- Report: #1341259
Complaint Review: Bluebird - Internet
-
Author Not Confirmed
Why?
Bluebird
Internet, USA
Phone:
877-486-5990
Web:
www.bluebird.com
Categories:
Business Rating:
(0)
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Bluebird Wont Let Me Use My Money and Won't Help Me When I Call Internet
So, one night in October, I felt like renting a Redbox DVD. It was late at night, and so when I didn't have enough money to load my Exact card at Walgreens, I decided to go to Walmart to see if they had any prepaid cards. After many failed attempts, I finally found the Bluebird card. The card and the packaging really seemed to stick out. I read the fine print and purchased the card for $5.00 and loaded my card with 2.00 that I had left over. I knew 2.00 was enough to rent the Redbox DVD as it costs $1.60 to rent. Then I went to rent the Redbox DVD and it said that the authorization had declined. So I called the customer service number at 877-486-5990 and was told that I just had to wait a couple hours for the card to fully activate. She also said that I had to register the card online. So I went home and decided to try again in a couple days. I tried registering the card and it gave me an error message that something went wrong and to please try again later. A couple days go by, and I decided to try registering the card again. This time, the registration of the temporary card went through and said it was successful. So I logged in just to make sure. The website let me log in with the username and password I had created and said I had an available balance of 2.00 So I went to the store and tried to rent the Redbox DVD once again and once again, the card had declined. So I called the customer service number again and spoke with a man who said I didn't register the card correctly and that they couldn't find my registration. I told him that I followed each step and that it had worked for me and finally once I spelled out my name to him he said he found it, but he doesn't know why the card is declining and that it must be on Redbox's end. So I asked to be transferred to a supervisor and a lady came on. I asked if I could be refunded for the card and she said I could not then she said we can cancel the card for you and I said no thank you I will keep the card. She said that there were no declines coming through on their end and so that the card is not declining.
I got the permanent card a couple weeks later and I activated it. I also asked what my balance was. The lady I spoke to said that the balance doesn't transfer from the temp card to the permanent card so I still have $2.00 on my temp card and a zero balance on my new card. So here I am today 2 months after I get the card. I decide to try renting a redbox DVD again and it declines. It said the transaction could not be authorized. The redbox machine says that it accepts American Express so it is not the redbox machines fault. And it seems that every time I call customer service they never do anything to try to solve my issue. They just blame the customer or the merchant. They say oh you didn't register the card correctly or oh it's not on our end or there are no declines coming through or that they don't know. So my 2.00 is stuck on my card.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Robert
Irvine,California,
USA
You have got to be kidding
#2Consumer Comment
Sun, December 04, 2016
Do you really think that RedBox hasn't figured out this scam?
You didn't have enough money to reload your "regular" pre-paid card. So you figured it was a good idea to spend $5 on a new "Pre Paid" card, put exactly enough(well $0.40 more) on the card to rent the movie for one night.
So answer this...what would happen if you kept the disk another night, or let's say you just happen to "forget" to return it. You used a PrePaid card that is not linked to you in any personal verifiable way. So you just got a free DVD. Don't you think that RedBox has figured this out over the years and the exact reason they do not allow the use of these type of cards. Yes, they accept American Express..but a REAL American Express card not some prepaid card someone buys at a drugstore some night.
As for the money being "stuck" on the card. Other than you trying to run this scam, why would RedBox be the only place you can use it? You can go into any store that uses AmEx for a purchase. Since you only have $2 on the card, let them know you want to just pay $2 with that card and the remainder how ever you were going to pay. Just about every store will be able to handle this multiple payment. In the end...you have now used the ENTIRE $2 not just $1.60. Of course you could also just go and buy something for under $2 and use it as well.
Really
punta gorda,Florida,
USA
My guess
#3General Comment
Sun, December 04, 2016
Although it does cost $1.60 to rent a movie, per day, from Redbox, they do not know how long you will be keeping the movie. So, they will put a hold on your card for more than the actual rental cost. This is the same way if an indivdual uses a debit or credit card at a gas station. The hold will be more than the actual gas pumped due to the system not knowing how much gas you will actually pump; unless you pay the cashier with the card with an actual amount. My guess that this is why your card kept getting declined. Something tells me that if you had, let's say $100 on the card, that the transaction would have been approved.
