Purchase on one card ...refund on another
 

Anyone know of a company where you could buy a lot on one card... and then get them to refund to a totally different Credit Card - thereby racking up a load of miles?

This seems like a simple way to do it but most companies seem to refund to the original form of payment.

Anyone know of any exceptions?

The merchant agreement explicitly prohibits crediting a charge back on a different card than the one on which it was originally made. It comes up as an issue frequently on gift exchanges/returns, since, as a business that's signed that agreement, we cannot "refund" a exchanged/returned gift to anyone but the person who originally purchased it.

Some chain stores, like Macy's, will provide a credit on their inhouse credit card for a return that was purchased on another card. But I would not want to push that too much.

I think it is mostly hit and miss. Sometimes you get a clerk who just doesn't look at the numbers and even if they do, you can say oh i cancelled that card and here is the new one. I bought stuff on one Amex at Costco and returned on another. It is esp easy if you find a place that has you swipe the card, then they don't really care.

My family owns several retail stores. We will only issue credit back to the original credit card (last 4 numbers on the receipt are always checked against the credit card being used for the refund). The above poster is correct in stating that this is included as terms in our merchant agreement.

Then what about the situation raised above where one card is canceled/stolen and replaced with a new card?

REI. They've done it every time I shop at the Seattle store.

I've had luck at both Home Depot & Lowes refunding into cash instead of onto the card. My finance department gives us grief whenever we have refunds to our credit cards, so I try to avoid them at all costs. Granted, my refunds to these stores have been < $20, but if I ask "Can I just get the credit in the form of a store credit instead of going back on the card?", I've always had cash handed back to me (probably 6 times by now).

And don't give me crap because I could be gaming my work, but I spend the refunded $$ before leaving the store on more work stuff.

i think you'd get store credit. i ordered something from dhw with a temp card and wanted to return but of course didn't have the actual card. i tried to explain it to them but they said that it'd have to be store credit

The signed merchant agreement says that cannot be done. For small amounts it's not going to be an issue, but for something larger, the merchant will need to call the credit card company. In all likelihood, if you were to provide the merchant documentation showing that the card was stolen, you're not going to have much trouble.

But keep in mind this isn't what this thread was originally about. The OP was trying to figure out a way to accumulate points on one card for purchases that were later returned on another, so the points would still be intact. In case the message is not yet clear, that would be fraud.

What would be fraud? Telling the merchant that the card was lost/stolen?

Who are you saying is guilty of fraud? And what is your basis for that? It sounds like you might be saying that the consumer must comply with the merchant agreement.

What would be fraud? Please re-read the paragraph in which I mentioned fraud. It couldn't have been more clear. It's only two posts about this one in the thread. And no, the consumer doesn't have to comply with the retailer agreement, the retailer does. But the consumer also has an agreement with the credit card company, and that agreement also details how credits are dealt with.

My credit card agreement contains no such details.

You are correct; the language is very loose in that regard, simply stating that refunds will be issued back to the card. There is an assumption that they're talking about the same card, since it's in the same section as what talks about the purchases. The retailer language is far more precise and detailed.

So perhaps it is not fraud per se to make charges on a points-earning card and have those charges credited back on a different card. But knowing that the merchant isn't allowed to do so (but might because they don't know any better), and doing so for no other purpose than gaming the system (buying things knowing that you're going to return them)... it's at the very least ethically questionable.

Agreed.