<prompt> Human: My wife went to a hair salon today. Now I wasnt there but when it came time to pay they told her that they did not accept gift cards at this location because they were a franchisee and to go to a different location to use it. She ended up paying with our Amex. This sounds highly illegal. Isnt the point of a gift card to be used at a specific chain anyways? They can just get their money from corporate who paid to make the GC in the first place. I plan on going back there tomorrow to talk with the manager. Please advise. edit: I have the gift card and on the back it says that it only works at participating locations. Ive never seen this shit before. Buy a store gift card which can only be used at certain stores so when you get there they tell it they dont accept it at this location and force you to spend more money to pay them. Is this even legal?double edit: apparently you can only use it at 2 stores in the state of IL lmao  <response>: I dont see how its illegal. A classic example is a franchised Starbucks inside a barnes and noble. They accept BN GCs, not Sbux. 