Prepaid card not properly activated

I purchased a Prepaid Visa card for a christmas present and first of all had to pay close to $5.00 to have it activated only to find out a few months later when they went to use it, that it was not properly activated. We watched the lady activate it right there. She too was surprised and the activation fee. They were embarrassed and I was very upset that they had to go through that. They called the number on the back and were told they would need the receipt to get it activated. Well after 4 months I no longer have the receipt for the card. First of all to have to pay to have it activated and then not have it work. It really makes us look cheap and surely will never buy one again. Also all the rest of the fine print on the card such as if it is not used in 12 months how much they deduct from the balance, etc is a bunch of malarky. Now to give us a piece of mind, we will have to come up with the extra money we spent on the card to make it right with the gift recipients. And you can bet I will never have a visa card again, prepaid or otherwise.