Aus_Mal

And as suspected... Tesco have not been cooperative with my failed to activate cards.

sinizter

Sad to hear that. They were helpful and fixed mine once I explained the problem -- which was that 4 cards were not activated (received 4 less activation slips than cards paid for). They did initially suggest calling the number on the slip - there isn't one. I then showed them the message on the 3V website - which asked them to contact an email address. Luckily, then didn't make me contact the email address. They just said leave it with them, they will investigate and get back to me within 48 hours. This they did and asked me to return to store to pick up a refund.

They were able to go back to their office and print out (on A4) my receipt and accompanying activation slips. I did take back the original receipt and every activation slip from that purchase. They double checked all the numbers and confirmed that I had paid for 4 more cards than activation slips were produced.

What was their excuse ?
What is your plan of action ?

Aus_Mal

That they have been registered. Not their issue (despite them not being able to give me activation slips).
First step is confirmation that the cards are not registered, followed by chargeback. The email and supporting documentation will be enough for a chargeback.

(I used the advice here, and did ask for them to check the back office. Nope, we can't reprint receipts was the answer. Thanks to those who provided advice btw! )

21H21J

Grrr. Found 20 3v cards hidden, and not one of them would activate at the till. That's something new I could have done without learning.

Aus_Mal

my cards are confirmed as non activated. will pop back to Tesco on Sunday and see what they say. if still no dice, chargeback.

Aus_Mal

I wonder if the link back to blackhawk was down at the time. Trying again later might have worked.

sinizter

Is this after emailing the 3V customer service ?

21H21J

It's easy:
1 - Email 3v the card numbers and have them confirm they have not been activated.
2 - Go to Tesco, explain the problem. They will either activate the cards, refund the charge, or most likely tell you it's not their problem.
3 - Call Amex, explain the problem and dispute the charge (or part of).
4 - Get in the habit of checking activation slips in store to avoid this happening again


Has anyone tried the St Pancras (and other shopping mall) gift card? I've given it a miss as the Tesco HH means I can earn 1000 avios for �2.90, so that's now my backup avios booster.

Aus_Mal

yes 3v advised they were not activated with them.

Aus_Mal

Saw something strange in Tesco today. A duo was grabbing some gift cards from the rack and later I saw them walking towards a self service check out with gift cards in hand and run through their transaction.

Do gift cards now work on self service? Or did they just scan the 'card carrier' barcode and not actually activate the cards.....

sinizter

I just saw someone give the SA a proper tongue lashing because they had to queue up for the self service, to find their one gift card (along with other shopping) does not work on those, and then had to re-queue for a manned till.

So, as of Thursday, they definitely did not work on a self service till.

Did they complete their transaction and walk out - or just pick it up and head to the customer service desk ?

Aus_Mal

Saw them pay and walk out. No idea what happened really. They were homebase cards BTW.

mobilemario

Ok, made the same mistake on Thursday. I was in a rush and didn't realise that I'm missing 2 activation slips. Knowing the staff at my local tesco not sure if I should even bother to explain it to them. Maybe I'll just go the chargeback route.
It's just weird that so many people reporting these to fail.

Aus_Mal

Yes the lecture on how it is impossible for you to be charged for the card yet it not be activated is a good one (our systems wouldn't permit it).

(Heard the spiel for a second time now. Along with the comment that we counted the activation slips)

Agree with you. What a FAFF.

But before going down either route, send 3v an email and get confirmation they were never activated.

Steve Oh

I used a barcode scanner to test my 3V card and it always put a load of random numbers in front of the printed number - is this normal?

RE Tesco: and their failure to activate cards, this happened to me once, they looked into it, apologised, activated the cards and gave me a �10 giftcard for my inconvenience. Perhaps it's down to who you get.

RE Tesco again: this is another good reason to do 6 or 8 at a time - it's a lot easier to check for the word 'ACTIVATED' 8 times than it is to do it 30 times.

RE 3V in general: Big shout out to my buddy Mal who directed me to 40 3V cards the other day ^