Okay, first of all, I was able to convert easily no questions at all, at two other BB's! I had left $500 in my funds, and $225 in the promo funds from BB. At first store, I was able to convert to a $225 loadable at checkout and then also picked up $100 more from my online order(which I also ordered a mouse with, they had to ship that). I really liked that the checkout and the store pick up areas were very separated from each other. The second store I was gonna do $200 but ended up doing $300 and it went very smoothly. Definitely did NOT give rewards number, lol! DD26'd fiance is going to try to do last $100 at our local store here tomorrow to see how that goes. So then all will be converted. I am then waiting on $500 walgreens gc's to arrive.
@MinMou Thx for the suggestions! I don't have a membership, so I'll see about that. So, I got a few emails about getting SB pts. Now I'm a little confused. I had clicked on the link to shop thru SB and get, I think, 1% back, and remember seeing somewhere that would show pending in about 7 days. So I was thinking I'd eventually get a rebate like we did with ebates. Now is getting the pts the rebate or is that something different? Will I get pts to use towards getting gc's like the Sams or Walmart and also a cash rebate?
Something about the manager's explanation doesn't seem quite right. If they are worried that your remaining $500 in BB cards might be fraudulent, then why allow you to purchase goods in store? I suspect the large volume you were doing raised flags - esp since they had your rewards account to tie you to the purchases.
I would just go to another store and use them without giving your rewards number.
Yeah, it seemed weird, I kept asking why didn't anyone call me or say anything any other time, like the night before, when I got 3 ebay cards? I probably had given my rewards maybe 3 times since starting churning, maybe four, once early on and then this week. Was definitely in a dazed and confused state when talking with the manager, cause I couldn't believe what he was saying. I did ask and he said something about zeroing out the gc's for pennies but the merchandise was different. Didn't make sense though, and I asked a couple times.
I was wondering the same thing. Were any of your ebay cards bought through raise? Otherwise, how could they have been fraudulent? I am sorry you are going through this trouble...
Thank you! Nope, all ebay bought at either BB or Walgreens or GS, since I think this had to be from earlier in the summer. All BB were bought on PPDG. It was weird he couldn't pinpoint exactly when it happened, just a couple months ago or so. Been in there since then. And he said another one or two people had the same issue. But thinking about it now, if my gc's went thru at time of sale while I stood there, they had the balance on them at the time so being fraudulent doesn't make any sense! Reading here and thinking more clearly, I sorta wish I could talk to him again, but yeah, no! He was nice enough and not rude, but now not sure he was being totally truthful.
I am sorry this happened, but what was said to you doesn't make sense at all if the GC were fraudulent the store will have to cover no matter what you buy. The volume you ran through flagged you. I never do any one transaction over $300 that is just calling for problems. Of course they will think is suspicious if someone buys a $1700 GC as the main purpose of a GC is for "gift" and since there is so much fraud going on I would be surprised if their system doesn't have a way to flag automatically after certain amount. Also if the GC were fraudulent I would think they would have involve the police as well I don't know of any store manager that would be ok covering that loss.
Thank you! Right, and if fraudulent, how would they pass for payment as I stood there instead of saying the gc was empty?! And, he wasn't saying necessarily that the cards I had now were fraudulent, but since supposedly the others were, I couldn't buy anymore gc to gc. When I said was that anyone else or just me, he seemed a tiny flustered, barely saw it, but he said yeah no one could buy gc to gc, seeming to try to blame corporate and since they had to cover my fraudulent cards they couldn't do that again. But he'd be happy to go help me find something else to buy in store. The person I worked with often always said they had no gc limit, and I always asked and she'd always say who are they to say how I spend my money and they don't turn down sales. Others helping me also had said no limit either. So I believed her. But, Wednesday night, they did say there was a $1500 limit on gc to gc, tho I was buying 1300. And they let me buy the 1300, no question or batting an eye. Then $500 Disney on Thur night, though he tried to say that was a 'courtesy', I think he was trying to cover for the girl who had helped me, saying it was that after the fact. She had to push those thru, but that was after she had my rewards by then. And I think that's when the trouble started for sure. It would only let her do 2 $250 loadables, not one $500, and then no more. She even tried to show me the screen as she seemed truly confused. First she thought the cards were bad, then that they were gonna change cards and they were gonna get new Disney cards, or something. So, she said well come tomorrow and we'll get it figured out. Then when she told the manager about me Friday afternoon, that's when things changed. I think if I had never given my rewards number I'd have been fine.
