Extremely frustrating experience with an Xbox gift card

After 4+ hours of trying to resolve an issue that seems to have no solution, I'm completely at a loss. Here's the story:

I bought an Xbox gift card for my son (Ryan) in September as a birthday present. When he tried to redeem it, the code was smeared, and he couldn't read it. When I saw him at the holidays and he told me about this, I told him I would help him address the problem. I contacted Xbox customer support and was told what the correct code was. When Ryan tried the code and got a "TokenNotFound" error. I returned to customer support where I was told that someone had already redeemed the code, but they could see that it wasn't on Ryan's account. This person said there was nothing they could--they couldn't tell me who redeemed it or when and where. They said I should call Target, where I purchased the card.

So I called Target. The person I spoke with confirmed that the card was activated successfully and that there was nothing they could do to resolve the issue.

So I contacted Xbox again. I explained the issue again and was told that maybe someone had gained access to Ryan's card without his knowing it. He assured me that the card was in his closet the entire time and that there is no way his other parent or older sister accessed it.

I went back to Xbox and asked that this be escalated to a manager. I was told I would get a call back within 24-hours. I was never called back.

I went back to Xbox again and was told that I would be called back by a manager within 24-hours. Two days later, I got a call from someone who insisted that this was not Xbox's fault, and I needed to go to Target and insist that they solve the problem.

I went to Target with my receipt and was told that since the receipt was expired, there was nothing they could do, and I would have to call Target corporate. When I called Target corporate and spoke with their gift card department, I was told that this is Xbox's problem to solve.

At this point, I'm just assuming that I'm out $100 and I'm extremely unmotivated to ever buy another Xbox gift card. Am I really out of options? Have I lost $100 and countless hours of time?

:)