So creative of you.

Thank you, oh so very much.

x1000

Seriously this post combines so many bad practices in one that it's mind boggling. You got local CVS mgmt involved, corp CVS folks, OV, you may as well have called the Feds.

What would you do...just accept that several thousand dollars was taken and is now gone and chalk it up to a life experience or contact the store? I would contact the store, get my money, and understand that I can't use that chain any longer.

I'm glad that you and I agree, as I acknowledged that at the beginning of the post. Although, the manager was the one who contacted corp.

However, I will do what is needed to get the 3K back.

15/20 years ago, the manager would have apologized to u for the trouble and had a complimentary gift(or coupon) for u to come back and shop, assumption that it was a real error or a mistake, but in your case some one intentionally deactivated your cards because of some 'suspicion' without any verification! and this Corporate act is not unethical, illegal or fraud. What a difference! (9/11?)

I would be pretty angry at being treated like this. Store makes an error, then asks you to stop shopping there. Personally, I'd file a better business bureau complaint over this. (Yes, the BBB doesn't really have much authority, but they're really the only place that acts like they care about any sort of treatment which isn't illegal)

I would have taken the same action as the OP to get my money back, and I imagine those criticizing the OP would have taken similar action. Furthermore, if a customer returns to the store in this kind of situation it's highly likely the charges were legitimate in the first place. If there were any kind of fraudulent activity going on, the person wouldn't be likely to return and wouldn't hesitate at walking away from that amount of money since nothing was at stake.

My question is who loses on the activation fee if the cards have been deactivated? Would CVS lose out there, Incomm, or both?

No doubt all of us would have done the same to recover our money.

However, all of this could have been avoided by buying all the OV needed in a single shot, which is the usual way it's done. Being polite and non-confrontational doesn't mean following along with every bad idea a cashier has. I would have just gotten the one card and left, and gotten the rest at a later date or somewhere else.

Sure, but we're sort of playing Monday morning quarterback on this one. Who knew that CVS's own system would be the one to reject the charge? I'd get it if AmEx blocked the purchase and then had an authorization hold for a few days that fell off, but this is uncharacteristic behavior (beyond the 24-hour authorization period).

Personally I don't buy more than $1.5k at CVS in one transaction, so that it minimizes the chance of large errors like this occurring. Generally the mistakes/errors happen when attempting large transactions.

You misunderstood the post. There was not one large transaction, but a string of identical small ones. Three or more identical charges in one day almost guarantee a fraud block.

That fraud block is for the credit card authorization(bank), not the retailer.
If the retailers has a suspicion after each charges are accepted and cancels the pre-paid Card must also simultaneously reverse the corresponding CC charges.
Canceling the prepaid-card without returning the money is like taking the money and not delivering the goods, a highway robbery?
What is mind boggling is the run around to get your money back!

True, but it's another subject and not in contention. ;)
Our job is to make the best effort not to trigger such objectionable behavior.

the deactivation is prolly on the Incomm side which is the financial institution (bancorp) brokering this sale.

while one can blame that clueless, moron of a clerk -- the smartest thing you could have done was to NOT have purchased anything at this store at that time. and gone somewhere else. or come back another time when they werent working.