Chase Visa Gift Card Frustration

[Iggipolka]

ARUGH! I need to vent for a moment about a missing Gift Card that I bought for DAP.
For the first time ever, I'm going to WDW w/o using the DDP. It was frequently recommended on the Restaurant Board to save up the money you think you'll need for food and get a Gift Card for that amount. Made sense to me, so I went ahead and did that.

On November 16th, I went online to chase . com and ordered my gift card. I was told it would arrive at my house within 5 business days, which would have been Wednesday November 23rd. It is now Wed November 30th and I still don't have my gift card! The charge is listed on the Chase card I used to purchase the card (sending in the saved up money as payment as soon as I made the purchase), but I do not have the physical card.

I've spent over an hour this morning on the phone, trying to track down this card and my money. I got transferred to four different departments and while they can verify that the amount was charged to my card, no one can find the card or tell me if it was mailed out, or anything.

I went to my local Chase bank and they were completely baffled and kept telling me to call the number on the back of my CC. That's helpful, considering I've already done that!

So, I'm frustrated and now I don't have the money I saved up or the money I put on the gift card.

Anyone has any ideas of what to do in this situation? I'm just hoping that with all of this aggravation, it magically appears in my mailbox when I get home from work today.

 

[BriarRosie]

Call back, ask for a supervisor, dispute the charges if necessary. Ask for them to cancel and replace the card the way they will do for replacement of credit cards.

Chase was able to get me my Disney Visa card the following day after notifying me that my card was compromised. They should be able to help you out.

And for next time....my grocery store sells Disney gift cards. I would have put the amount on that instead of ordering a card online. I hope you can get this resolved soon.

 

[sayhello]

I agree with what BriarRosie wrote. Be insistent, firm and pleasant. They absolutely have the power to deactivate your old card (assuming they can find evidence it exists) and send you a new one in an expedited fashion. There is no excuse for them to leave you hanging like that. Just insist on speaking to as many supervisors as you need to until someone gets the job done.

Sayhello

 

[Iggipolka]

Thanks guys. I actually requested that they cancel the old card and send me a new one overnight, but the problem is that they cannot find the old card and are refusing to send me a replacement. Otherwise "You'll have two cards and have double the amount of money that you should." Well, not if I don't receive the first, missing card and if I do magically get two cards, I'll cancel one of them!

Not that they care or believe me.

I have a feeling that what I'm going to have to do is cancel the charge on my card and go directly to the bank or the store and re-buy the card. The problem is that it takes two billing cycles for them to refund the money, so I'll have to pay interest on the second charge . Not a big thing, but irksome and I was trying to avoid that.

I will never buy a gift card online again. Ever, ever, ever, ever.

 

[*NikkiBell*]

I'd call and ask directly for a supervisor. Do not end your conversation until this is solved immediately. Let them know how disappointed you are in their customer service and that this might cause you to reconsider continuing to use their card.

 

[doconeill]

If they don't have the card ID of the gift card they may or may not have sent, then they can't cancel it, which sounds to be the case - but if they don't have the card ID, then I would be that they never associated one to the charge, and therefore there is NO card, and they should be able to send you another.

I agree, get a supervisor. And then get THEIR supervisor. If you get no satisfaction, immediately tell them that you are therefore disputing the charge and it will be referred to another department. It shouldn't matter that the vendor is the bank itself.

 

[starwood]

There should be no interest charges if you dispute the charge. Everytime I've done that they have said not to pay the disputed amount and any interest will be refunded.

 

[Iggipolka]

Thanks for the great info. I'm going to gear myself up & get ready for another frustrating couple of hours on the phone today.

I'm going to ask to speak to the supervisor & just keep going up the ladder until this is resolved.

Good to know I wont have to pay interest on a disputed charge. That helps a bit.

Bah, not looking forward to this, but I don't want to be cheated out of my Disney money either.

 

[Iggipolka]

Little sheepish update on the Gift Card situation. After spending several hours getting very mad at various different supervisors at various different departments at Chase yesterday, I finally had to hang up the phone and go and do something else. No one could find the gift card or any documentation that the card was mailed. They kept confusing the gift card with a Disney Rewards Card and telling me that if I lost the card, I could get a new one when I got to the parks. I wasn't calling about the Rewards Card at all, so it really was a horrible way to spend my afternoon.

After all of this frustration, I vented to my wife about it and she just stared at me. Slowly, out of the mess of papers on her desk, she pulled out an envelope with a return address of Chase on it. Sure enough, my Gift Card had been in the house, buried on her desk since before Thanksgiving! We had house guests over Thanksgiving weekend, so the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, she took all the mail down to her office in the downstairs of her house and piled it on her desk. I never even thought to check for the Gift Card there, because I told her I was expecting it and thought she would hand it to me.

Whoops.

I emailed Chase and let them know that I had the card. However, it doesn't excuse their complete incompetence in handling this matter. Their system has a major flaw in it and that needs to be addressed.

Two lessons learned:
1. Never buy gift cards online
2. Talk to my wife more often.

I'm just happy to have the card and now I can eat while at DAP!

 

[sayhello]

Whoops! So glad it all worked out. But you're right. It doesn't excuse the fact that they could find no evidence of the card or that it had been sent out. If they had, and told you you should have had it before Thanksgiving, you might have gone to your wife earlier.

But all's well that ends well, and those are 2 good lessons to have learned!

Sayhello