This is a first for me.
Delta has sent me the above letter that if I do not act – FAST – they are going to turn over one of my Delta eGift cards to abandoned / unclaimed property. Let’s dive into why this notice is not only post-worthy but also maybe RANT worthy! 😉
For many, many years you could buy Delta eGift cards as a way to get your Amex Platinum (consumer and business) or consumer Amex Gold yearly travel credits as a Delta flyer. That not only ended, but we have many reports of Amex even clawing back the credits if you have done this recently and even with CLOSED accounts. This really stinks as most elites have simply no good way to burn up these credits any other way and especially so during the COVID-19 crisis.
I posted a while back about how simple it was on Delta.com to check the balances on a number of Delta gift cards at once. But Delta’s “crack” team of IT subcontractors have had all the time in the world to break this useful page on Delta.dumb (oh, they also broke the last useful flight search booking page so now you are better off starting at other sites than Delta.com to search for flights). Now you have to keep adding “+Add Gift Cards” one after another.
I have for a long time ranted about the fact that Delta simply does not do much to help you keep track of your purchased Delta eGift cards. You can not enter them on your “My Delta” and you have to keep track of both the code and the pin (you can not change the pin btw). Also, you can not lump these into a simple “On Board” account if you will (hey, that would be something useful Delta – put the IT subcontractors to work on this, please!).
The only good thing that has happened as of late is something I blogged last year about this time that you can now use just about unlimited amounts of Delta gift cards to buy a single ticket. Yes, you have to call and with the current COVID-19 situation that could take a very, very long time on hold to get a rep. Ah, well.
So why is Delta sending out these letters? My guess is they legally have to. Clearly, as talked about above, they do not try to do anything good to help us keep track and thus this is the final step before they can unload them from the books.
Have you got one of these letters? Are you as irritated as I am that Delta is so unhelpful when it comes to keeping track of Delta gift cards? – René
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Perhaps this is an easy way for Delta accountants to write of liabilities, in order to make their balance sheets look better. That might make it easier to secure loans at a lower cost. Just a thought…but you know if I thought of it, Delta thought of it first!
Great post!
I received a similar letter about a Vendor check being the “unclaimed property” and contacted Delta. This is a Phishing Scam
The letter refers to an email address AbandonedProperty.Delta@delta.com that does not exist
thanks for your comment. I just got one of these letters today and felt like it was phish-y. Good to know that my instincts were right.
Maybe they haven’t done this because gift cards aren’t intended to be bought in bulk to be used by the person who bought them? Most people are not going to have lots of gift cards.
@Barry – I would hardly consider buying $200 in Delta gift cards per year “bulk”.
True.
Rene- I just got one of these letters- but my deadline is too close to return the letter to them. So is my $200 gift card gone!? Is there someone I can call!?
I’ve used mine ever after receiving those letters. But maybe book a trip with it and then cancel a few days later — and then ask for the funds to be kept as a voucher.
I got the same letter(s). 8 of them! I think what happened to me is that when I called in to redeem the gift cards (took about 90 minutes to do it over the phone) there is some back end process they do where they bundle the gift cards into a new gift card and then issue a ticket. I could be wrong though. Also, another data point is that the purchase dates of my GCs were all late 2016 and early 2017. Looks like your purchase was around the same time as well. Perhaps there’s a 3 or 3.5 year statute of limitation at play?
Any idea if they get turned over to unclaimed property if it turns back into cash, or stays as a gift card?
I see this as a great way to get rid of your gift cards. Once the state lists the cards in unclaimed property you can retrieve the money from the state by providing a notorized copy of the state form. Then you don’t have to deal with the limitations on using your cards anymore.
@Nancy – Hummm… interesting.
Except, according to a long string on FT, NO ONE has ever found the cards or credit on their state’s unclaimed property sites.
@Mary Beth Hebert – I just now (since this post is 2 years old) got another letter on another gift card that I had to fill out to keep it from going poof. I have a feeling that either your state or Delta gets the proceeds if you do not either use the card or fill out the form.
Not true, I had 3 with the state of GA and one with the state of TN and I was able to get a check from each state within 30 days of submitting my claims. I prefer the cash over the gift card as I can spend anywhere.
I just got 6 of these letters, all from gift card earned in 2017. Four of these GC were used already and two were still good and I indicated as such. Hopefully these will be maintained. I got no letters for GCs earned after 2017. Maybe this is a three year thing.
When something is turned over to the state’s unclaimed property division the liability cannot be written off, it still exists.
I received a letter asking about a balance of $150 . I mailed it back and told them I wanted to still claim the voucher, and or gift card balance. Nothing happened for weeks. I called the Reservationist at Delta, they can not open any unpaid balance. I was given the abandoned property@ feta. Com email address to check on my balance from 2017, as the letter said. It returned as the wrong email address. What do I do now? I want to use it to fly in October. Anyone know what to do? I think it maybe a misplaced voucher from a mechanical problem the Delta jet had in 2017. Never heard anything after mailing the card back either!
