I recently purchased a VISA debit gift card from Wal-Mart. I had done this before and I was well satisfied. The idea is good because they can be used anywhere that accepts VISA which gives the person receiving them the flexibility to use them on anything rather than be restricted to a certain store. I simply bought them from the check out lane and they were activated with a simple scan at the check out register.
Not all of these cards are the same!
I ran into problems on the card my wife recently purchased. This particular VISA gift card required an activation code found only on the separate store receipt for the card. She was told by the girl at the check out that it was ready to use … not true! We mailed the gift card along with the receipt. The person received the card and proceeded to throw away the receipt thinking it was not needed. I never needed one for any of the cards I had previously purchased. This time was different. When the person tried to use it they could not. It required the 14 digit activation code only found on the separate receipt at the time of purchase.
After trying everything possible from 2500 miles away the person called me and explained they no longer had the receipt and without it the card could not be used. They mailed me the card hoping that it possibly could be resolved at the local Wal-Mart where it was purchased.
Lack of Customer Service
I called the customer service number on the back of the card but without the activation code they not only couldn’t help me , I wasn’t even able to talk to anyone. At this point I held no hope for getting restitution. Without much hope we decided to try anyway. After all… satisfaction guaranteed! Right! At this point in time we didn’t even know which of the three Wal-Marts in the ten mile radius from our house we purchased the card from.
Well to our surprise Wal-Mart was able to look up the receipt from two months ago by locating a receipt for other items we purchased on the same day. We narrowed the day down to a one week period and from there they were able to find it, reproduce it, and the card is now good to go!!!
I am sure that this is not the first time this has happened. In fact, it probably happens fairly often. Many people simply chalk up the loss and forget about it. What a deal for VISA. They get the money in a debit account and no one ever uses it. A year later the card expires and Visa reaps the benefit.
VISA GIFT CARD REVIEWS:
Check out the reviews (Click Here) … Not so good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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This story gets Better. My wife was the one that received the card for the gift. Once the card and activation number was returned to her, she called to activate the card using the 14 digit number along with the last for numbers on the card. You see with this card you do not use the original card you received. Once you activate it (By filling in all your personal information, it takes 3 to 4 weeks before they send you the card you can actually use. This was just not a $30 gift card, it was a renewal Debit Card. When my wife gave them the rest of her personal information, they aksed for her full Social Security Number. (NEVER GIVE YOUR SS# TO ANYONE OVER THE INTERNET. Idenity theft 101.) When she refused she was told by a promt that it was for counter terrorism reasons. She still refused and they offered her a refund with 7 to 10 business days. I can not imagine a company like VISA asking for a SS#. The funnier part is it would have taken the 3 to 4 weeks to get the usable card but only 7 to 10 days to get the refund. Do you think maybe VISA is now being run by our Government? It follows the same pattern. STUPID!!! Be careful of the so called gift cards you buy. For this $30 Gift is has cost 2 people $20 in phone call and several hours of talking to recordings and people witout common sense. Thanks Consumer Boomer for bring thais out!!!!