NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Were you one of the lucky people who received a card in the mail from Opry Mills Mall recently?

When you saw the offer, did you think to yourself: “Is this too good to be true?”

He was essentially offering free money just for stopping by the mall.

But people trying to collect said it was just like the old adage.

Hear the Stancil family share their experiences in the player above.

When the cards started arriving in mailboxes two weeks ago, people like Keith Stancil started wondering.

“My first thought was, ‘This isn’t real,'” he said NewsChannel 5 Investigates. “I mean, who would give $50?”

According to the flyer, Opry Mills will give away a $25 American Express gift card and a $25 mall restaurant gift card to anyone who comes in with one of these mailers before the end of the month.

“We had a week left and said, ‘Let’s go to the mall,'” Keith recalled.

Last week, Stancil and his wife, Diana, drove from their home in Brentwood to Opry Mills to pick up gift cards.

There was a lot of traffic, Diana remembered.

“It took us about an hour to get there,” he said.

But when they arrived at the Guest Services desk, the Stancils were told the promotion had ended early.

They initially said the representative blamed the Cheesecake Factory, one of the restaurants involved in the gift card promotion.

“She (the employee at the Guest Services desk) said, ‘The Cheesecake Factory is tired because they’re giving away so much cheesecake,'” Diana said.

“And I was like, ‘Seriously?’ “I asked,” he added.

Many of the customers were told the mall had no more gift cards to give out.

The small print on the mailer says the gift cards are available “while supplies last.”

“I’m sure they only gave out five gift cards,” Diana suggested.

Keith later added, “That’s what we thought. We got that feeling.”

“You think they (the mall) should be prepared to honor every card they mail out?” We asked the Stancils.

“Absolutely! And especially a week before the promotion ends. If you run a promotion like that, you should expect people to come in who want to use it,” Keith said.

But what the Stancils say left a really bad taste in their mouths was what happened after they were told the mall gift card promotion was over.

“They (the Guest Services desk worker) said, ‘Do you know that if you watch a 30-minute video you can get gift cards?'” Diana said. “They ask,” he said.

These were not the advertised gift cards that were part of the original promotion, but rather travel vouchers to watch timeshare company Wyndham Vacations’ 30-minute timeshare pitch.

“Yes,” he told us.

“That was the bait and switch,” he said. “I saw a lot of people pull out their cards and turn them down and try to convince them to take the video. I felt it was wrong to do that to people.”

Opry Mills managers claimed they were surprised this happened, even though Wyndham had allowed him to man the mall’s Guest Services desk.

“Until we received a customer complaint, Opry Mills was unaware that Wyndham representatives were offering an unrelated Wyndham promotion to customers who wanted to purchase Opry Mills gift cards while supplies last,” an Opry Mills spokesperson said. NewsChannel 5 Investigates in a statement. “This was a misunderstanding that Opry Mills addressed directly with Wyndham.”

It turns out that Opry Mills told Wyndham to stop soliciting.

But when I went to the kiosk with a postcard in hand, the Wyndham employee asked me if I’d heard of Margaritaville (Wyndham’s timeshare location). He looked ready to start his speech, but then he noticed my camera and immediately stopped talking and quickly headed behind the table.

“I was really disappointed because we spent a lot of money at that mall,” Diana said.

The Stancils said they’ve been taking their grandchildren to Opry Mills for years, but they may reconsider from now on.

“They convinced me to come to the mall with this card,” Keith said.

“So they lost a customer?” I was curious.

“Yes, they did,” Diana replied.

Opry Mills filed a follow-up statement.

“We apologize to our customers for any inconvenience and any misunderstanding,” they wrote.

They also said they gave gift certificates to 350 customers. However, they do not say how many of these mails were sent.

Meanwhile, the manager of the Cheesecake Factory said he was surprised to hear that they were held responsible for the end of the promotion. He said that they had nothing to do with the promotion and that they would never turn away customers who wanted cheesecake.

While we don’t know exactly how many people came in to buy gift cards and were turned away, Wyndham employees told us it was “too many.”

Original statement from Opry Mills

Opry Mills’ gift card promotion was available for a limited time while supplies last. Given the generous nature of the promotion, customers were quick to redeem our allocated gift card stock. Until receiving a customer complaint, Opry Mills was unaware that Wyndham representatives manning the guest services booth at Opry Mills were offering an unrelated Wyndham promotion to customers who wanted to purchase Opry Mills gift cards while supplies lasted. This was a misunderstanding in which Opry Mills negotiated directly with Wyndham.

Follow-up statement from Opry Mills

Opry Mills’ recent gift card promotion was completely separate from any promotional activities Wyndham conducted as part of its agreement with guest services desk staff. It would be wrong to suggest otherwise. More than 350 customers were able to benefit from this promotion before stocks ran out. But Wyndham representatives should not have offered an unrelated promotion to customers who wanted to claim Opry Mills gift cards while supplies last. We understand the confusion this causes and addressed this directly with Wyndham as soon as we became aware of it. We apologize to our customers for any inconvenience and misunderstanding this may cause.