<p>Ok, you guys are giving me second thoughts on this. I need to think about how I would say it to her. </p>
<p>What I am afraid of is that she may have bought multiple cards, by mistake gave the 200 card to someone else, and gave the 50 card to D2(I wouldn’t put it pass her). If I say something to her, then she’ll feel obligated to give D2 the additional 150. We are very good friends, or she wouldn’t have given D2 so much money.</p>
<p>I am also in the camp of I want to know too. Whenever I send someone flowers I always want to know if it was nice. Sometimes when you spend a lot of money, and those florists deliver a little tiny bouquet.</p>
<p>I think about what I would say to my really good friend. It would go like this:</p>
<p>ME: Remember when you gave dd that gift card? She’s finally getting around to spending it and realized that you wrote that it was for $200. Is that correct?</p>
<p>FRIEND: (My friend would be honest and say no if it’s not. But let’s assume your friend wouldn’t.) Yes. You know how much I love Susie.</p>
<p>ME: OK, because I have to let you know that she did try to spend it, and the clerk said there was only $50 on it. I think you need to follow up.</p>
<p>If she lied, she’d know it and not follow up. If she had told the truth, it’s up to her what to do with that information.</p>
<p>I really think my friend’s intend was to give my daughter $200. I don’t doubt that at all (she has known D2 since she was 5, and has given many generous gifts to both of my girls, and I have also with her children). I think a mistake was made, by someone. I don’t think any less of our friendship because a mistake was made. I am just debating if it would be worth it to possibly embarrass her.</p>
<p>If you’re sure she meant to give $200, why would she be embarrassed?</p>
<p>I mailed two gift cards to my nieces for Christmas. My brother called to say that one of them didn’t work. I was able to mail him the receipt and he used that to have it activated. I would have been horrified if he hadn’t told me and the money went to waste. I think you should first call the company and then if they can’t clear it up, talk to your friend. </p>
<p>Incidentally, my D works in fraud and there is an incredible amount of it that deals with gift cards. It is entirely possible that a clerk accepted $200 from your friend, issued a $50 gift card and kept the change.</p>
<p>You: I ran this my my 100 best friends on this great blog I read and they said…jk
You: I feel very awkward bringing this up because you are always SO loving and generous to my children, but DD (finally–always put it on the kid) went to use the AMEX card you gave her and it came up as $50. Fifty dollars is quite a nice gift. However, we are wondering whether something fraudulent happened in the transaction (then tell her a scenario or two), and ask her what she thinks. </p>
<p>I would want to know. I would tell my best friend. I would check with you all first. haha</p>
<p>If my good friend gave my daughter a gift card that said $200 on it…and the store said it was less…I would tell my good friend. I have a VERY good friend who often gives my daughter very generous gifts. I’m sure she would want to know if there was an error on the card.</p>
<p>When your daughter wrote her thank you…did she mention the amount of the gift? If so…your friend could have said if it was not correct at the time of getting the note.</p>
<p>I would make the call.</p>
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<p>Exactly. And I simply cannot imagine a scenario in whicha person would deliberately write a LARGER amount on the gift enclosure than the card was actually worth. There is no way that a discrepancy would not be noted. It makes no sense. What does make sense is either a mistake or fraud. Either of which your friend needs to know about.</p>
<p>BTW, I would consider $50 to be a very generous gift to a kid. $200 is really quite extraordinary. But first contact Amex to try to find out how much the card was really worth and how much your friend was actually charged for it.</p>
<p>Is it possible it was a $200 gift to your friend, and your friend accidentally put $150 worth of something-or-other on it, and then regifted it to your D without remembering that she had used the card?</p>
<p>I would check with Amex first before calling the friend. They would be able to tell when / where it was purchased and whether the card itself had ever been used (prior to D’s attempt). That alone may give you info that you need to decide whether you want to bring it up to her, or let it go. (That is, does it appear that she bought it very recently, presumably as a gift, or was it bought a long time ago, perhaps elsewhere.)</p>
<p>I looked at the card last night, turned out it was a mall gift certificate through AmEx. On the card itself, there was a handwritten amount of $200. </p>
<p>I emailed my friend about it last night. I thought an email was better because she is out most of the time (very active social life) and email would allow her to think about it before responding. She likes to call me during the day when I am working…but at night it’s very hard to reach her.</p>
