Gift card balance dispute and replacement

How do we handle a lost or disputed gift card by checking the proof of purchase against the card's record, and restoring the balance or issuing a replacement?

Treat the card's ledger as the evidence and the proof of purchase as the key. When a customer reports a lost, stolen or disputed gift card, Callvu takes the claim (the card number or the order it was bought on, the amount believed remaining, the disputed transactions), prefills the card's record (the issue, the activation, the loads, each redemption with its channel and time, the balance) from the gift card system, chases the proof of purchase through a link (the order confirmation, the receipt with the card's identifier, the activation record), reads it and checks it against the ledger, classifies the claim (a lost card with a balance, a disputed redemption the holder did not make, a balance believed higher than the ledger, a card bought with a stolen payment), freezes the balance on a credible claim, routes a claim above the threshold, a disputed redemption or a fraud pattern to the gift card desk in the Decision Desk, restores the balance to a replacement card or declines with the reason, and writes the outcome to the order management system, the system of record, with the card ledger updated.

In scopeSimpleCallvu moves: chase and verify, decide, write back

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Last updated November 7, 2026.

The problem today

The caller knew the card number and the balance, which was all the agent needed to move the balance to a new card.

Today, without Callvu

Gift cards are cash with a number, and the number leaks: a photo of the back, a drained card returned to the rack, a phishing message. A customer calls about a missing balance; an agent with no ledger in front of them issues a replacement from the number alone, or refuses the honest holder because the policy says gift cards are not replaceable. Both cost the retailer, and the state laws on gift cards set rules the policy must respect.

The card has a ledger: when it was issued and activated, on what order and payment, each load and each redemption with the channel, the time and the order. The proof of purchase ties a person to the card. The claim is a comparison of what the holder says with what the ledger shows, with a freeze while it is checked. The federal and state laws on expiration, fees and unclaimed balances set what the balance is worth and for how long.

A gift card claim decided on the ledger and the proof of purchase is one the retailer can honor for the honest holder and refuse to the fraudster.

How it runs

From the requestto the system of record.

A customer reports a lost, stolen or disputed gift card balance in any channel. Callvu opens the claim.

Customer: Reports the claim, uploads the proof of purchase and receives the replacement or the reason.
Gift card desk: Decides claims above the threshold, disputed redemptions and fraud patterns in the Decision Desk.
Callvu: Takes the claim, prefills the ledger, chases and checks proof, classifies, freezes, routes, restores and writes.

Take the claim and prefill the ledger
The claim is taken (the card number if known, or the order or the gift receipt it came from; the amount believed remaining; the redemptions the holder disputes with dates); the card's record is prefilled from the gift card system: the issue and activation with the purchasing order and payment, each load, each redemption with its channel, time, order and delivery address where online, and the current balance; a credible claim freezes the remaining balance pending the check.
Chase and verify the proof
The proof of purchase is requested through a link (the order confirmation or the receipt showing the card's identifier, or the gift message with the activation record for a recipient) and read on arrival; it is checked against the ledger: the identifier matches, the purchase date and amount match the activation, the purchaser or the recipient matches the claimant; the disputed redemptions are checked against the channel and the delivery data.
Classify and decide
The claim is classified: a lost or stolen card with a verified balance (replacement), a disputed online redemption shipped to an address not the holder's (fraud on the card, reverse where the order can be stopped), a balance believed higher than the ledger (an explanation with the ledger), a card bought with a stolen payment (the card is void under the policy); a claim within the threshold with proof that passes and no fraud pattern resolves by rule; a claim above the threshold, a disputed redemption already fulfilled, proof that does not match, a card tied to a fraud pattern (a batch of cards drained to one account) or a repeat claimant goes to the gift card desk in the Decision Desk with the ledger and the proof and only the allowed outcomes (replace the balance, replace in part, void and refer to fraud, or decline with the reason).
Restore and write back
The verified balance is moved to a replacement card (digital, delivered to the verified contact) and the old card is cancelled, or the decline with the ledger explanation is sent; the outcome is written to the order management system, the system of record, against the original order and the card, the gift card ledger is updated with the freeze, the transfer and the reasons, and the pattern feeds the fraud rules and the store controls.

Where it ends: The claim was checked against the card's ledger with the proof of purchase, frozen while checked, decided by rule within the threshold and by the gift card desk above it, and the balance restored or the reason given, with the order management system and the ledger holding the outcome. The Decision Trace shows the ledger checks, the classification and any decision; the Audit Trace shows the claim, the freeze, the proof and the replacement with time.

