Bend game store owner in middle of gift card flap

The owner of Game Quest in Bend is choosing not to honor a customer’s expired gift card. He argues the law is on his side, but many customers are unclear what the law is, amid what’s become a social media-fueled controversy.

Since 2008, around $50 billion in U.S. gift cards have yet to be redeemed. Oregon has changed many of its gift card laws to address this issue.

“In 2008 is when the law passed, and basically if any business issues a gift card after that date, the gift card doesn’t expire,” Game Quest owner Shawn Wallbaum explained Wednesday

Under the new law, a gift card cannot expire unless purchased at a discounted rate.

Andrea Alford tried to use an old $60 Game Quest gift card and was denied.

“The reason that we didn’t use it sooner was that we had the owner’s personal, verbal, and written guarantee that it would never expire,” Alford said.

According to the Oregon Department of Justice, gift cards that were issued before the law changed in 2007 can legally expire.

The store owner says the gift card was purchased prior to 2007, but the customer says otherwise. The card itself does not show an issue date.

For Alford, the card is much more than a gift card, and it holds sentimental value.

“It’s not about the $60,” she said. “its about how people should be treated in a business in Bend.”

Alford said her son originally received the gift card from an anonymous donor for his birthday when their family was going through hard times. Game Stop in the Old Mill heard Alford’s story and offered her son a $60 gift card.

Alford said that she no longer wants the gift card from Game Quest, but instead wants Wallbaum to donate the $60 to Grandma’s House charity. The gift card started out as a donation, and she would now like to pay it forward. Once the charity receives the $60, Alford said will stop pursuing this matter.

Wallbaum said he’d called the police on Alford, and she is no longer allowed to contact him or go into the store.

Alford reached out to social media and got what she termed a surprising amount of support.

But Wallbaum said these supporters are hurting his business, and he is unable to defend himself without it sounding to many like an excuse.

Both parties are sticking to their beliefs, but they do agree on one thing: They both want this issue to be resolved so they can move forward with their lives.

Wallbaum also has made use of social media to defend himself. After Wednesday’s story aired, he posted a note to KTVZ’s Facebook page, offering to donate $60 to any charity in her name if Alford stops “the continuous social media slamming” by herself and others.