Brendan

You're welcome to Peteropny for featuring & thanking me in the Wiki.

wxguy

Fraud continues. I last used my hyatt.com-purchased e-card on March 27, and had the associate write down the balance (as I always do). Today I checked out from a WA property, and the associate told me the balance was ~$200 less than it was on March 27.

I just called customer service, and they said my card was used TODAY in CA. This was an easy one, since Hyatt has on-record that I'm currently staying in WA. They will issue a new e-card with the previous balance and cancel the compromised one.

So make sure you keep track of your balances!

Furyleader

I’ve recently encountered the same situation, my case however involving an ebay purchase of egift card , resell from cardcash, as soon purchase was made i checked the next day , it got drained away from 1k ….i’ve contacted hyatt customer relation and was told they will not honor the purchase as its from third party, so i sucked it up and filed paypal protection…something is seriously wrong with hyatt gift card system…

seawolf

I would guess their numbering algorithm got compromised. While they should be able to change the algorithm for new cards going forward, it does nothing to address the ones already in circulation.

cdancer20

Yea that definitely sucks. Just out of curiousity did you contact the seller first before going through paypal? If it was a resell through cardcash, I would assume that you would have had no issues.

SportsTech

We'll find out soon whether your assumption is accurate.

Late last week I bought 5 cards from Cardcash, including (2) cards with face values of $250. Printed them out at the Hyatt Fisherman's Wharf on Saturday night (actually, had the Hyatt front desk print them for me, and they then deleted the email). Tried to use one of the $250 cards on Sunday morning and was told it only had a balance of $14. The other $250 card was fine, as was the $200 card I used with it. Cardcash CS has been contacted via email, with no resolution yet.

Here's an interesting coincidence: the missing $236 is exactly equal to the total Cardcash "discount" on the total 5 card transaction. This apparent drainage could simply be a screwup on the interface between Cardcash and Hyatt - not that Hyatt's IT would ever make a mistake like this.

Will let you all know how it sorts out...
ST

cdancer20

I speak from experience when dealing directly with CardCash. I have had no problems (yet) getting them to refund me for the drained card. They have a 45 day refund policy. I suggest calling them directly so that they can put in a ticket.

vike

Ordered $1000 egift card directly from Hyatt in 12/14 (then on discount). Checked balance on 11/15 and still $1000. Rechecked yesterday and $0. Gave fraud information to several people. Last person was Hyatt Guest Relations. They confirmed today a new physical card will be sent out.

SportsTech

As you said, CardCash CS refunded the drained amount - I got $181 back for the missing $236 so I got back the missing amount at the 23% discount on the cards I ordered. I followed the advice in their FAQ and emailed support - next time I'll call, it took 5 email roundtrips and 5 days to get the refund processed. Next time I buy one of these, I will check the balance intermittently and immediately before I plan to use it; I still think this is a systems interface error between Cardcash and Hyatt, not fraud; the coincidence of the missing amount being equal to the total order discount is just too high.

travelismylife

So now my replacement card has been compromised too. Was told that it was swiped at hotel and there is no way anyone could fake that as they weren't just telling the fd a gift card number. I said that was strange as there is no card, it's an e gift card, so what was swiped exactly. Hahahahaha. Gonne hear back in a few days (this after being transferred to 4 different people). So people are assigning real gift card numbers onto fake gift cards, or Hyatt's it is just beyojd screwed up.

Brituchenite

Just purchased 10 x $50 GC from Cardcash at 24% discount. $380 for $500 face value is a nice deal.

However, 4 out of the 10 had a zero balance when I called Hyatt to check.

Called Cardcash support line, and they are checking into it. The CSR was very helpful and I got an email immediately after the call showing she had instituted an inquiry with the claims dept.

I have a Hyatt stay the first week of June, and will be using these e-gift cards then. I intend to check the balance every few days to make sure they are all still OK.

solewalker

I personally haven't experienced fraud yet, but based on other gift card forums, Cardcash has a pretty bad problem with GC fraud, not just Hyatt GCs.

I use Hyatt GCs as well, and to date (fingers crossed!), I haven't had problems with purchases from SVM (on Ebay) and Paypal Digital Gifts (also on Ebay).

Brituchenite

I shall stay on top of this; certainly, I wanted to check immediately to make sure the cards had the balance they were supposed to have.

Within minutes of receiving the cards, I checked the balance and then called Cardcash to query the ZERO balance cards, so they could investigate immediately.

They do have a 45 days guarantee, so I will see what happens. If I don't get a refund I will query with my CC issuer.

Brendan

Has anyone had any experience with GiftCardSpread.com ? They have Hyatt e-GCs for sale @ 27% off, but some negative reviews about them come up on Google. Sounds to me like too much of a gamble/ too good to be true. Their "guarantee" lasts only 45 days.

United747

I had something very similar happen. I just emailed them (told them I'd dispute with cc if they didn't respond promptly), got my refund three days later.