Runtime enforcement

What is enforcedwhile the work runs.

The regulations preloaded in Callvu Studio and the bank's own policies, applied as steps that run, not lines in a binder. A step that breaks a rule does not run, so a completed run was compliant.

Regulations

State gift card laws: The state gift card laws set the rules on expiration and fees (many states prohibit expiration or dormancy fees entirely, and the federal Credit CARD Act requires at least five years from issue or last load before expiration and limits fees), on cash redemption of small remaining balances (for example California requires cash back under ten dollars), on the treatment of unredeemed balances under the unclaimed property laws, and in some states on the disclosure of the terms; a replacement carries the original card's terms and dates, and the ledger evidences the balance for the escheat reporting.
Federal gift card rules (the Credit CARD Act of 2009 and Regulation E, 12 CFR 1005.20): Store gift cards may not expire sooner than five years from issuance or the last load, dormancy and service fees are limited and must be disclosed, and the terms must be printed on the card or disclosed before purchase; a claim that the card expired or was charged a fee is tested against these.
Consumer protection and fraud (the FTC Act Section 5 and the FTC's gift card scam guidance; the retailer's gift card fraud policy): The retailer's policy on lost and stolen cards must be disclosed and applied consistently; the fraud patterns (cards drained online to one account, cards tampered on the rack, cards bought under scam pressure) are the retailer's controls, and the desk may void cards obtained through a stolen payment under the policy.

Company policies

No balance moves on the card number alone; the ledger and the proof of purchase decide.
A credible claim freezes the balance while it is checked.
Thresholds and patterns route to the gift card desk; the honest holder with proof is replaced by rule.
The order management system and the gift card ledger are the systems of record for the outcome.

Controls

Claim capture and ledger prefill.
Balance freeze on a credible claim.
Proof of purchase chase with ledger checks.
Claim classification with fraud patterns.
Decision Desk for thresholds and disputes.
Replacement issue, cancellation and write.

Clocks and deadlines

Freeze: On a credible claim, until the decision.
Proof chase: Reminders on the schedule; a claim without proof closes after the policy's period with the freeze lifted or the desk's decision.
Expiration and escheat: The card's dates under the federal and state rules, carried to the replacement.

Documents and checks

The claim and the ledger
The proof of purchase as read and checked
The classification and the freeze
Any decision
The replacement, the cancellation and the order management record

In the Decision Trace

The ledger checks and the proof match.
The classification.
Any decision and the person.

In the Audit Trace

The claim and the freeze with time.
The proof with time.
The replacement, the cancellation and the write.

The handoff

Between the front doorand the back office.

The front door

Any channel; the customer uploads the proof of purchase through a link and receives the replacement digitally.

The back office

The gift card desk decides only thresholds, disputes and patterns; the stores see the rack tampering patterns.

The Decision Desk

A claim above the threshold, a fulfilled disputed redemption, mismatched proof, a fraud pattern or a repeat claimant goes to the gift card desk in the Decision Desk with the ledger and the proof and only replace, replace in part, void and refer to fraud, or decline with reason.

Proof

In scope.Proof at scale, not one process at a time.

The kind of process Callvu runs in production for customers in this industry. Ask for a reference on this exact process. The results below are the industry's published proof; each claim code links to its record on agents.callvu.com.

More than 1,000 processes are live across Callvu customers.

Across Callvu customers

Callvu requests missing documents from the right party on a clock, reads them on arrival (OCR) and checks each against what the case needs.

HND-04 · Self-asserted · verified 2026-11-02

When a person must decide, the case goes to the right reviewer in the Decision Desk, with only the allowed choices, and the run waits for the decision.

CAP-07 · Self-asserted · verified 2026-11-02

Every run produces a Decision Trace (why each AI action was allowed) and every workflow execution an Audit Trace (the chronological governance record).

ENF-03 · Self-asserted · verified 2026-11-02

Questions

What buyers ask next,answered plainly.

Can a lost gift card be replaced?

With the proof of purchase matched to the card's ledger and a verified remaining balance, the balance moves to a replacement card by rule within the threshold; the policy on lost cards is disclosed and applied consistently.

What if the balance was spent online by someone else?

The disputed redemptions are checked against the channel and the delivery data; an order that can be stopped is reversed, and a fulfilled one goes to the gift card desk with the evidence.

Do gift cards expire?

Not sooner than five years from issue or the last load under federal law, and never in many states; a replacement carries the original dates and terms.

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