Done with gift cards from Raise.com

[jmmess]

At least at Target you can buy a new Target GC with the one purchased from Raise. Would be great if more retailers did this and if you can transfer a balance that would work, but I know at B&N that you can't "buy a GC with a GC." Will have to ask next time if they will transfer a balance from one card to the next, but wonder if they'll ask why and then what do you say?!

 

[ibob52]

*

 

[kydisneyfans]

I only buy cards with even denominations anymore-while Raise has great customer service, the ratio of bad cards coming was going through the roof for us. A $25/$50 card is likely someone who doesn't want it, a $64.81 MAY be a returned stolen item. Not worth the chance anymore when Kroger does 4x points and grocers are 5% cash back on the CC.

 

[Shanti]

I was never a huge purchaser of gift cards in the first place. I have only purchased 4 in the last 2 years. I just checked the balance on the 2 cards that I received last month and one of them has a zero balance. I am waiting for a call back from Raise now since I was 17th in line for a representative. The way I look at it is that I have a 25% failure rate with them right now. I can't imagine buying a lot of cards and having to worry about if the balances are going to be there when I go to use them.

Thanks for the heads-up on this.

 

[dsdeleon]

I have also had a high rate of drain on the table service cards. Recently PF Changs was fully loaded, used half and then it was drained in the next few days. They refunded a discounted portion of it but it took too much stress to resolve. Also done with them, most resellers are just scammers and Raise simply passes the scam to us.

 

[dpswift]

I never thought of half of these issues. I guess I am just too trusting. I have bought lots of the PetsMart cards never thinking of the possibility of theft. I had a problem with using a Target one once so I stopped buying them. Have used the restaurant ones a few times without issue

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

At least at Target you can buy a new Target GC with the one purchased from Raise. Would be great if more retailers did this and if you can transfer a balance that would work, but I know at B&N that you can't "buy a GC with a GC." Will have to ask next time if they will transfer a balance from one card to the next, but wonder if they'll ask why and then what do you say?!

And that is the reason so many retailers won't allow you to buy a card with a card. They know that many of those cards are purchased with stolen credit cards. They are trying to reduce the amount fraud happening.

 

[threeboysmom]

Is the scamming done with the physical gift cards or the electronic ones? I bought one about a month ago (paper copy that I printed) for a restaurant - haven't used it yet. Now I'm feeling anxious about it.

 

[kj2mom]

I have had a couple of issues (got fully refunded). I have started to check balances fairly frequently so I am not shocked at the check out. I have learned that with Subway you can transfer the card balance to another card so I have one card of my own (previously just my card I used to earn points) that I transfer the $$ to immediately upon receipt. Others I put into an app if I can and keep an eye on the balance. There is definitely money to be saved but it can also be a pain, one of my children used to panic when she would see me pull out a card because she was afraid of check out (I had a Target one with $$ on it that just wouldn't ring so I decided to just use my credit card and deal with it later when my chip on my card wouldn't read, ugghh register nightmare, and a restaurant one that was drained). My luck lately has been good though, and worth it for what I have saved.

 

[pk1959]

Is the scamming done with the physical gift cards or the electronic ones? I bought one about a month ago (paper copy that I printed) for a restaurant - haven't used it yet. Now I'm feeling anxious about it.

Mine that got drained was a physical gift card. The other one that I am watching like a hawk is a physical one as well. I was surprised to read that there have been cases where people have used part of the gift card balance but then the rest of the balance has been drained. Nobody has mentioned that they have been ripped off AFTER the 100 day guarantee (in the case of Raise.com purchases) and just lost their money, so I wonder how common that is? How can Raise afford to keep refunding purchasers money as they must be losing money on the deals too?

 

[Shmily1]

I am so glad you all posted this. I was looking at a new laptop from Dell and searched last night for gift cards to buy to use for the laptop purchase. This morning, I was looking on here before I bought the laptop and sure am glad I did. I think you all just saved me a big headache. I did order the laptop though while it was on sale!

 

[cxcelica]

I have had only one issue with Raise, and their customer service fixed the problem. The wait time before I got an actual rep on the phone was a tad ridiculous and they also disconnected me because their hours of operation ended while I was on hold. But I called the next day and they fixed the problem and gave me a $5.00 off coupon for making me wait on hold, which was nice.

However, I am very careful about what and when I buy. Generally, Ill only buy when I'm about to make a purchase and then go to raise to see if they have a gift card available for what I want to buy. I also try to buy a gift card which is just slightly less than what I am buying. I don't want to hold on to gift cards with balances on them for multiple reasons. I know I am not "maximizing" how much I could be "saving" or "churning", but I feel I am also minimizing the amount of headaches I'm exposing myself to.

I've been satisfied with Raise, using it the way I do.

 

[MagicPlanning]

So I won a $200 NBA Store gift card and was researching where to sell it when I stumbled on this thread. Anyone have an opinion on where to go? Giftcardgranny says Raise or ebay will give me the most money, but I'm thinking the most hassle. It says ABC Gift Cards would give me less, but it'd be an immediate payment. Has anyone dealt with them?

 

[momto4obkids]

So I won a $200 NBA Store gift card and was researching where to sell it when I stumbled on this thread. Anyone have an opinion on where to go? Giftcardgranny says Raise or ebay will give me the most money, but I'm thinking the most hassle. It says ABC Gift Cards would give me less, but it'd be an immediate payment. Has anyone dealt with them?

I have sold to ABC gift cards a few times and have had no issues with them.

 

[JohnDaleswife]

I think that if you buy them and then use them immediately the chances of getting drained cards decrease greatly.

 

[threeboysmom]

I just used mine yesterday with no problems.