Romantic gesture thwarted as Victoria's Secret can't explain zero-balance gift card

CAMPBELL, Calif. (KGO) -- There's a lot of love going around in the McCarthy household. They're the loving parents of two dogs, a grandchild and two grown children.

The couple has been married more than 30 years. Phil still makes sure to shower his wife Paula with affection.

"Yeah, yeah. She deserves it. She's worth it," says Phil.

When Phil thought of romance, he turned to the company that has made its fortune on selling revealing undergarments: Victoria's Secret.

Phil explained, "I look at her with love. Yeah. We've been married 33 years. It's good."

Phil bought his wife a Victoria's Secret gift card so she could buy whatever she wanted.

"So I was excited. I went down to Victoria's Secret and spent some of the gift card, but I didn't spend it all, so they gave me a balance on another gift card to use," said Paula.

As so many of us do, Paula put that gift card in a drawer and forgot about it.

Two years later, she tried to spend it.

But they told her the gift card had no value.

"I tried to show them the receipt and explain what happened and the PIN number on the back had not even been scratched, but they told me it was zero," she said.

Paula took the issue up with customer service. Three weeks later they sent her a letter saying the card had been spent in the Sacramento area. They told her to call the police.

Paula decided to call 7 On Your Side instead. We called Victoria's Secret.

"They didn't seem to take it too serious when I called on my own, but now that 7 On Your Side called they took it a little more seriously," she said.

Paula promptly received an apology. Victoria's Secret restored the balance back on her card along with an additional 75 dollars for her troubles.

"It's tough when you're just one person against a big corporation and their bureaucracy. I'm just glad 7 On your Side was here to help us out," said Phil.

We asked Victoria's Secret to explain if the McCarthy's had been scammed, but the company did not get back to us with a comment.

Take a look at more stories and videos by Michael Finney and 7 On Your Side.