Opry Mills gift card offer is ‘too good to be true’ for many customers

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) – Were you one of the lucky people who recently received a card in the mail from the Opry Mills Mall?

And when you saw the offer, did you think to yourself, “This sounds too good to be true?”

It essentially offered free money just if you stopped by the mall.

But people who tried to rally said it was exactly the same as that old saying.

Listen to the Stancil family in the player above about their experiences.

When the cards arrived in mailboxes two weeks ago, people like Keith Stancil started wondering.

“My first thought was, ‘This isn’t real,’” he said News Channel 5 investigates. “You know, I mean, who gives away $50?”

According to the flyer, Opry Mills would give a $25 American Express gift card and a $25 mall gift card to anyone who showed up with either of these mailers before the end of the month.

“We had another week and we were like, ‘Let’s go to the mall,’” Keith recalls.

So last week, Stancil and his wife Diana drove from their home in Brentwood to Opry Mills to pick up their gift cards.

Diana remembered that there was a lot of traffic.

“It took us about an hour to get there,” she said.

But when they got to the Guest Services desk, the Stancils were told the promotion had ended early.

Initially, they said the representative blamed the Cheesecake Factory – one of the restaurants participating in the gift card promotion.

“He (the Guest Services desk clerk) said, ‘Well, the Cheesecake Factory got tired of giving away too many cheesecakes,’” Diana explained.

“And I’m like, ‘Seriously?'” she added.

Most customers were told the mall had run out of gift cards to give out.

The fine print on the mailing states that the gift cards were available “while supplies last.”

“I bet they only gave away five gift cards,” Diana suggested.

‘We thought so too. That’s the feeling we got,” Keith then added.

“Do you think they (the mall) should have been willing to honor every card they sent?” we asked the Stancils.

“Absolutely! And especially a week before the promotion ended. You have to expect that when you do a promotion like that, people are going to come and want to redeem it,” Keith said.

But what the Stancils said really left a bad taste in their mouths, and that’s what happened after they were told the mall’s gift card promotion was over.

“They (the Guest Services desk clerk) say, ‘Did you know you can get gift cards if you watch a 30-minute video?’” Diana described.

These were not the advertised gift cards that were part of the original promotion, but rather travel vouchers for viewing a 30-minute timeshare pitch from the timeshare company Wyndham Vacations.

“Yes,” she told us.

“It’s a bait and switch is what it was,” she said. “I saw so many people coming up with their cards and sending them away and trying to convince them to make the video. I just felt like it was wrong to do that to people.”

But despite allowing Wyndham to staff the mall’s Guest Services desk, Opry Mills managers claimed they were surprised this happened.

“Until Opry Mills received a customer complaint, Opry Mills was not aware that Wyndham representatives had offered an unrelated Wyndham promotion to customers who wanted to claim Opry Mills gift cards after inventory had been depleted,” shared a spokesperson for Opry Mills. News Channel 5 investigates in a statement. “This was a misunderstanding that Opry Mills addressed directly with Wyndham.”

It appeared that Opry Mills told Wyndham to stop asking questions.

But when I went to the kiosk with a postcard of my own, the Wyndham employee asked if I’d ever heard of Margaritaville, a timeshare location in Wyndham. He seemed all ready to start his pitch, but then saw my camera, immediately stopped talking and quickly walked back behind the desk.

“I’m really disappointed because we spent a lot of money in that mall,” Diana said.

The Stancils described how they have been taking their grandchildren to Opry Mills for years, but after this they may reconsider.

“They lured me to the mall with this card,” Keith said.

“So they lost a customer, that’s what it sounds like?” I wondered.

“Yes, that’s right,” Diana replied.

Opry Mills issued a follow-up statement.

“We apologize to our customers for any inconvenience and misunderstandings,” they wrote.

They also told us that they had given gift cards to 350 customers. But they declined to say how many of those mailers were sent.

Meanwhile, the manager of the Cheesecake Factory said he was surprised to hear they were being blamed for ending the promotion. He said they had nothing to do with the promotion and that they would never turn away customers who want cheesecake.

And while we don’t know exactly how many people showed up to get gift cards and were turned away, Wyndham employees told us it was “a lot.”

Original statement from Opry Mills

The Opry Mills gift card promotion was valid for a limited time only while supplies last. Given the generous nature of the promotion, customers were able to quickly redeem our allocated stock of gift vouchers. Until receiving a customer complaint, Opry Mills was unaware that Wyndham representatives staffing the guest services booth at Opry Mills had offered an unrelated Wyndham promotion to customers who wanted to claim Opry Mills gift cards after supplies were exhausted. This was a misunderstanding that Opry Mills addressed directly with Wyndham.

Follow-up statement from Opry Mills

The recent Opry Mills gift card promotion was completely separate from any promotional activities Wyndham undertakes as part of their agreement to staff the guest services desk. It would be incorrect to suggest otherwise. More than 350 customers were able to take advantage of this promotion before stocks ran out. However, Wyndham representatives should not have offered an unrelated promotion to customers who wanted to claim Opry Mills gift cards after that supply had been depleted. We understand the confusion this caused and immediately addressed this situation with Wyndham as soon as we became aware of it. We apologize to our customers for any inconvenience and misunderstandings this may have caused.