member7777

What if he steals a house in Hong Kong for the mortgage?

member7777

Whether it is gift cards at OD, or VR anywhere, I make it a habit to have the cashier put the card purchased in a bag as it is processed, along with the gift card used to purchase (if there is one), along with the receipt.
Trying not to mix the chicken poop and chicken salad.

Yarhead

Well played.

akp

I won't put the VR in the shopping bag. I wrap the receipt around them and put them in my purse. I'm worried that they'll accidentally get thrown away by my husband or kids in the bag or some other unforeseen problem could occur. They're safest in my purse.

Anita

Jetsfan

Please excuse if there is a better forum for this question. I am glad to re-post there. Have had trouble in past week getting $500 Visa gift cards at OD. So I bought the AMEX version, which cost a bit more. My CVS let me use a Visa gift card I already had to buy a VR, but the register rejected the AMEX. Any similar experiences or suggestions?

member7777

I bought some Amex for a different experiment but was able to use it at CVS for a similar product yesterday

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Jetsfan

Not sure if this adds anything new, but I had a first ever problem with a VR. It was not validated, and when I checked the receipt the number there did not match the card. Fairly certain I was just handed back the wrong card -- it was kind of a confusing check out scene at that time of day. I did not check the numbers until I got home and the reload failed. I went back to the store the next morning and received a polite refund. I did have to wait about a half an hour while they did some research in the office -- I think VR was called, but the wait was no one's fault and they were nice about it and kept me informed. Good to know that a problem can be fixed, but the lesson learned is glance at the receipt and card while at the store.

mkarolian

I just bought 2 cards at CVS and I am receiving the following error messages while trying to activate both cards...

An error has occurred during this transaction. Please verify all the information is correct and try again. If you continue to receive this message contact a service representative for assistance. (180)

After retrying a number of times I am getting an error on the Vanillareload.com homepage that just says -

Velocity checks failed.

sk8uno

I just tried to load 2 cards also. First one went through fine. Second one gave me this same error. I called Vanilla and the CSR said the (180) code means I'm over the load limit on the BB.

The only thing I can think of is that I loaded one VR last night after 9pm PST, so it would have been 1/12 (today) if measuring from EST. That would explain why I could load 1 but not 2. The odd thing is that my BB account says last night's load was on 1/11. Oh well, probably just a disconnect between the UI and the back-end.

Did you load anything yesterday after midnight EST?

nwflyboy

Call them (Vanilla Reload Network).

I recently had a problem with one VR I bought about a week ago. I was getting the "Card is deactivated" error when trying to load it on Bluebird.

I steeled myself for customer service hell from the other side of the world, but to my surprise and great relief, my call was answered on the first ring, it was obviously a domestic call center (pretty sure it's Georgia - all were native english speaking American women with Southern accents - two different agents I spoke with told me their names were Ashley - sounds like Georgia to me). Took a couple calls to accomplish, but in all cases they were helpful, easy to deal with, even apologetic. Asked me to email or fax copies of the store receipt and the card. Within 24 hours, they fixed it for me, and got the funds deposited to my Bluebird account.

Very good customer service in my experience. YMMV, but don't hesitate to give them a shot.

sk8uno

Update: I tried to load another 2 VRs onto BB after midnight EST (even though I'm in PST) and it worked. Seems the load calendar is indeed based on EST.

FlyingBoat

I bought a VR yesterday at SA, brought it home and could not load with it. It gives error of being decativated. Calling VR, they say it never was activated.(I had purchased 3 others from SA earlier in the week that worked right away.)

I immediately went back to SA and they said wait a while. Still didn't work many hours later.

I checked receipt and could find no #'s which matched #'s on the reload card. Dug out my receipts/cards from the garbage from earlier in the week and see that the "Card #" on those receipts matched the 4 digit code on the bottom left of the corresponding VR card.

The one which didn't load did not match, and in fact strangely the #'s on that receipt match instead the last 4 digits of the credit card I used!

I thought maybe the clerk typed in my CC instead of the VR and that was the # they tried to activate. Went back to SA, and they say, nope, they don't type in any numbers, all they do is swipe the card, and the VR card I brought up to the counter was the only one they had there this morning.

Some big screw up. I needed to fax in copies of the receipt and VR to VR and they say it could take 5 to 7 business days while they investigate it. SA says they cannot do anything. They put some notes into their system but it was the weekend so someone will look into it from their side during the week.

I showed SAtheir receipt and matching card# from earlier in the week and the one they gave me right now which only matched the CC, but they could just shrug their shoulders. They couldn't reverse the charge or give me a different VR.

nwflyboy

Relax, it'll be OK (as long as you have receipts).

The cashier screwed up, and did not load your card correctly.

I had the same thing happen to me a few weeks ago with a VR I got at Walgreens (new cashier, looked completely clueless). WG staff and manager were nice but couldn't help, knew nothing (when I described the cashier there who sold me the bad VR to other, regular cashiers there who sold me many VRs, they admitted the guy who sold it to me was brand new and clueless). I called Incomm, they said to fax or scan/email the receipt + front & back of VR. They also told me it could be 5-7 business days. Within 48 hours of emailing them scans, they activated the VR for me, and was able to load it on Bluebird without a hitch.

Throughout the interactions, Imcomm CS were pleasant, helpful, a human answered every call with zero hold time, and they were not on the other side of the planet (all I spoke with were female, native-English speakers with US southern accents - sounded like Georgia girls), and open 24/7. Much better customer service than most companies these days.

Keep calm, give them a couple days, follow up with them, and all will be fine.

Lesson learned: always keep your register receipt, and clip it to any unloaded VR. Always.

exwannabe

Agreed 100%

New to this game but just had a case of a bad VR (pin last 4 digits gone). I thought the VR CS line did a very good job of quickly resolving the issue, but it did need me to have the receipt in hand (as it should).

I normally toss most receipts. So for these I am VERY deliberate about placing the receipt and card in a clean pocket prior to buying my other items.