money disappeared off GCs while trying to load bluebird- help!
May 12, 2013, 11:48 pm
#31
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Posts: 1,929
Just say my VISA transaction failed in the middle, but the money was taken away. Who can best fix this, or who has the money ? Walmart is the likely answer as you found out.
May 13, 2013, 11:28 am
#32
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 4
This happened to me when I tried to use a MyVanilla debit at the WM kiosk. WM was worthless and kept coming up with excuses...
-The funds will show up on BB eventually (they didn't)
-It was a temp charge and will drop off (it wasn't)
-The charge will be refunded (it wasn't)
I had to open a dispute with MVD. About a week later MVD credited my account for the 1k I was trying to load.
In my experience your best bet would be to open a dispute with the GC company. Let them investigate for you and you can always cancel it if you get a refund.
-The funds will show up on BB eventually (they didn't)
-It was a temp charge and will drop off (it wasn't)
-The charge will be refunded (it wasn't)
I had to open a dispute with MVD. About a week later MVD credited my account for the 1k I was trying to load.
In my experience your best bet would be to open a dispute with the GC company. Let them investigate for you and you can always cancel it if you get a refund.
May 13, 2013, 11:51 am
#33
Join Date: Jan 2012
Programs: DL, WoH
Posts: 1,253
The takeaway from this scenario for me is if it's not inconvenient; do 1 load on 1 day, and then another load another day. I don't think I would ever max out a load in 1 day with more than 1 gift card or even try. But I can understand if Walmart is out of the way. Anyone else reading this thread should definitely read through most of the Pin-Enabled gift card thread, there is a lot of knowledge there before you dabble in this affair.
May 13, 2013, 11:54 am
#34
Join Date: Apr 2013
Programs: UA MPE, BA Blue, AA, IHG Plat Amb, Marriot Silver, HHonors Silver, National Exec, Avis First
Posts: 553
This happened to me when I tried to use a MyVanilla debit at the WM kiosk. WM was worthless and kept coming up with excuses...
-The funds will show up on BB eventually (they didn't)
-It was a temp charge and will drop off (it wasn't)
-The charge will be refunded (it wasn't)
I had to open a dispute with MVD. About a week later MVD credited my account for the 1k I was trying to load.
In my experience your best bet would be to open a dispute with the GC company. Let them investigate for you and you can always cancel it if you get a refund.
-The funds will show up on BB eventually (they didn't)
-It was a temp charge and will drop off (it wasn't)
-The charge will be refunded (it wasn't)
I had to open a dispute with MVD. About a week later MVD credited my account for the 1k I was trying to load.
In my experience your best bet would be to open a dispute with the GC company. Let them investigate for you and you can always cancel it if you get a refund.
May 13, 2013, 5:27 pm
#35
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 24
This happened to me when I tried to use a MyVanilla debit at the WM kiosk. WM was worthless and kept coming up with excuses...
-The funds will show up on BB eventually (they didn't)
-It was a temp charge and will drop off (it wasn't)
-The charge will be refunded (it wasn't)
I had to open a dispute with MVD. About a week later MVD credited my account for the 1k I was trying to load.
In my experience your best bet would be to open a dispute with the GC company. Let them investigate for you and you can always cancel it if you get a refund.
-The funds will show up on BB eventually (they didn't)
-It was a temp charge and will drop off (it wasn't)
-The charge will be refunded (it wasn't)
I had to open a dispute with MVD. About a week later MVD credited my account for the 1k I was trying to load.
In my experience your best bet would be to open a dispute with the GC company. Let them investigate for you and you can always cancel it if you get a refund.
May 13, 2013, 6:41 pm
#36
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 170
It would be naive to think that credit card companies are not aware of manufactured spending. They know it and still allow it as long as their net profits increase.
If real money is lost and not returned back in a reasonable time, I believe that there is a need to elevate the issue.
If it happens to me, I will take up in small claims court with all 3 major players as defendants
If real money is lost and not returned back in a reasonable time, I believe that there is a need to elevate the issue.
If it happens to me, I will take up in small claims court with all 3 major players as defendants
May 13, 2013, 9:54 pm
#37
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 1,689
It takes 7 days to get credited back onto your GC.
(this is for a cancelled transaction).
If it does not show up in 7 days, call Vanilla on day 8 and they will credit your card while you are on the phone.
IME, I did not have to open a dispute. They could see the transaction was cancelled.
If the transaction is $500 or less, it should appear automatically. Mine was 90 cents over, so they had to do it manually (because it was over $500).
(this is for a cancelled transaction).
If it does not show up in 7 days, call Vanilla on day 8 and they will credit your card while you are on the phone.
IME, I did not have to open a dispute. They could see the transaction was cancelled.
If the transaction is $500 or less, it should appear automatically. Mine was 90 cents over, so they had to do it manually (because it was over $500).
