Here's a new story about Amazon closing an account where the person had a balance on his gift card that will be lost. I wouldn't have thought that a gift card balance would be forfeit, so if you ever receive a response you can add that to the list of questions.
Remember that Paul did not want any discussion on why a person's account was closed in this thread. I am linking to it because of the gift card issue.
http://www.theguardian.com/money/201...credit-balance