I bought some gift cards for a friend of mine in London. She attempted to use them but ultimately sent them back to me, saying she couldn't get them to work. I checked their balance online, and sure enough, they all had a balance of $0.00.

I wrote the thegiftcardcentre.co.uk to ask for a refund. I got several sketchy responses explaining the many ways either my friend or I had messed up the cards. They needed activating, they were sent using the wrong postal system, etc., etc. They offered a refund, though, which I accepted.

The next day, I then received another email saying that the cards should have worked and they now need them back from me claiming that in their possession, they could check which ones were spent where, etc. Nonsense. All you need is the card numbers and you can track all that stuff. What they were hoping for was that I had discarded the cards so I couldn't send them back.

I sent the cards back, and took pictures of the shipping documents. We went round and round a few times, but, ultimately, I sent the proof of return shipping to my credit card company which I'd used to purchase the cards. My credit card company ultimately refunded the charges to me, instead of thegiftcardcentre.co.uk. In the end, I lost about $40 because of the shipping charge to get the cards back to them. But, I go the $375 that I spent on the cards back, so, at least I didn't lose everything.

These guys are scam artists. Don't be taken in by these guys!

Got an "ewishcard" from thegiftcardcentre.co.uk for my birthday, allowed me to buy any gift card on their website, so I chose Debenhams. Easy and quick - hopefully I'll get more of these

Easy purchase of an ituens gift card, received in post the next day as promised