Darden settles gift-card dispute with FTC-2012-10-02Darden settles gift-card dispute with FTC-2012-10-02

WASHINGTON Federal regulators and Darden Restaurants Inc. of Orlando, Fla., reached agreement Tuesday on restoring inactivity fees deducted from unused gift cards for the company’s Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Bahama Breeze and Smokey Bones restaurant concepts.

Darden said it stopped charging the “dormancy fees” in October 2006 and has voluntarily restored all dormancy fees ever charged to gift cards sold through its program.  

The Federal Trade Commission said Darden did not adequately disclose that it would deduct a monthly fee of $1.50 after 15 months of inactivity on cards sold before February 2004 and after 24 months for those sold after that. The consent agreement between the FTC and Darden is subject to public comment for 30 days. Aft...