May 14, 2013, 8:10 am
#38
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2013
Programs: AA, HH, UA, Marriott, SW, Club Carlson, IHG
Posts: 202
How do you get around this limit, "The aggregate amount of funds you may add to the Account from your Debit Card(s) may not exceed $100 per day and $1,000 per month" from the BB member agreement. Do they not enforce that limit?
May 14, 2013, 8:46 am
#39
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 107
Just FYI, sometimes, re credit back to GC can take over a week. I bought Amex 3k GC while back during TCB promo, then used it to buy GCMall. It got rejected because I didn't register the Amex. So it took about 9 days for it to get credit back to my GC. Then i re-registered and bought Visa.
May 14, 2013, 4:03 pm
#40
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 203
Sigh...
May 14, 2013, 4:24 pm
#41
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: ORD
Posts: 701
I went to Walmart today to load $700 onto my GoBank card today. (500, 100, and 100) I told her the first card was $500 and she typed in the amount. After that swipe, she realized she only typed in $5 for the first swipe. She decided to abort the transaction which took a manager coming over with a key. When we started again I told her to only load $200. She assured me that the previous transaction was aborted and it was like it never happened. I decided to only load the $200 and then go to my truck and call. When I called, the $500 was still on the card.
The one difference I see between the op's situation and mine are that my cards were Visa's issued by Metabank. I wonder if it's the Vanilla cards and you will see the money back after 7 days? Time will tell.
The one difference I see between the op's situation and mine are that my cards were Visa's issued by Metabank. I wonder if it's the Vanilla cards and you will see the money back after 7 days? Time will tell.
May 14, 2013, 8:08 pm
#42
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 24
For whatever reason, VV could not see that the transaction had been cancelled; it appeared on the card as if it had gone through correctly.
May 14, 2013, 8:08 pm
#43
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 24
Just FYI, sometimes, re credit back to GC can take over a week. I bought Amex 3k GC while back during TCB promo, then used it to buy GCMall. It got rejected because I didn't register the Amex. So it took about 9 days for it to get credit back to my GC. Then i re-registered and bought Visa.
May 14, 2013, 9:58 pm
#44
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: DFW
Posts: 478
I went to Walmart today to load $700 onto my GoBank card today. (500, 100, and 100) I told her the first card was $500 and she typed in the amount. After that swipe, she realized she only typed in $5 for the first swipe. She decided to abort the transaction which took a manager coming over with a key. When we started again I told her to only load $200. She assured me that the previous transaction was aborted and it was like it never happened. I decided to only load the $200 and then go to my truck and call. When I called, the $500 was still on the card.
The one difference I see between the op's situation and mine are that my cards were Visa's issued by Metabank. I wonder if it's the Vanilla cards and you will see the money back after 7 days? Time will tell.
The one difference I see between the op's situation and mine are that my cards were Visa's issued by Metabank. I wonder if it's the Vanilla cards and you will see the money back after 7 days? Time will tell.
May 15, 2013, 11:25 am
#45
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: US
Programs: SPG Gold
Posts: 105
Yesterday, I went to Office Depot and bought $800 worth of Vanilla Visa gcs (they'd finally restocked! I was excited!), then went across the street to load my bluebird account at Walmart. I've done this before at these stores and it has worked fine. This time, however, there was an error in the middle of the transaction and it didn't go through. I thought fine, whatever, I'll just have to use them for regular spend, and went home.
Today, however, when I went to use the gcs at the grocery store, each of them in turn got declined for insufficient funds. Well, crap, I thought. Went home, checked the balances online. Turns out that the money somehow got debited off my gcs, while not ever actually getting loaded onto my bluebird account. The bluebird account doesn't even show a pending transaction.
The CSR reps at Bluebird are claiming that it's an error on the part of Visa (and that we're not supposed to be able to load Bluebird with a card that doesn't have an address in the first place). Visa is claiming that Walmart has the money (and in the phone call, basically accused me of doing this to launder money!) Nobody knows what's going on. Does anyone have any advice??? Who should I be calling about this? Is small claims court an option? This isn't going to kill me but eight hundred bucks is a hell of a lot of money-- and more even than how much I value the card bonus.
Today, however, when I went to use the gcs at the grocery store, each of them in turn got declined for insufficient funds. Well, crap, I thought. Went home, checked the balances online. Turns out that the money somehow got debited off my gcs, while not ever actually getting loaded onto my bluebird account. The bluebird account doesn't even show a pending transaction.
The CSR reps at Bluebird are claiming that it's an error on the part of Visa (and that we're not supposed to be able to load Bluebird with a card that doesn't have an address in the first place). Visa is claiming that Walmart has the money (and in the phone call, basically accused me of doing this to launder money!) Nobody knows what's going on. Does anyone have any advice??? Who should I be calling about this? Is small claims court an option? This isn't going to kill me but eight hundred bucks is a hell of a lot of money-- and more even than how much I value the card bonus.