Victoria’s Secret Revealed: A Discount Is Not a Gift

A store specializing in the sale of scanty lingerie has agreed to a settlement of more than $100,000 with the San Diego city attorney’s office because of a fraudulent gift-certificate program.

Deputy City Atty. Tricia Johnson said Victoria’s Secret Stores Inc. engaged in too much corporate hanky-panky by offering “free” $10 gift certificates that were nothing more than discount coupons requiring a purchase of at least $50.

Johnson said Friday the city’s consumer and environmental protection unit acted on a complaint from a San Diego woman who tried to cash in such a certificate, but discovered she had to buy $50 worth of panties and the like to have the price reduced by $10.

“The position we took is that the public has come to understand a gift certificate to mean a piece of paper worth what the dollar figure says it is,” Johnson said. “It means one should be able to take in the piece of paper and get that much in merchandise.”

The city’s complaint alleged that 55 Victoria’s Secret stores throughout California engaged in an “untrue or misleading” advertising campaign.

A final judgment, signed Friday by San Diego County Superior Court Judge John M. Thompson, prohibits Victoria’s Secret from using the terms “prize” or “gift certificate” in a “manner that is untrue or misleading.”

The company agreed Friday to pay $105,078 in penalties and costs. The settlement was reached without any admission of wrongdoing by Victoria’s Secret stores, of which there are six in San Diego County.

Alejandro Matuk, the company’s San Diego attorney, referred all calls to Victoria’s Secret vice president Al Ditzer, who could not be reached for comment.

Deputy City Atty. Johnson said the settlement consists of $90,000 in penalties, with the city and county splitting the sum. Victoria’s Secret also agreed to pay $15,078 in costs, Johnson said.