Everyone,
Yes, I wish DL would help us track these GCs, but please read on for an explanation and a way to hack these cards to cash.
This is a legal requirement. Depending on your state, there are specified dormancy periods after which the value of unused gift cards MUST be turned over to the state. The same goes for uncashed deposit checks from a utility or from your health insurer or uncashed dividend checks. Stocks are required to be turned over as well if you do not vote in a shareholder election, cash a dividend check, or otherwise contact the company.
States bank the money and collect the interest for their budgets, but the original value is always yours. Read on for the hack.
The legal term is escheatment. I handled investor relations for a public company and it was a major headache to comply. And different states have different dormancy requirements so you can imagine there is an entire industry built around this. There are “finders” who scour the public records and offer to help you recover funds for 30%-50% of the value. There are audit firms who work for the states that try to uncover violations so that the states can get extra money in fines. The list goes on.
NOW–here is how you can convert these cards to cash if you want. Go ahead and allow them to be turned over to the state. The state will hold the money and will send it to you once you file a claim. It is not a hard process, just somewhat time-consuming.
You probably have some amounts already being held. There is a national data resource operated by the states that you can check (https://unclaimed.org/search-for-your-unclaimed-property-its-free/). You can also check with your states–generally, there is an unclaimed property section on the website of your secretary of State or Treasurer. Just search for “[your state] unclaimed property.”
Have fund–something like 10% of Americans have some amount of unclaimed property.
I got the same letter a while ago and I do have a number of gift cards from 2016-2017 of which I am aware. HOWEVER, I could not find the GC referenced in the letter so I called Delta. Delta refused to give me any help in retrieving it. They said they could not provide me with any information to allow me to use the GC. How absurd. They had enough information to track me down and ask if I still had it, but would not share the details. So, off to unclaimed funds it went.
You should not be so harsh on Delta. This is probably required under the State Escheat Law which I assume is Georgia.
With respect to the comments regarding to do this to remove liabilities from the Balance Sheet, why would they ever want to send cash to State? It is not written off.
Or just take the uncomplicated way out and check the option for them to “…maintain the balance for me.” Assuming you’ll be flying Delta again in the future.
Seeing the above approx 9 months later now that I also received the letter. Looks like I do not have details on the PIN for the specific GC mentioned in the letter dated last week. Since I have no way to use the gift card without pin, thinking to allow them to turn over to state then try to claim.
It is weird that they expect folks to take pains to write in physical letter and mail it just to say (all except 1st option) that they no longer want or need the gift card? Ridiculous totally — I assume NO ONE would write them back and mail them though I see some comments above some having done that! completely flabbergasted on why anyone would want to write back to tell them please get rid of the card from your records etc?
If I tell them to maintain balance, there is no way to use without the PIN. It is possible this one I have used already so expunged the records. I do have other card from that era (mine was 2014).
I thought one of these letters as well and I was just wondering if you could please send me a phone number to call rather than an email that does not exist thank you kindly
Maybe start with calling the Reservations number (800-221-1212) or if you’re a Medallion, that help desk.
I received such a letter today. I cannot find the card think I misplaced it when I moved as I lost quire a few things. Been looking it, but think i will not answer and see if Florida will give me cash for the unused card. I am not sure i will hear from Florida will check the website in a few months. Has anyone had any luck getting the unused card turned into cash from a state? Thanks
I just read that Florida along with other states does not consider unused gift cards to be unclaimed property. Has anyone in Florida ever received any funds for such unused gift cards? From what I read seems quite hopeless.
So, if you receive this letter, and you HAVE already USED the gift card, but still have redemption code. Anybody try using it again? Delta can’t even keep track of the redeemed gift cards? That is nuts.
@SP – You can check balance on Delta.com and if you have already used it you should not, IMO, use it again.
Last week, I received 5 of them; all bought 5 years ago. It does look legit. Below is the auto email response
“Thank you for contacting Abandoned Property. Due to the high volume of emails, you should receive a response within 5 business days. Please see below on how enquiries are handled regarding Abandoned Property**
It’s imperative that you check a response on the Due Diligence Letter and mail your response to the address listed within the letter
If you are enquiring about an Abandoned Property check, such as Payroll, Vendor, Refunds or Benefits, please provide the check number and name listed on the Due Diligence Letter
Gift Card Holders: Abandoned Property can only advise that we will maintain the balance on a gift card(s). For questions about the gift card in your possession, please visit delta.com/giftcardfaqs or email deltagiftcards@delta.com and attach photos of (1) your Due Diligence Letter plus (2) back of your Delta Gift Card if it’s a physical card.
After 2pm EST 12/23/2021, Abandonded Property will return on 01/04/2022.
Sincerecly,
Abandonded Property”