Check Those Gift Cards

[sunshinegirl]

Just wanted to throw something out there to everyone. Be sure when you get your gift cards in the mail from ANY program that you flip them over and call in the number on the back to check the balance. We had a little scare today where I thought that Disney had not activated all of our cards. It made me want to cry to think about people getting to Disney World and trying to use hundreds of dollars in gift cards only to find out that they didn't work!!

So no matter what rewards program you use, be sure to check your balances on your cards as soon as you get them. None of us would try to cheat you on purpose. But mistakes are made at the merchant level and the distribution level sometimes. And it would be MUCH easier to get a new card sent to you from your rewards program if you catch it immediately than months down the road.

(and it turns out that our cards were fine today--LOL!)

 

[kytiam]

Great advice! Thanks! I would never have thought to check, but I have wondered/worried in the past about getting a "bad" card. Never happened, but you never know!

 

[MinnieVanMom]

Thanks and it is good advise for all gift cards. Just love SR!

 

[Newfie2000]

If I might add without hijacking Sunshine Girl's thread (sorry ) - please ALWAYS check your gift cards, even if they are received as a gift. I have had several bad experiences with cards both given and received. One case is that they are not properly activated and the receiver goes to use them there is no balance on the card. This seems to happen quite frequently at places where many different gift cards are sold (I am kindly refraining from naming stores but I am sure you know the ones that have 25+ different cards available for purchase in one spot?). I think when a person gives a gift card they tend to either include the original receipt OR throw it away. This makes it impossible to correct a problem should one arise later on. The worst experience I had was a major store whom I had personally purchased the card and given it to my MIL, when she went to use the card she was told there was no $ on the card. I had the original receipt and went right back to the store with her - even with the receipt showing the card # they refused to do anything about it saying that the card might already have been used and they had no way of tracking it. This was a major store, not a Mom and Pop shop and I will never purchase another gift card from said store again. So please check any card that you have received or are gving as a gift. The sooner it is caught the more likely you are to be able to correct the situation!

And by the way OP - what a great idea for a thread! You should start the same thing over on the Budget Board too! You have a lot of followers over there that I think would benefit greatly from it! I would, but don't want to hijack you yet again!

 

[sunshinegirl]

If I might add without hijacking Sunshine Girl's thread (sorry ) - please ALWAYS check your gift cards, even if they are received as a gift. I have had several bad experiences with cards both given and received. One case is that they are not properly activated and the receiver goes to use them there is no balance on the card. This seems to happen quite frequently at places where many different gift cards are sold (I am kindly refraining from naming stores but I am sure you know the ones that have 25+ different cards available for purchase in one spot?). I think when a person gives a gift card they tend to either include the original receipt OR throw it away. This makes it impossible to correct a problem should one arise later on. The worst experience I had was a major store whom I had personally purchased the card and given it to my MIL, when she went to use the card she was told there was no $ on the card. I had the original receipt and went right back to the store with her - even with the receipt showing the card # they refused to do anything about it saying that the card might already have been used and they had no way of tracking it. This was a major store, not a Mom and Pop shop and I will never purchase another gift card from said store again. So please check any card that you have received or are gving as a gift. The sooner it is caught the more likely you are to be able to correct the situation!

And by the way OP - what a great idea for a thread! You should start the same thing over on the Budget Board too! You have a lot of followers over there that I think would benefit greatly from it! I would, but don't want to hijack you yet again!

Very good hijack!! I think we are all getting so used to the ease of giving and getting gift cards that we get a little careless with them. Another good idea if you are taking cards to Disney in particular is to write the numbers down. Even if you are not able to get new cards if yours get lost, you can always use the numbers to pay for your travel online or to order from Disney Shopping.

 

[Andrea]

Another Hijack here....

At christmas time I learned that if you are going to buy a gift card for someone not to grab one of the first few on the racks. The news said people ( thefts) are wrighting down the gift card numbers and checking the website ever day to see if that card has been loaded and will use it right away.

So when i do buy a gift card i will pull one from the back

 

[bartleby1]

Very good advice! I have read posts over the years about people receiving gift cards that haven't been loaded or activated so I always call to check the balance on any card I receive. So far, I haven't had any problems, but it only takes a minute or two to check.