued are Apple, Inc. and Apple Value Services, LLC, for Apple gift cards whose personal identification numbers (PINs) are easily stolen.
Apple Gift Cards Value Redeemed Before Purchase Complaint