Avery Empson, 10, discovered the money on her gift cards had nearly disappeared due to fees charged by St. Vital Centre. (CBC)A law designed to protect Manitobans from expiry dates and maintenance fees on gift cards has a major loophole.

A CBC News I-Team investigation has learned that cards issued by shopping malls are exempt, leaving some people with an unpleasant surprise.

After a couple years of saving gift cards from her birthdays and holidays, 10-year-old Avery Empson went to purchase a stuffed animal from the Build-A-Bear Workshop in Winnipeg's St. Vital Centre.

She finally had enough money to buy one of the plush toys and clothing for it, which would run about $30 to $40.

"You pick your stuffed animal and they fill it up with the fluff machine and you go pick out your clothes [for the animal]," Avery explained.

When she went to the store Avery discovered much of the balance on the cards had evaporated. She was told she had 75 cents left on one card and $1.20 on another.

A disclaimer on the back of the mall cards advises consumers that a monthly fee of $2.50 will be deducted after one year. (CBC)It left Avery confused and saddened.

Her dad, Jaison Empson, pulled out his wallet and paid the expense so that his daughter wouldn't be crushed. But he was left just as confused — and angry.

"She saved the money for a long time, the lesson learned here is that she has to rush and make a decision before she loses it," Empson said.

"It takes the lustre of saving for a long time away if you have to spend this within a year."

On the back of the cards was some fine print that explained if the card wasn't used within a year, the mall would start deducting $2.50 every month.

Legislation passed in 2007

Just over 3 years ago, the Manitoba government came up with laws for gift cards, including a rule preventing individual retailers from reducing the balance of a gift card or setting an expiry date.

Premier Greg Selinger introduced the bill when he was the consumer affairs minister.

'What ten year old reads the back of a card and knows I have to use this card by March 21st or whatever, because it's going to expire.'—Jaison Empson

"We think that these gift cards are leaving a lot of money on the table that the consumers are losing," he said at the time.

If it's your money, so you should be able to spend it how and when you want — that was the principle behind the legislation.

Empson was aware of the legislation and assumed it applied to the card. He didn't bother to look, and he didn't expect his daughter to check.

"What ten year old reads the back of a card and knows I have to use this card by March 21st or whatever, because it's going to expire?" he said.

Exemption for malls

But when the bill was written, the rules only applied to cards offered by retail stores. Cards offered by the shopping malls are still allowed to expire. And the monthly deductions are still allowed.

At the time the government was writing the legislation, companies that own the shopping malls lobbied the government to exempt them.

They argued that an accounting rule makes it more costly for them to offer the gift cards. The companies threatened to abandon gift cards altogether if they weren't allowed to pass that administrative expense on to the consumers.

"When you have a supplier like shopping malls saying, 'Yeah, but we can't get compensation from providing these cards like the individual stores,' we have to listen to them because … then we have no gift cards at all," said current consumer services minister Gord Mackintosh.

However, the Saskatchewan government last year implemented a similar law to Manitoba's and included mall cards in the ban on fees and expiry dates.

So far, no malls there have stopped offering the cards.

Mackintosh suggested Manitoba might consider a change to its legislation when it comes up for review in 2012.