Error Message GC Code Invalid

Hi - I sent a few gift cards out as prizes for a contest but when the customer went to the store to redeem them, they get an error message - code invalid. When I look in the admin it shows the gift certificate has been redeemed - but I can see that the customer did not purchase any products! Can anyone help? Thanks. Kelley.

Bump-Im getting this error with 3.8
GC has worked great at other sites use with 3.7
Is it a glitch or have I messed something up.
Thanks

Who does it say has redeemed it? And when?
How does that compare with whom it was assigned to?

I think we may have been overlyconfused and all is actually working correct.
I found a thread that said as long as their was an ammount in the box, all you have to do it use it.
I think everyone is getting this problem because the cart seems to be automatically accepting the Gift Certificate without having to put in the supplied code.
Here is an example of what happened;
I create the Gif Certificate, purchased it, then emailed it to friend.
Friend got email, clicked on link to redeem the ticket, but the cart says the redemption code is invalid. However if you look to the right, it had already inserted the amount from the Gift Certificate.
This is a little misleading, because if you are the recipient and your following the instructions in the sent email, it states to enter the redemtion code. Most people are going to be stuck trying to enter that redemtion code just because they are trying to follow the guidelines, when in fact they may not need to.
Maybe there should be a line on the Gift Certificate redemption page that actually states, "If there is an amount in the box to the below right, then you are ready to start spending- If no amount is listed in said box, then add the amount and enter your redemption code that came in the supplied email"

Or something similar to that. I know that most of my customers are not extremely internet savvy and need to be told what to do step by step.
Is this something that I could add myself and if so where would these statements need to be added to.

Thanks
Bill
DeepSouth Fishing Rodeo

There are three places where Gift Certificate emails are generated, and where you can make customizations to the email content:

/includes/languages/english/YOUR_TEMPLATE/gv_send.php
/admin/includes/languages/english/gv_mail.php
/admin/includes/languages/english/gv_queue.php

Freakingly Awesome- We were able to easily adapt the text to meet our needs and rewrite it to seem effortsly easy for our customers and future customers.
Thanks a ton
Bill
DeepSouth Fishing Rodeo