<p>I got a reply from her this morning. She is away on a trip. She remembered buying few cards that day, they were all $50 cards, except the one for D2, because there were few birthday parties her daughter had to go to. She thinks the person who sold her the cards got them mixed up, and wrote $200 on a card that only had $50 on it, and wrote $50 on the $200 card. She said she would go straighten it out when returned.</p>
<p>I told her not to worry about it as long as she wasn’t over charged. Knowing her, she probably will raise some h*ll at the concierge desk.</p>
<p>Here is a funny story that happened to me when we first became friends. Both of us are Asians, about the same size, but we looked nothing alike. She was a big customer at NM. One time I walked in to NM, and this salesperson was all over me, wanted to show me all the latest from Prada. I politely told the person that I was just browsing and would let her know if I needed her help. She said, “Oh, great, just let me know when you are ready for a dressing room, Mrs. XXX.” She thought I was my friend, and it dawned on me why I was getting the royal treatment (you know how we Asians all looked alike). I told my husband that I should have put a few things on her account, she probably wouldn’t even have noticed.</p>
<p>Then there was the check from a family friend that S2 received for his bar mitzvah. The check bounced. We chose not to say anything.</p>
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<p>My D had the same thing happen with a check that she got as a wedding gift. She was trying to figure out what to do and then got a call from the person who sent the check–apologizing. He sent her another check and added $50 for any expenses. That check was good.</p>
<p>oldfort, I’m glad you let her know. If I were in your friend’s shoes, I’d want to know about such stuff!</p>
<p>VH - when a check bounces, the person who wrote it will know about it - because the bank will usually send them a friendly reminder about insufficient funds and charge a nice fee.</p>
<p>Well, the family never came back to us with another check. They were not close friends. One wonders if they intentionally wrote a check from a closed account.</p>
<p>And now they’re really not close friends!</p>
<p>I figured it was that kind of mix-up. Imagine the person who thought they were getting $50 who got $200! I guess they haven’t 'fessed up!?!</p>
<p>Or they could have spent just under or ar $50 and never knew there was $200 on the card. They DO NOT always show there is a balance during the transaction, and someone could have thrown away the card having no idea. If it said $50 on the outside, you would not know there was more unless you checked it online or called. </p>
<p>Amex can likely track the cards that were sold on the same transaction and figure it out.</p>
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<p>This happened to D with a check someone sent for her graduation. She held onto it for a few months before depositing it. In the meantime, the (older) person had closed the checking account for fraud reasons. </p>
<p>After reiterating to D that it is not polite to hold onto checks for a while before cashing them (not to mention dangerous), I brought it up with my friend who was mortified to think that we might think that she would give us a bum check. After our explaining that it was D’s fault for not cashing the check in a timely manner, friend wrote another check.</p>
<p>Not sure if I’d go through the trouble for a non-friend…</p>
<p>We might have held on to the check for a few weeks while we set up a custodial account for DS, but we didn’t hold on to it for an unreasonable amount of time.</p>
<p>Other posters have mentioned this as well, but I always include my receipt with a gift card - I make certain that only the g/c is on the receipt to make it easy.</p>
<p>On another note, I’ve been given checks by people that I’ve decided not to cash (I’ve destroyed the check), primarily because I don’t want them to reimburse me for something that I know is difficult for them financially. It’s sort of an easy way for me to help them out, and not put them in an awkward position. Does this screw up their checking account? Is this the wrong way to go about it?</p>
<p>She thought I was my friend, and it dawned on me why I was getting the royal treatment (you know how we Asians all looked alike). I told my husband that I should have put a few things on her account, she probably wouldn’t even have noticed.</p>
<p>LOL…When I was helping my friend open an appliance store, she helped an Indian customer one day. A few days later he came back and and came up to me talking as if I knew who he was. When I told him that “Mary” must have helped him, so I would get her for him. He said, “Well, you both look alike.” </p>
<p>LOL…Mary has very short blond hair, blue eyes, and has very pale skin, and I have long brown hair, brown eyes, and Italian olive skin. We laughed about that for days…I guess the white chicks all look alike, too. LOL</p>
<p>BTW…when buying more than one GC at a time of differing amounts, it helps to immediately write on the card itself the amount right after each card is loaded. Also, when you get home, you can call the number on the back of each card to verify the amounts before giving.</p>