Opry Mills Gift Card Offer ‘Too Good to Be True’ for Many Customers

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Were you one of the lucky ones who recently received a postcard in the mail from Opry Mills?

And when you saw the offer, did you think to yourself, “This sounds too good to be true?”

Essentially, he was offering free money just for visiting the mall.

But people who tried to raise money said it turned out to be like the old saying.

Listen to the Stancil family talk about their experience in the player above.

When cards started arriving in mailboxes two weeks ago, people like Keith Stancil began to wonder.

“My first thought was, ‘This isn’t true,'” he said. NewsChannel Five is conducting an investigation. “You know, I mean, who gives out $50?”

According to the flyer, Opry Mills will give away a $25 American Express gift card and a $25 mall restaurant gift card to anyone who comes through one of these mailers before the end of the month.

“We had a week left and we thought, ‘Let’s go to the mall,’” Keith recalls.

So last week Stancil and his wife Diane drove from their Brentwood home to Opry Mills to pick up their gift cards.

Diana remembered that there were a lot of traffic jams there.

“It took us about an hour to get there,” she said.

But when they got to the guest services counter, the Stancils were told the promotion had ended early.

They initially said a representative blamed the Cheesecake Factory, one of the restaurants participating in the gift card promotion.

“He (the guest services employee) said, ‘Well, the Cheesecake Factory is tired of giving away too many cheesecakes,’” Diane explained.

“And I was like, ‘Seriously?’ – she added.

Most customers were told the mall no longer offered gift cards.

The fine print on the mailer states that gift cards are available “while supplies last.”

“I bet they only gave out five gift cards,” Diana guessed.

“We thought so. That’s exactly the feeling we had,” Keith then added.

“Do you think they (the mall) should have been willing to honor every card they mailed out?” – we asked the Stancils.

“Absolutely! And especially a week before the end of the promotion. You have to expect that if you do a promotion like this, you’ll have people coming to you wanting to buy it,” Keith said.

But what the Stancils say really left a bad taste in their mouths was after they were told the mall’s gift card promotion had ended.

“They (the guest services person) say, ‘Did you know you can get gift cards if you watch a 30-minute video?’ – said Diana.

These were not the advertised gift cards that were part of the original promotion, but rather travel vouchers to watch a 30-minute timeshare presentation from Wyndham Vacations.

“Yes,” she told us.

“It’s a bait and that’s what it was,” she said. “I saw so many people come up with their cards and they turned them away and tried to convince them to make a video. I just felt it was wrong to do this to people.”

However, even though Wyndham was allowed to staff the mall’s guest services department, Opry Mills managers said they were surprised by the development.

“Prior to receiving the customer complaint, Opry Mills was unaware that Wyndham representatives were offering an unrelated Wyndham promotion to customers who attempted to redeem Opry Mills gift cards after supplies were depleted,” an Opry Mills spokesperson said. NewsChannel Five is conducting an investigation in the statement. “This is a misunderstanding that Opry Mills addressed directly to Wyndham.”

It turned out that Opry Mills advised Wyndham to stop the extortion.

But when I walked up to the kiosk with my own postcard, a Wyndham employee asked me if I had ever heard of Margaritaville, the Wyndham timeshare location. He seemed ready to begin his presentation, but then he noticed my camera, immediately fell silent, and quickly headed back to the table.

“I’m very disappointed because we spent a lot of money in this shopping center,” Diana said.

The Stancils said they took their grandchildren to Opry Mills for years, but they may change their minds after this.

“They lured me into coming to the mall with this card,” Keith said.

“So they lost a client?” I wondered.

“Yes, they did,” Diana replied.

Opry Mills provided an additional statement.

“We apologize to our customers for any inconvenience or misunderstanding,” they wrote.

They also told us that they gave out gift cards to 350 customers. But they didn’t say how many of those pieces of mail were sent.

Meanwhile, a manager at The Cheesecake Factory told us that he was surprised to learn that they were accused of ending the promotion. He said they had nothing to do with the promotion and would never turn away customers who wanted cheesecake.

And while we don’t know exactly how many people showed up for gift cards and were turned away, Wyndham employees told us it was “a lot.”

Original Opry Mills Statement

The Opry Mills Gift Card promotion is available for a limited time, while supplies last. Given the generous nature of the promotion, customers quickly took advantage of the supply of gift cards allocated to us. Prior to receiving the customer complaint, Opry Mills was unaware that Wyndham representatives manning the guest service booth at Opry Mills were offering an unrelated Wyndham promotion to customers who attempted to obtain Opry Mills gift cards after supplies were depleted. It was a misunderstanding that Opry Mills addressed directly to Wyndham.

Subsequent statement from Opry Mills

Opry Mills’ recent gift card promotion was completely separate from any promotional activity Wyndham does as part of its agreement to staff the guest services counter. It would be wrong for you to say otherwise. More than 350 customers were able to take advantage of this promotion before supplies ran out. However, Wyndham representatives should not have offered an unrelated promotion to customers who tried to redeem Opry Mills gift cards after their supply had been depleted. We understand the confusion this has caused and immediately contacted Wyndham as soon as we became aware of this. We apologize to our customers for any inconvenience and any confusion this may have caused.