Are you a Netflix subscriber? Did you receive an email from Walmart with a $12.32 gift card? It is real—though many thought it may be a scam.
The reason behind the $12.32 Walmart gift card for Netflix subscribers started back in 2002 when Walmart realized that its DVD sales started to drop after Netflix’s DVD by mail service started to take off. Walmart decided to take on Netflix by starting its own DVD by mail rental plans.
Only 60,000 people subscribed to the Walmart DVD by mail service, and in 2005 Walmart shut it down. Netflix stepped in and a deal was made to transfer the customers to Netflix in exchange for a 10% share of revenues plus a bounty for each subscriber. Netflix also agreed to promote Walmart DVD sales.
This move upset some Netflix customers who, in 2009, started a class action lawsuit against both companies. They alleged that Walmart and Netflix prevented competition, which led to higher prices for Netflix DVD rentals.
Walmart agreed to settle and distributed a total of $27 million to eligible Netflix customers, but Netflix fought the lawsuit and won.
In March 2012, 1.1 million subscribers claimed a settlement and opted for an emailed coupon instead of a check. Though everything was delayed until early 2015 when the court ended all future challenges, allowing Walmart to send out the gift cards that are just now being emailed out.
So if you have received one of these emails and sent it to spam or trash you may want to go back to see if it is still there. Though many Walmart gift card emails are not real this one is.
Source: Variety