My husband loves obscure music.  For his birthday, I bought him a $10 iTunes gift card so that he could pick out whatever he wanted and I wouldn’t have to listen to it!

Rather than gently scratching off the code on the back of the card with a coin (as suggested on the card), he used the serrated edge of a pin he got for being a member of Rotary years ago.

He scratched the code right off the gift card.  Rather than face me rolling my eyes at him, he took the matter into his own hands, and e-mailed iTunes support for help.  (Apparently it happens a lot because it’s on their list of frequently asked questions.)  Several e-mails were exchanged, and the solution was simple.  If my husband had his receipt and his gift card, they would be able to reissue the code so that he could redeem the card.

I was able to find the receipt (don’t ask me how, receipt organization is not a priority in my house), and he was able to redeem the gift card.

We came away from the experience with a few good lessons:

Always use a coin to gently scratch off the pin numbers for gift cards.

Be sure to contact the company if you have a problem with your gift card.

And keep those receipts!