Your health club went bankrupt and you had just paid your membership fee, you got a gift certificate a month ago for a tanning salon that just closed without notice, or you've been waiting to use that $50 gift card at a local restaurant and now there's a sign on the door saying "out of business"
It can be so frustrating when you've paid for something you can't use and most of the time you'll never get an apology from the person who took your money. In most cases they close up shop and disappear, leaving you with very little recourse. If they do stick around it's only to go through the bankruptcy proceedings and 9 times out of 10... there's not enough money left in the end for you to get your money back.
Customers are at the bottom of the claim pool when it comes to bankruptcy. All of the assets get liquidated and the major creditors get paid off first (mortgage company, business loans and credit card companies) and it's very rare there's even enough to settle with them, let alone pay customers back $50 or $100 bucks.
It's not fair by any means but it's one of those things there's not much that can be done about. Perhaps the most aggravating thing I've heard from people is that it was just a day or two before a place closed that they accepted your money!
Have you ever been left with a useless gift certificate or a membership to a closed club? Did you have any luck tracking the owner down for a refund?
