Same thing happened to me at Sobeys when I bought the 5 $60 Disney Gift Cards to get the 100 AM's on each one. Did all the purchases separate so I would get the 5 purchases in. Worked find for the first 4 but the 5th wouldn't take and I had to call through to BMO MC and talk with the fraud department. I know exactly what was going on and what would happen when I called, I'm retired BMO. I can tell you even if you had used the pin pad they still could and would flag your account just because of the number of times it was used and for smaller amounts in such a small amount of time at the same store. You would be amazed at the number of clients I saw who wrote their pin on the back of their card 'so they could remember it'. Getting flagged is no big deal, could be a bit inconvenient but at least you know your safe and getting your card to work is only a phone call away. Better safe than sorry.I was at Metro this morning picking up A&W GC. There was a line forming behind me and the cashier wasn't certain if combining them in one transaction would give me the correct AM so I decided to do them individually and use "Tap" instead of the "chip and pin". It worked and correct AM on each receipt. I then picked up a few items I needed in the store. Came right home and was putting my groceries away when the phone rang. DH answered the phone first. It was BMO fraud division wanting to ask a few questions about recent purchases. Was I at Metro about 20 minutes ago... I have never tapped my card before but the boys tell me it is safe so I thought it would be quicker to do the GC this way. BMO picked up on the change and was calling to make sure the transactions were me and not that my card had been stolen.
Must say I was impressed. But now I'm concerned about what might have happened if I hadn't been home to pick up the phone. Oh well I'll focus on the positive and use my chip and pin when purchasing GC from now on. (I've never had an issue when I do them that way)
Glad you got all the AM's, that in itself is worth the time.