Disney Gift Card Issues Currently (1/20/24) on Property

[gottalovepluto]

@CoachBeard what ended up happening? Did the card unlock for you?

 

[gottalovepluto]

A wise person will not dismiss OP’s experience as an internet thing, they will acknowledge there is a possibility they will become OP and decide if the risk is worth it for them. It is worth it you due to the odds of it happening- but it may not be for everyone. OP is not the only person this has happened too, as I said I almost got screwed in Dec and I’ve done thousands of DGCs over the years. I’ve chosen to continue doing my DGCs but I keep meticulous notes and scanned receipts for every gc purchase and I know my gc might get locked and be unusable- but as an AP I know I’ll be able to use it down the road.

ETA- and they absolutely do NOT unlock it right away. OP’s experience was mine, misery trying to talk to someone who barely speaks English, good amount of confusion, 24-48 hours and it might work end result with nobody higher on the food chain but an email address. That’s it.

I was negligent in not mentioning what happens if it doesn’t unlock after 48 hours. Based on the limited reports we’ve had if you have that bad luck the email address starts responding to you. You have to submit every receipt for every load on the card to prove it’s all yours. And if you can’t it’s months of misery.

 

[lanejudy]

Just a reminder to those who use the Disney Gift Card website... folks have been hacked there. Do NOT leave card numbers on the account after doing transfers. Always remove the cards and keep a list offline.

 

[CoachBeard]

@CoachBeard what ended up happening? Did the card unlock for you?

I’ll treat it like a bad Vegas trip because while yes, the card unlocked, the transfer never showed so I’m down about $400ish…this is not my fault and how could anyone be blamed for merely using the provided features on the gift card site? I’ve found over the years (yes I posted here in 2007/8 and onward for a while) that the DIS has some folks who thrive off their superiority complex… filter out the garbage, folks.

 

[gottalovepluto]

I’ll treat it like a bad Vegas trip…

I’m dying. Love this.

 

[Anthony1971]

I had a Gift card lock when I transferred balances. I cannot confirm or deny that I typed in the EAN wrong but was told I did and only once will trigger this so they say......... and it did take a day to unlock.
I combined 2 others as in 1+1 and 1+1 prior to this one same day a few minutes before and no issue.
Not that this will help we only have small amount gift cards that we each have for snacks (called get your own where you want) so I combine with was left from last year for each person.

 

[DISNEY FIX]

I am a gift card idiot...do you guys feel the digital cards are secure? Does it show a current balance when you go to use it? I'm sure I have more questions...

 

[Forevermarypoppins]

I’ve used gift cards without problems for many trips. I will say I choose not to combine our cards. I take a couple to the parks each day and write their declining balance on the front using a sharpie. Have not experienced any problems and have probably used 50+ gcs.

A tip for everyone going forward: keep the GC as is and pay off using each one. I think had the OP transferred a balance a day earlier this might not have been an issue.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

I had some weird issue recently with something else, where copying/pasting was putting a space after the number. It wasn’t obvious, and it was being rejected. I finally figured out the space though.

This is typically the case. It also happens when using auto-fill. I just had it happen to me when filling out a completely different non-Disney, non-gift card form, btw.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

I am a gift card idiot..

1. do you guys feel the digital cards are secure? 2. Does it show a current balance when you go to use it? I'm sure I have more questions...

1. They have worked for me.
2. Not exactly.

When you use it to buy something though, the card balance is printed on your receipts. Some CM's will even circle the number for you, or at least point it out.

If ever using the Disney gift card site, I've VERY careful typing the numbers. I have had a card lock up on me, ad had to wait the 24 hour period. I now try to do any card combining before my trip starts. If we plan to buy G+, I make sure to have a card set aside for that with enough funds. Though you never quite know what G+ is going to cost on any given day. you just have to make an educated guess.

If ever I buy any giftcards during the trip, I just use them as is.

 

[CoachBeard]

A tip for everyone going forward: keep the GC as is and pay off using each one. I think had the OP transferred a balance a day earlier this might not have been an issue.

I’m still trying to understand why people think that’s the root issue. I did several transfers over the week that I was on site and there was no issue. That final (problematic) transfer was done in the evening before I had the issues, so there were several hours between.

My best theory is that it was a system fluke that could’ve happened at any time regardless of transaction type. I think Disney needs a better way for customers to remedy situations while they’re on property because they’re hotline clearly does not give employees the resources to be able to actually help people going to guest relations is not a viable solution either because they powerless. The other interesting thing is I emailed customer service per instructions from the guy on the phone, and that was almost a week ago. I’ve heard nothing back.

If they set up, allows us to transfer balances on the fly, then it shouldn’t be something that is considered taboo. It should be a system that works. I do it with my bank in an instant all the time. the issue is that Disney is not invested in the system for their gift cards.

You also can’t keep blaming people for using features offered by the system, and when they become a “victim” of a system error you need to stop saying things that essentially victim blame as if it was their fault. and also does not help the situation when someone is posting an urgent scenario their last day from the park.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

I’m still trying to understand why people think that’s the root issue. I did several transfers over the week that I was on site and there was no issue. That final (problematic) transfer was done in the evening before I had the issues, so there were several hours between.

