Starting Feb 9, Trompe Loeil V3 Gift Cards will be using the Classic distribution method instead of the Modern method used starting last November, which was causing customer issues. These Modern Gift Cards with the usability issues are named “Trompe Loeil Gift Card V3 – Wear To Activate”. Please contact Cory Edo if you purchased a V3 Gift Card before Feb 9 with plans to give it away and have experienced problems with the balance reading $L0 – we will be happy to help correct the problem ASAP. New Classic Gift Cards sold from Feb 9 onward are named “Trompe Loeil Gift Card V3 Classic” and do not have the behavior that causes balance issues when transferred.
The full details:
The CasperVend system upgraded its Gift Card product in 2019 from V2.21 to V3. The new V3 system has two distribution options: Modern and Classic. Trompe Loeil decided when upgrading to go with the Modern method, for the following reasons: it offered the ability to redeliver unactivated Gift Cards (great for busy sales periods when purchases can sometimes go missing), and the ability for customers to combine Gift Card balances on their own, without turning them in and requesting a new consolidated card.
Unfortunately, we discovered soon after our Black Friday Gift Card Sale that some Modern method cards were either being transferred with a $L0 balance, or were being activated and assigned an incorrect value. This problem did not affect all purchases, but there were enough issues with expected Gift Card behavior that we feel the potential problems outweigh the benefits of the Modern method.
Starting Feb 9, all Trompe Loeil Gift Card V3 purchases will deliver a Gift Card using the Classic method instead. These Gift Cards have an amount associated with the Card itself and the amount transfers with the Card when given away. These Gift Cards cannot be redelivered or combined by the customer. These Gift Cards are named “Trompe Loeil Gift Card V3 Classic” to distinguish them from previously purchased or distributed V3 Gift Cards, which are named “Trompe Loeil Gift Card V3 – Wear To Activate”.
Any Gift Card balances from the Modern V3 Gift Cards purchased between November 2019 and February 2020 remain associated with your individual customer entry in the CasperVend database, and can be spent at any point by wearing that Card to make a Gift Card purchase as normal.
A very few V3 Classic Gift Cards are already in circulation due to Trompe Loeil manually replacing or distributing them to customers – if you contacted Cory Edo for problems or replacements with your V3 Gift Card, the replacement issued to you is a Classic V3 Card even if the name does not indicate it.
We’d like to personally and sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and hassle this has caused many of our customers. Our Black Friday Gift Card Sale is huge and so many people purchase their holiday gifts at this sale, and to discover that you’ve accidentally gifted someone an empty Gift Card is both embarrassing and reflects terribly on Trompe Loeil as a brand that cares about quality. We take full responsibility for not additionally testing the Modern distribution method in-house for usability problems before selling them at our largest sale of the year.
If you purchased a V3 Gift Card before Feb 9 with plans to give it away and have experienced problems with the balance reading $L0 – we will be happy to help correct the problem ASAP. Please contact Cory Edo directly and we will work to make things right, plus provide an additional $L250 Gift Card to the purchaser and the recipient as our way of saying sorry.
Thanks to all of our wonderful customers who have supported Trompe Loeil through the years, and thank you for reading!
