dogbyte

That's exactly what happened to me too. I went over the number of cards (max of 4 for MO and max of 3 for BB load) and the manager had to be called over to cancel the transactions. I was worried that the transactions would not be reversed correctly and I would be in your same situation. However, the transactions were reversed correctly and I was able to load my card after reducing the number cards.

The issue is either with Walmart or the GC company. Either WM did not reverse the transactions or the reversal did not process correctly. Bluebird never even saw the money or that you even tried to load the money. From what I understand, it does not go through to Bluebird until you have the entire amount of money that you asked for and you stay under the limit of cards.

Alcibiades

I would not recommend saying that you tried to use 4 VISA gift cards to load an AMEX BlueBird prepaid product at Walmart.

Before providing a bunch of details that may not help them help you, just say your VISA debit transaction died before completing but the money was improperly deducted.

Carry $200 cash in your wallet for Walmart emergencies

Not with 5 swipes

nwflyboy

Please think before you call various large players and explain all your steps.

If you are manufacturing spending, the last thing you want to do is provide all the gory details - you ought to know that this (and all other "manufacturing spend") are very fragile instruments, and they can and will get shut down eventually at some point when a key player in the chain gets wise to the game and decides they're going to put a stop to what they surely consider "abuse." You can either speed or delay the day when that comes by how much attention you draw to this or other edge plays.

Not to single you out (this is more of a general plea), there are a lot of incredibly naive FTers who seem to think that whenever something goes wrong, they need to immediately call up everyone in the chain and spill all their details.

If in doubt, do a search on "never call", read a bit and do some thinking before you plan your call, then have a clear idea of what you should and should not say in the event that you do have to contact someone. Do not "overshare".

Nishant1

How much of money is still missing?

I do not think that there is a need to be shy about manufactured spending within perfectly allowed options, although I agree there is no need to give unwanted publicity.

Somebody is holding the money and it is a system error which can get repeated again or in many cases.

Steve M

I do. Any scheme that involves manufactured spend where you are getting some net benefit at the end (such as cash back, airline miles, etc) and where you have found some combination of products, transactions, and merchants where there is no cost to you other than your time means that (at least) one of the merchants is taking it in the shorts. They're likely losing 1-2% on each transaction in hard money, not counting the overhead, and getting no benefit in return. If that party or parties becomes aware of the situation, and decides that the overall benefit from the intended use of the products and transactions doesn't greatly outweigh the loss they incur from the spend manufacturers, they're going to shut it down.

theacolyte

Just another example of, don't play the game if you can't afford to take a hit. There is inherent risk in our activities, so you may just have to accept your losses and move on.

theacolyte

This is very naive. Manufacturing spend involves many of the same steps people use to steal money, quickly turn stolen CCs into cash, etc. Just because we know we aren't breaking the law doesn't mean someone else does. Perception is everything, so it's always best to fly under the radar and not make a stink.

Personally, if someone came into my job and claimed they had a right to do something that I didn't agree with, or claimed I should trust that they aren't doing anything illegal, I wouldn't hesitate to refuse service and institute a ban.

Happy

I would also add, UNDERSTAND the mechanism as to exactly what work and what does not.

It has been reported NUMEROUS Times that a single transaction can take maximum 4 swipes, hence you can only use 3 cards to load a BB which takes up 1 swipe, but 4 cards for a MO which does not use a swipe.

People if they cannot even remember exactly what work and what does not, nor remember how they made a mistake, they should probably stay away from this game which is not without risk.

So many times the SNAFU is user error induced that could almost always prevented. In this case, if OP has the mechanism down, he would not try to load 4 cards to the BB on one single transaction - hence there would not be any error that required a reversal done, therefore avoid an error made in the reversal process.

WM's daily cash reconciliation should show the extra $800 in its system if it is not reversed properly.

Calling BB does not do the OP any good because BB never sees the money.

elsewyse

*sigh*

I'm aware of the need to be discrete about manufactured spending and I was as careful as I could be considering the circumstances. Unfortunately, the rep's questions were specific enough that I had to reveal more information than I would have preferred.

However, I made *no* mention of miles or points, and when asked why I wanted to move the money off the GCs and onto bluebird, all I said was that it was because I wanted to pay my rent, and the complex only accepted checks, not debit cards.

elsewyse

I'm unclear what you mean by this.

I can afford to take the hit, but that doesn't mean I *want* to, and it doesn't mean I'm going to give up on this without a fight.

All $800.

elsewyse

In the reading I've done, I have not run across the 3 card limit for BB reloads. Had I seen that, I would have had them do two transactions instead of one.

I called BB in the first place to make sure that there wasn't a pending transaction that I, for whatever reason, wasn't able to see online. As I now know that they never saw the money, I have no reason to call them again.

Thank you for the information about the daily cash reconciliation.

k2o

I skimmed through and don't think I saw this advice.....
But this same thing happened to me today for $500 each-2 cards. The guy at the register hit credit, instead of debit, then tried to reverse it but then it was denied. He gave me the little printout chit for both gc cards.

I called the # on vanilla gift card (I have it programmed in my phone) and asked why it was denied.
They can see the transaction and she told me that it showed as used at Walmart within minutes of my call. She said "strange but it looks like WM tried to reverse it". She excused herself, then came back on the phone and said they would have to mail me a new gift card with $500 worth of funds. As I had 2 cards with the same issue, she took care of both on same call.

She did not ask me what I was purchasing. I did not offer.
This happened to me one other time, and I received the replacement card in 5-7 days.

Rommie2k6

Does that mean that you can cash out 4 cards by doing 4 separate transactions?

1) Swipe BB
2) Enter amount
3) Swipe Gift Card
4) Repeat 1 to 3 another 3 times

elsewyse

Just an update to say that I called the Walmart I tried to use the gcs at and they said it ought to be returned to my card within 3-7 days, and if not, to call and talk to their accounting department. So, hopefully that will work out.

Thanks for the help.

jewsus

I didn't read all the posts but a similar thing happened to me with a $500 gift card so this may be a repeat. I called Incomm (vanilla visa) and they said the funds were released but Walmart has not accepted the transaction or something like that and if Walmart does not accept the transaction within 7 days, the funds go back to the gift card. I'm patiently waiting a week to get my money back.