Call Kurtis: Why can't I use my Peet's gift card at the Peet's store?
When a Penn Valley viewer found out the local Peet's wouldn't accept a Peet's gift card, she called on Kurtis Ming to investigate.
The confusing part: It's a Peet's inside the grocery store, but can you guess where she bought the gift card?
It was a $25 Peet's gift card that Virginia Simpkins bought from the gift card mall at the Raleys checkout in Grass Valley. But she says a clerk at the Peet's Located just a few feet away inside the same store would not accept it.
"I was very annoyed," she told CBS13. "I thought, 'Oh, this would make a great gift for my husband."
Turns out, this particular Peet's is not a company-owned store and they don't accept gift cards. In fact, Virginia learned that she'd have to drive 45 miles to Roseville to find a Peet's that did.
She didn't quite know what to do until some friends of hers had an idea. They recommended she Call Kurtis.
So that got us wondering: Why sell Peet's cards at this Raley's if they can't be used at the Peets in the same store?
Raley's tells us these cards are part of a Kiosk that sells many gift cards, and they are now considering posting signs at the checkout specifically about the Peet's card.
Peet's acknowledged the confusion, saying they are now changing the wording on the actual gift card to say the card won't work at "Peet's locations within airports, supermarkets, and other licensed locations."
But that's not the solution Virginia wanted.
"I thought the policy was wrong-headed," she told us.
Both Peet's and Raley's offered Virginia a refund, but she turned them down.
It's an issue that creeps up from time to time, with other companies too not accepting gift cards at airports, supermarkets or hotel locations. So it's always good to check where, exactly you can use the cards before you buy them.
