You would think any business would see the wisdom of honoring a $50 gift certificate on the basis of customer satisfaction alone, apart from any questions about software glitches.

Nope

So there was no physical, plastic card involved, correct?

When my wife attempted to open the online card in the store with a cashier, it would not work. We then showed the owner the link to the card, the online receipt that I got upon purchase, and even my bank statement confirming the purchase. That did not satisfy her, since she said she needed the link to open to reveal the gift ID num. They even admitted they had a systems problem around that time.

Was the card itself lost or just the record or both?