ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – A Northeast Florida gift card company and its owner have been permanently banned from doing business in Florida, and the News4JAX I-TEAM is hearing from customers who say they were deceived by the online company.
The court’s decision, which was sparked by dozens of consumer complaints, was handed down against Gift Card Deal Marketplace Inc., which operated as giftcarddeal.com, and its owner Adam Johnson, after a judge found the company was cheating customers.
It started with a lawsuit by the Florida Attorney General’s Office that said dozens of people paid for gift cards online but never got what they were promised. Now, the company and its owner are facing major penalties.
On giftcarddeal.com, it’s advertised that you can buy gift cards at a fraction of what they’re worth. Records show it’s run by a couple in Ponte Vedra, and in a final judgment, the court called the defendants’ conduct “unfair, deceptive, and unconscionable.”
According to the lawsuit, at least 75 consumers reported paying for gift cards through the company’s website but never receiving them, receiving cards worth less than what they paid, or getting cards that were not for the promised retailers.
Other customers said the gift cards were not delivered within the promised timeframe, and the company failed to respond to refund requests or denied them altogether.
Johnson told News4JAX technical problems, including hacking and security issues, disrupted the company’s ability to fulfill customer orders, leading to uncompleted purchases.
He added he is working to resolve outstanding orders and issue refunds, with a goal of addressing all affected customers within 60 days. He also described the situation as a difficult experience for his family and said he intends to make things right with customers.
‘Never did receive the card’
The I-TEAM spent hours talking to people on the state’s witness list who are from all over the country. Most of them have a similar story.
“I was trying to buy Disney, a Disney gift card. I believe the value would have been probably about $500,” said Florida resident Julie Chudzinski.
She said she was trying to save some money on an upcoming Disney trip.
“It was heavily shared on Disney Facebook groups. And I had planned on using it, I believe, for my visit in February, and I never did receive the card,” Chudzinski said. “When I emailed to cancel the order, they were pretty rude in the email.”
Chudzinski said the company tried to suggest it would take more time to receive the cards, but she’d had enough.
“I ended up filing a dispute with my bank,” she said.
And she got her money back.
While Chudzinski didn’t spend much on the gift cards, another victim we talked with in Wisconsin spent $2,000 on the site.
$858K financial judgment
The Attorney General’s Office, which said it began receiving complaints as early as 2019, argued that the company’s practices violated the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.
Because the defendants did not respond to the lawsuit, a St. Johns County circuit judge entered a default final judgment on March 18 against Gift Card Deal Marketplace Inc.
Under the order, the business and its owner are permanently barred from selling, marketing or accepting payment for gift cards in Florida. They are also prohibited from conducting any online sales in the state.
But as of Monday, giftcarddeal.com was still active online.
“I was under the impression that they were supposed to shut that down, but that website is still up,” Chudzinski said.
In addition to barring them from doing business in Florida, the court ordered the defendants to pay $48,676.04 in restitution to affected consumers and imposed $810,000 in civil penalties.
That brings the total financial judgment against Gift Card Deal Marketplace Inc. to more than $858,000.
The court also ruled the state is entitled to attorney’s fees and costs, which will be determined at a later hearing.
It’s not yet clear how or when affected consumers will receive restitution.
Another lawsuit
In a separate legal filing, GoDaddy says its payment processing company had to refund approximately $2 million from over 1,600 chargebacks for invalid gift cards tied to the owners of giftcarddeal.com.
GoDaddy claims Gift Card Deal Marketplace Inc. never paid GoDaddy back, leading to arbitration.
The judge ruled GoDaddy was entitled to collect $2,283,073 – but the owners are now trying to stop wage garnishments, arguing they can’t afford basic expenses.
That request is being challenged with a hearing set for late April.