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  • Report:  #550940

Complaint Review: Walmat Walmart Visa Gift CARD GE Money Bank

Walmat, Walmart Visa Gift CARD, GE Money Bank cannot activate, zero balance, stole $100, bad phone support Internet

  • Reported By:
    badideamachine — United States of America
  • Submitted:
    Fri, January 08, 2010
  • Updated:
    Wed, February 24, 2010
*Consumer Comment: Scam *Consumer Comment: Will Not Ever Buy a Visa Gift Card from Walmart Again

On 1-6-2010, I purchased a $100 Walmart Visa Gift Card to use to buy items online.  I activated the card online at www.walmartgift.com that evening and attempted to place an order with Amazon.com.  When I checked my email on 1-7-2010, I found that Amazon.com had been unable to process the payment.  I looked into it and found that my Walmart Visa Gift Card had a current balance of zero.



When I checked the balance, it said $0.00.  I was able to view past transactions and pending transactions online, but there were none, so I do not believe that I was given a used gift card.



I called the number provided on the card (1-866-633-9096) and attempted to check my account balance, but I was told that they were experiencing technical difficulties and told to call back in an hour.  I have tried several times and received the same error  message each time.



There was no way to speak to a live operator on the phone.  The help and support on the website is not helpful at all, and there seems to be no other way to contact the company.  I have found other mentions of this issue online but no one has found a solution.



There is an option to close your account online, but I am afraid that if I do that, I will completely lose the option to get my money back because my balance is listed as zero, so they would not return any money.  Wal-Mart cannot provide a refund.



I would suggest avoiding the Walmart Visa Gift Card because I am currently out $105.44 with no clear way of getting it back.

2 Updates & Rebuttals

Allan K

Cumming,
Georgia,
United States of America

Will Not Ever Buy a Visa Gift Card from Walmart Again

#3Consumer Comment

Wed, February 24, 2010

On 12-6-09 I purchased a $100 Walmart Visa Gift Card for my Step-daughter for Christmas.  The first week of January she informed me that she has been unable to use the card for anything that it keeps getting declined.  I then called the 866-633-9096 number on the back of the card.  It is almost impossible to get a live person on the phone.  However, if you go into one of there options and just do not choose anything, eventually a live person will come on the line.  They requested some information from the card and my receipt and was told this would be handled within 5 business days.  


After 2 weeks without hearing anything from them, I attempted to take the card back to Walmart.   That was a HUGE waste of time.  Even the store manager can not help with this product.  I was very upset that Walmart will sell a product that you can not return.

I was eventually told I would have to contact their lost prevention section.  I called 866-871-2415, which you can actually get a live person on the phone.  They opened a ticket for me and told me I had to fax the front and back of the card, the receipt and the packaging the card came in to them at 1-626-739-2057.  There is no option to scan this and email it to them, it has to be a fax.  I then called back in to insure that they had received the fax.  I did this because I had done the same thing 2 weeks ago and when I called to check the status they said they could not read the numbers on the card from the first fax.  Be aware, they will NOT call you back even though they say they will, you have to constantly call them to make anything happen.  In my case, they have everything they have asked for and as of right now, they still have my money and I have nothing but frustration.

Seth Shadows

United States of America

Scam

#3Consumer Comment

Tue, February 09, 2010

Right, Gift card scams seem to be popping up everywhere.
Scammers and hackers even (yeah, hackers have an in-person field team now) go into a store like wal-mart, steal the card, exit the store, write down the numbers, bring it back, put it on the shelf without disturbing the packaging.
They input the data to something called a "ghost bot" and it checks to see if the gift card has been activated every .5 seconds. Not like you would use on the walmart site, they have their own GHOST commands for it. (Example: Like a man looking to steal something from a store, leaving and pacing back pretending to look at something else every few minutes to see if anyone's watching, when it's in the clear, they pounce)

It's automated to take the transfer from their online account and re-direct it like railroad tracks that dis-appear after being used.
They leak it into their paypal account, and it appears as paypal dollars.

Contact stolen or lost cards. Maybe even customer support again.

If you want, I can help you.

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