My best theory is that it was a system fluke that could’ve happened at any time regardless of transaction type. I think Disney needs a better way for customers to remedy situations while they’re on property because they’re hotline clearly does not give employees the resources to be able to actually help people going to guest relations is not a viable solution either because they powerless. The other interesting thing is I emailed customer service per instructions from the guy on the phone, and that was almost a week ago. I’ve heard nothing back.

If they set up, allows us to transfer balances on the fly, then it shouldn’t be something that is considered taboo. It should be a system that works. I do it with my bank in an instant all the time. the issue is that Disney is not invested in the system for their gift cards.

You also can’t keep blaming people for using features offered by the system, and when they become a “victim” of a system error you need to stop saying things that essentially victim blame as if it was their fault. and also does not help the situation when someone is posting an urgent scenario their last day from the park.

From my experience, what I think people are trying to explain is that the Disney website is VERY finicky if someone makes any mistakes on the numbers. I've had it lock up one of my cards, too. It was scary, but an hour later the card unlocked. Another time it took 24hours to unlock.

Yes, they should have a better fix, but this is 2024 Disney we're talking about.

I can also tell you I have had a devil of a time buying gift cards from other websites as well. One credit card company in particular locked my credit card for no reason, and it took days, hours of calls and a high level of frustration before they unlocked it. all I did was try to buy some giftcards using the cc's own portal. It was so bad, that I have pretty much stopped using that cc.

Any time you buy giftcards the companies involved are on HIGH alert for fraud and scams. Sadly, scams are VERY common.

It sucks, but it is what it is.

 

[gottalovepluto]

I’m still trying to understand why people think that’s the root issue. I did several transfers over the week that I was on site and there was no issue. That final (problematic) transfer was done in the evening before I had the issues, so there were several hours between.

My best theory is that it was a system fluke that could’ve happened at any time regardless of transaction type. I think Disney needs a better way for customers to remedy situations while they’re on property because they’re hotline clearly does not give employees the resources to be able to actually help people going to guest relations is not a viable solution either because they powerless. The other interesting thing is I emailed customer service per instructions from the guy on the phone, and that was almost a week ago. I’ve heard nothing back.

If they set up, allows us to transfer balances on the fly, then it shouldn’t be something that is considered taboo. It should be a system that works. I do it with my bank in an instant all the time. the issue is that Disney is not invested in the system for their gift cards.

You also can’t keep blaming people for using features offered by the system, and when they become a “victim” of a system error you need to stop saying things that essentially victim blame as if it was their fault. and also does not help the situation when someone is posting an urgent scenario their last day from the park.

I heard you! Nobody knows what exactly happened to you, each of us is theorizing so we can theoretically avoid it happening to us. Any of us who believes our theory is right and this could never happen to us in denial. You can’t fix denial.

Thank you for sharing, sorry all we were able to determine was DGC support suuuuucks. I would still file a report with the FL AG for fraud. Disney sold you on their gift cards because you could use them on your vacation, they froze you out of being able to use them forcing you to spend more money with Disney and to top it off they went off and lost the funds. At the least you’ll get a chance to vent, at the most Disney will get a little poke that maybe they should spend a couple bucks on the gc system and stop doing this to people before they do it to the wrong person.

 

[eticketplease]

I’m still trying to understand why people think that’s the root issue. I did several transfers over the week that I was on site and there was no issue. That final (problematic) transfer was done in the evening before I had the issues, so there were several hours between.

My best theory is that it was a system fluke that could’ve happened at any time regardless of transaction type. I think Disney needs a better way for customers to remedy situations while they’re on property because they’re hotline clearly does not give employees the resources to be able to actually help people going to guest relations is not a viable solution either because they powerless. The other interesting thing is I emailed customer service per instructions from the guy on the phone, and that was almost a week ago. I’ve heard nothing back.

If they set up, allows us to transfer balances on the fly, then it shouldn’t be something that is considered taboo. It should be a system that works. I do it with my bank in an instant all the time. the issue is that Disney is not invested in the system for their gift cards.

You also can’t keep blaming people for using features offered by the system, and when they become a “victim” of a system error you need to stop saying things that essentially victim blame as if it was their fault. and also does not help the situation when someone is posting an urgent scenario their last day from the park.

Just a quick question on the card that you transferred from does it show the money going out?

Edited to add screen shots

 

[CoachBeard]

Just a quick question on the card that you transferred from does it show the money going out?

Edited to add screen shots

View attachment 828550

View attachment 828549

Yes, as I explained it shows it going out from the "losing" card but not being received to the "gaining" card. So it went one way and is sitting in limbo somewhere

 

[eticketplease]

Yes, as I explained it shows it going out from the "losing" card but not being received to the "gaining" card. So it went one way and is sitting in limbo somewhere

Sorry I must have missed that. So since that is the case they will be able to track down your $$. I know it’s late but that is a lot of $$ to walk away from imo.

 

[brockash]

I had a Gift card lock when I transferred balances. I cannot confirm or deny that I typed in the EAN wrong but was told I did and only once will trigger this so they say......... and it did take a day to unlock.
I combined 2 others as in 1+1 and 1+1 prior to this one same day a few minutes before and no issue.
Not that this will help we only have small amount gift cards that we each have for snacks (called get your own where you want) so I combine with was left from last year for each person.