| Governor Signs Gift Certificate Bill |
| (Columbia) - South Carolina consumers will
have some extra help to safeguard their money this holiday season.
Governor Mark Sanford signed a bill into law Thursday protecting shoppers from losing money on gift certificates. State lawmakers passed the bill requiring merchants to disclose expiration and value change information on gift certificates after the idea was passed along from the Department of Consumer Affairs. Brandolyn Pinkston of Consumer Affairs says her office has received several complaints from shoppers with gift certificates that had expired, but weren’t marked. Sanford says the bill will give consumers a clearer idea of how long they have to use certificates. “What this bill simply does is safeguards consumers by allowing them to know if something's going to expire, when it expires, and if something doesn't expire, the full value will still be there,” Gov. Sanford said. Last year, consumers spent $45 billion dollars on gift certificates and 10% of that amount was lost or expired. |