What OS?
Has the card been formated?
What type of Gadget is the card being used in? * camera,Phone, etc*
Are the drivers for the card readers installed?
Will the Card readers read other cards? or is It just your cards?
can or have the cards ever been read by another card reader or do they still work in the Gadgets they were bought for?
If the cards worked in like a camera. But then after inserting in to the PC card reader, no longer work when inserted back in to the camera, I would sumise it is either the card reader is bad and/or if on XP or older OS your not safely removing the card from the OS before removing the card from the reader. Not safely removing the hardware from the OS will damage the card in most cases, when you pull it out of the card reader, typically permanently ruining the card.
I had a Card reader that died once and it killed every card inserted in it. Once the card was inserted in to it, nothing would ever read the card again.. I suspect this could be the issue.
unfortunately you will need to use a card that has been verified that works on other machines to verify this. **i suggest using the cheapest card you have** If you insert it it to the Card reader in question and now it no longer works with any card reader, you know the card reader in question is bad.
If at the worst take it back to the store and see if they can check the card. some stores will test items.