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Amy Johnson of Minneapolis bought a $12 carwash voucher in November from Calhoun Beach Automotive, a BP gas station in the Uptown area of Minneapolis, but found the line too long to wait in. So she stashed the receipt, which had a code that would let her enter the automated carwash and that expired in 30 days.
When she returned 37 days later, the code wouldn't grant her access. She thought that was unfair and is suing BP.
Johnson just wants her $12 back, but her lawyer, Shawn Wanta, said this kind of situation has happened to so many Minnesota consumers that it merits a class-action suit asking for damages of more than $5 million. That's what the law firm figures is the minimum value of carwash certificates since February 2008.
Wanta laid out these reasons in a lawsuit filed Friday before the U.S. District Court in the District of Minnesota:
-- Federal law prohibits the sale of gift certificates with an expiration date less than five years after the date of issuance.
-- Minnesota state law prohibits the sale of gift certificates with an expiration date of any kind.
-- Wanta estimates customers across the country have experienced this hundreds of thousands of times while BP gets money for doing absolutely nothing but irritating its customers.
BP, which operates in 80 countries and had $300 billion in sales last year, did not respond to the Watchdog's requests for this story.
When she returned 37 days later, the code wouldn't grant her access. She thought that was unfair and is suing BP.
Johnson just wants her $12 back, but her lawyer, Shawn Wanta, said this kind of situation has happened to so many Minnesota consumers that it merits a class-action suit asking for damages of more than $5 million. That's what the law firm figures is the minimum value of carwash certificates since February 2008.
Wanta laid out these reasons in a lawsuit filed Friday before the U.S. District Court in the District of Minnesota:
-- Federal law prohibits the sale of gift certificates with an expiration date less than five years after the date of issuance.
-- Minnesota state law prohibits the sale of gift certificates with an expiration date of any kind.
-- Wanta estimates customers across the country have experienced this hundreds of thousands of times while BP gets money for doing absolutely nothing but irritating its customers.
BP, which operates in 80 countries and had $300 billion in sales last year, did not respond to the Watchdog's requests for this story.
