what i did with $1200 in gift cards

peaches00

Mouseketeer
Joined
Nov 18, 2010
Messages
328
Ok..so we have 4 nights pbh club starting Halloween. We had paid deposit of $400 to lowes so balance was $1200. We figured we would check in, they would swipe card and we would cash cards in at guest services and pay balance with universal dollars. The young lady at check in-ashley-who was absolutely wonderful told us if it was a debit card they had to take all the money off immediately. Since i only had $1000 on debit card that wouldnt work. My husband said he would pay cash but then we would be stuck with $1200 in gift cards. So we hop on a boat and go to universal studios guest services. Wait a few minutes and girl tells us she's only allowed to do $300 at a time and I would have to go to 4 different clerks. There were only 3 there so I would have to go to ioa guest services to complete transaction. Thankfully a manager overheard us and told me they could cash them at group services in the back of building. Awesome. So we go there and the girl had no idea how to do them. Same manager comes to help her. First she has to actuvqte them or something. Then she says she can only do $25 at a time. We had 12 $100 ones so it was 48 transactions. So she finally does them all and then gives us our universal dollars. IN $10 BILLS! 120 $10 bills. Omg! I figured they would at least have 20s. So back we go on the boat after an hour spent waiting. Poor Ashley said omg when she saw them because she had never done that many. She called manager who said to put them through as cash. Then she had to count all of them and a second girl came to help her count. They were sooo great. I felt bad. Finally its done and we can check in. The moral of the story is if you use credit card you can cash them in at your leisure. If you use debit card make sure you have entire amount or you will have to go through what we did. Our next trip will be 7 nights soooo I don't think I will do all gift cards again.:upsidedow
 
Okay, I'm trying to follow this, because I didn't think I could use Universal gift cards or Universal dollars at the hotels. So...you had $1200 in Universal gift cards. You needed to change them to Universal dollars so you could use them to pay for your room charges at PBH. Is that right? But you needed to put a credit card down when you checked in, since you didn't have the U dollars yet. You only had a debit with you? Bottom line is...I can pay for my on-site hotel bill with Universal dollars but not Universal gift cards? Thanks for clarifying...I really appreciate this info!
 
Okay, I'm trying to follow this, because I didn't think I could use Universal gift cards or Universal dollars at the hotels. So...you had $1200 in Universal gift cards. You needed to change them to Universal dollars so you could use them to pay for your room charges at PBH. Is that right? But you needed to put a credit card down when you checked in, since you didn't have the U dollars yet. You only had a debit with you? Bottom line is...I can pay for my on-site hotel bill with Universal dollars but not Universal gift cards? Thanks for clarifying...I really appreciate this info!

that's where peaches lost me.......
 
When I checked in, if I had credit card, they would have swiped it it and waited to charge me for room and other charges at the end of stay. Then I would have done whati did last time with credit card...and I paid any charges I made at end of day so the only thing I would be charged on my cc was the price of room. I cut up my ccs. She said if its a debit card, they immediately charge it so I would not be able to use the universal dollars for the room as it would already be paid. I would then be stuck with the universal dollars as I can't use gift cards to pay. They have to be changed to dollars which are as good as cash. Let me know if uts still confusing.
 

ok peaches, i follow now.


if you do not want to hang on to the universal bucks, they can be exchanged for real money at guest services.

i have exchanged universal bucks for cash before.
 
This is why I only use cash. I pay for my hotel room in full before we go and give cash for incidentals. I have a stupid credit card that it takes forever for them to credit me back once I check out so would rather have the cash back at end of stay. No surprises on my cc as well.

I don't get why they can't take gift cards at the hotel without sending you on a wild goose chase! Gift cards are suppose to be the same as cash!
 
the hotel is owned by Loews.

there are not a part of universal, only on their site.
it is two different companies.


guessing that is why they don't accept the universal gift cards.
 
ok peaches, i follow now.


if you do not want to hang on to the universal bucks, they can be exchanged for real money at guest services.

i have exchanged universal bucks for cash before.

That's what I thought but girl in guest services said they don't do it anymore but as I have learned every cast member could give you a different answer. If I had let hubby pay cash and they told me I couldn't get cash back, what would I do with $1200 universal dollars...there's no way id spend it. If anyone has turned their dollars into cash recently pleasr post
 
That's what I thought but girl in guest services said they don't do it anymore but as I have learned every cast member could give you a different answer. If I had let hubby pay cash and they told me I couldn't get cash back, what would I do with $1200 universal dollars...there's no way id spend it. If anyone has turned their dollars into cash recently pleasr post

Someone else posted that recently on the main board as well (that they couldn't turn their Universal dollars into cash).

If you have a gift card to a store, you can't take it to them and have it exchanged for cash, you have to spend it all at the store. I wonder if they are treating Universal dollars like gift cards now.
 
What "gift cards" are y'all talking about? I haven't seen Universal Gift Cards in our parts in quite a few years. Visa and/or MasterCard gift cards, I've seen plenty of.
 
What "gift cards" are y'all talking about? I haven't seen Universal Gift Cards in our parts in quite a few years. Visa and/or MasterCard gift cards, I've seen plenty of.

They sell universal gift cards in $50 & $100 denominations at our grocery stores giant eagle and I read someone bought them at Krogers. I'm sure most grocery chains carry them as they keep adding more so they must be doing well. I would advise anyone who plans to use them to check in like I did to call ahead and make sure they will accept them. Whenever I bought something at portofino shops, they would give me cash back. But since they only gave out $10 bills...that's not a lot of change.
 








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