To: Volkswagen
Subject: Expiration of "Goodwill" Loyalty Card
My wife and I bought a VW Jetta in late 2011 and generally loved the car, right up until the diesel scandal broke. Since then, we appreciated receiving the goodwill package and eventually the offer to buy back the car. While we did take the buyback offer, we were unable to take advantage of the goodwill loyalty card. Here's why:
- We didn't want the hassle of trying to ensure there was enough on the card every time we used it, so we were waiting to use it on a single purchase that was large enough to spend the $500 in one go.
- The card expired 15 days ago, 4/31/2017, which we realized when we were finally trying to use it today 5/15/2017.
- Multiple phone support representatives told us there was nothing that could be done as VW is no longer issuing replacements for these cards.
On the topic of expiration, your representatives claimed that the terms of the goodwill package were made clear and that the money would be gone when the card expired. I beg to differ. We only knew that the card had an expiration date on it, but we simply thought of that in the same way that debit or credit cards have expiration dates on them. An expiring debit card does not drain your bank account, you simply get a new card. This is the expectation consumers have about how a Visa Debit card works and you violated that expectation. Even if we had an inkling that this card would be different, we expected that it counted as a gift card/prepaid card which, in general, do not expire in California. Again, this is an expectation you violated by using a "Loyalty Card" which you must have known are exempt from the 2009 CARD Act:
While loyalty, award, or promotional gift cards are not subject to the Credit CARD Act’s substantive restrictions on fees and expiration dates, certain disclosure requirements still apply. In particular, the front of the card must disclose the expiration date and state that it is issued for loyalty, award, or promotional purposes. Printing “Reward” or “Promotional” on the front of the card satisfies this requirement.
I have a simple question: Why didn't you just send a check? The most charitable answer I can come up with is that you're trying to make it easier for those who may not have a bank account where they could cash the check, who otherwise would have to pay exorbitant fees at a check cashing service. I suspect that the real answer, or at least part of it, is that you like these debit cards because you know that some people will simply not use them, and many will not use all of the funds because of the difficulty/awkwardness in matching the remaining amount exactly and/or splitting a transaction onto both this card and another payment method. That means you get to keep a not insignificant fraction of the money that would have simply been paid out in full if you'd used checks. Based on our conversations with your representatives, unfortunately I feel that it's the latter.
For us, the settlement process for the diesel scandal was handled well enough that we considered and then finally bought an Audi A4 to replace our Jetta. We had reservations, as Audi is part of Volkswagen Group, but eventually decided it would be okay to support the same company that deceived us and millions of others in the purchase of supposedly clean diesel vehicles. As a result of the steadfast refusal to make this card expiration right, I now regret the decision to buy another vehicle from Volkswagen Group and will not buy another of their vehicles in the future. I should have heeded my initial hesitation, and I urge anyone else considering a car from VW to look for a company that has the sense to at least pretend that "loyalty" is a two-way street and do right by their customers.
Sincerely,
Brian & Madeline Donovan