@Minniekins -- As others have pointed out, I'm not sure your story (or the manager's) makes sense. I've read your adventures, and I'm often struck by the volume you, your DD and her friend, and now your BFF put through PPDG and BB. I'm almost certain that you've been flagged because you've bought so many, and only GCs. Walking into a single BB store to buy $1,225 or $1,700 in GCs in one day is kind of eye catching.
A lot of us always post as a reminder, go low and slow. Break up your GC>GC purchases, use different stores over different days and times, and even different employees. Here's hoping you can convert your BB GCs at other stores and through your DD and friend.
Thank you, I was able to convert, thankful for that. And that I should be able to use BB gc's still even if at other stores than my local one. Yeah, I realize I'm not the best at explaining it and especially since I was flustered and upset while listening to him. I think I was flagged for certain by using my rewards number, so they then saw for at least a couple times how many I did. Plus he probably questioned workers after my sales person tried to get his help. But I had bought a number of times, much more than the couple times I used rewards, and this was the only two visits anything was remotely weird or questioning. When I found $10 in rewards I figured I had to have gotten them from that time. Maybe they came from when I traded in the games? Idk. But Thur night her computer started not activating after I said oh sure my phone is... Was weird though, it would have let me buy cards like Darden's or movies or another one she tried. Hard to get different employees, seems like they all work the same area all the time, regardless of time I went in. I thought it was good I had someone on my side, we always chatted about family, disney as she was a fan, etc. I don't think she really had anything to do with it other than trying to get help from her manager on Friday, now she probably thinks I'm a criminal or something. Doesn't' feel very good! I've uses the store often but this year has been all gift cards.
I suspect it's a heck of a lot cheaper to cover merchandise than GCs for the store. The margins on gift cards for the store are gonna be close to nill, whereas the margins on everything else they sell would provide the store with a cushion...
I think it's amazing the Best Buy told them what they did instead of just "no more gc to gc" or "no more gc to gc or my manager will fire me" like many other places.
Yeah that's the gist of what I got from what the manager was saying. He also said that I should go online to buy, telling me that would be fine. I think he just wanted to stop me from buying there, not everyone. I really doubt they won't sell gc to gc. DD26's fiance is going to try to do $100 tomorrow to test that out. And, the manager did do a $25 gc bought in store for me as well as the rewards certificates I had with me. And, I did go online to buy and it worked, though I picked up elsewhere. And I checked out as a guest, didn't sign in to account. But, it did make me give my phone number, so Idk, it worked out just fine. But it was only $100 as I used 10 promo cards and that's all it would take.
Sorry you're dealing with that! Definitely NOT exciting! Thank you for sharing this aspect, too. I was wondering if the $1500 plus your $500 set another limit.
Thank you! I think if I wouldn't have connected to the rewards card it wouldn't have happened, but I guess in retrospect I should have gone for less. But, I figured a couple bigger times rather than more often might be better and the associate who was always there definitely encouraged that.
@Minniekins- ...
He didn't ask for the rewards card this time and I didn't mention it. The transaction went through without a hitch. I didn't think anything of it till I read your post but now I'm wondering if rewards accounts get flagged somehow, but that it doesn't have anything to do with fraudulent cards like the manager you spoke with said.
Oh wow, that's interesting! I definitely think the rewards number is what triggered my problems for sure!
WARNING!
Check your shipping address on your eBay account at the time of purchase. Evidently, sometime in the last 3 weeks, my eBay account was hacked...
Sorry you're going thru that, yikes! Thanks for the warning, I do forget to check that sometimes so will have to remember to do so!
Yep, my aunt converted $300 GS into SW just a few days ago. The cashier told her that he has done GS to eBay in last week. So highly YMMV but it makes me wonder if something has changed.
I'll be interested to see if something there has changed! I suppose we won't be lucky enough that they converted back to allowing because they'd lost so many sales, lol, but I can dream! At least while it worked it was another avenue to not always go to BB!
I was just reading an article today questioning whether Sears/Kmart might close. They caution being stuck with worthless gift cards.
Hmm, I accidentally bought a Sears gc in stead of Lowes a few months ago during a $15 off promo. They sorta looked similar and I didn't notice till I got the email. I was trying to do on my phone in the car(passenger!), and I didn't even get the $15 discount, lol. Now I gotta find somewhere to try to buy a Disney card with this stupid thing. I can try to use at either a Kmart or Sears correct? And it's not a sure thing, more Ymmv?
