PORT RICHEY, Fla. (WFLA) – When Tracy Cartwright’s freezer stopped working, she was thrilled it was under warranty.
When the manufacturer failed to fix it four times, she was issued a full refund on a virtual prepaid MasterCard. But when she tried to use it, she discovered it expired.
That’s when she knew she’d Better Call Behnken.
“My question is, what happened to the money?” Cartwright said.
When her new freezer broke down, she was issued a full refund of $809.10 through her manufacturer’s warranty from Frigidaire and Electrolox. The money was on the virtual prepaid MasterCard. But when she tried to use it, she found the balance to be $0.
Then she looked up the account online.
“It said – expired 5/22. It was 6/13,” she said. “If I had of gotten an email, a letter, any type of correspondence that a gift card was going to expire – by all means I would have used it.”
A spokesperson for Electrolux North America sent this statement:
“When a consumer receives a prepaid refund card, the six-month expiration date is stated three times. We want our consumers to have a positive experience and understand that some may need more than six months to use the money. So, we go a step further by offering the option to transfer the money to a personal bank account before the expiration date, allowing consumers to use it on their schedule. Unfortunately, in this situation, the consumer did not take advantage of this.”
Cartwright purchased the freezer in July 2020 and her receipt shows she paid $1,036.94. She says she used her stimulus money to pay for it. She also purchased a 5-year protection plan from Home Depot for $160.
Meanwhile, state regulators are looking into the case. A spokeswoman for Home Depot also took another look at this case and says Home Depot is issuing a refund for the $160 extended warranty that Cartwright no longer needs.
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