I went through the process, and if I understand it correctly,
HP "bought" a generic gift certificate that you then redeem
online for another gift certificate from a particular merchant.
The "real" gift certificate is subsequently snail-mailed to you.

  I also just about threw the original email into the trash when
it arrived, but wondering whether or not this was for the survey
I went ahead and checked it out.  The actual process to redeem the
"SuperCertificate" in for one from one of their merchants wasn't
too bad though.

Regards,
Michael (pleased to see that they use Cold Fusion :) Gueterman
Easy Does It Technologies
http://www.editcorp.com
voice: 888.858.EDIT or 573.368.5478
fax:   573.368.5479
--

Gavin wrote:
> This "gift certificate" for $25 (not clear yet exactly how
> you go about
> redeeming it, and what you can use it for and how difficult
> that will be :-)
> arrived via a spam-esque email with the subject:
>
>    "You have received a gift"
<snip>