After all of Pittsburgh area's Smokey Bones restaurants close, what should consumers do with gift cards?

All three remaining Smokey Bones locations in the Pittsburgh area have closed after the restaurant chain's parent company filed for bankruptcy.

After the locations in Hempfield, Cranberry and at the Pittsburgh Mills in Frazer closed, people reached out to KDKA asking what to do with their unused gift cards.

Michael Litvak from Beaver County says he's stuck with $100 worth of Smokey Bones gift cards.

"And the one in Robinson closed about, I guess it was maybe about two weeks ago, they closed it 3 weeks ago, but nothing was said when they closed that that they were closing any other locations," Litvak said. "And then on April 28, I found out we were going to go to Smokey Bones in Cranberry with friends and our friends said, 'hey, we just checked their site, we was gonna check the menu, and it says they're closed.' So I started looking around, and here they closed all their restaurants on April 28, not even letting anybody know."

Gift cards are treated as unsecured claims in a bankruptcy. That means you're in the back of the line, behind the banks and the landlords to get your money back, so the likelihood of recouping your money is slim to none.

What to do with Smokey Bones gift cards

If you bought the gift card with a credit card, that's your best shot at getting money back. Contact the credit card company and ask for a chargeback for goods and services not received. But you have to ask fast. This works best if you're only one to four months out from the purchase. 

Did you get it from a third party? If you snagged the card on one of those big display sets at a Costco or grocery store, they'll sometimes refund or exchange gift cards in special situations like this one.

If both fail, decide if it's worth the hassle of filing a claim.

The Better Business Bureau recommends always checking with the company's ownership. In this case, it's FAT Brands. Right now, the BBB says the claim form and filing instructions are on FAT Brand's website.

Even though FAT Brands owns other restaurants in the area, like Twin Peaks, they said they will not be honoring the Smokey Bones gift cards at those locations.