townhurst

I went to the one on Harbor.

I actually was there couple days ago and the manager said the same thing to me but today it was different manager and I was able to purchase without problem.

I didn't buy Vanilla Reload, so I don't know if they'll ring up without problem.

And I saw two Variable Visa GCs at Buena Park location this afternoon. Manager came up to me and said they sold out the whole Variable GC stocks.

jasonvr

I really detest the inconsistencies, especially when they are citing store or corporate policy

I predict a HUGE drop in volume, like to near zero, when they go cash only. The question is will people still do 200 there on CC as some people see value there (I need to work out the math to see if I do). I don't think anyone will ever buy the 500's again, except, as noted in this thread, people actually trying to launder money

townhurst

I still buy 200s at my local Staples. Because I still see the value in it.

I fly at least 20 times a year from LAX to All NYC Airports and I always bring my business partner. So, by getting companion pass from Southwest, I can definitely reduce the cost of flight in half.

TheChallenge

So don't anyone be like the common sense deficient person who bought $25k at one store, then went down the street to another OD and did the same thing. All the stores in the LAS area to went to cash only this afternoon, when they weren't before.

And based on the fact the person did exactly enough to max out the reward categories on the two fee-free Ink cards, I'm guessing it was a points chaser, not someone with a stolen credit card.

random00b

The gift card loading system at the nearest OD (suburban PDX) was restored this morning, so went in to buy some variable GCs before Monday. There were at least 12 now (it was picked clean Friday!) A manager had to do override to complete the transaction (per cashier, all transactions over $1K need it, even if I bought a computer or furniture). As soon as he saw I bought GCs (in addition to computer peripherals), he said "Oh, are you buying with a Chase card? They give points" or something to that effect. No mention of the GCs going to cash tomorrow. Oh, I also had to show my ID, but they just checked it against the credit card name.

What made me chuckle was that I wasn't using a Chase card, as I'm finishing off a minimum spend on another card before 7/15. So I totally played dumb "I'm not using a Chase card, who knew that they give points here"

There's a part of me that wants to test if that store got the memo on the GCs, but I figure I wouldn't press my luck. I've been in that store 4 times in the last 5 days. I may have been gone there 5 times in the preceding 7 years.

farwest101

Whenever you hear "fraud" about variable load gc/VRs and yet they still stock smaller denomination gcs and allow purchases with ccs, the managers are talking out of their backside (which is 99% of them). True fraudsters wouldn't care one iota what type/size/denomination of gc/VR they buy as their only goal is using a stolen CC to buy cash equivalents - the fees are completely immaterial to them. The only people who care about fees are FTers.

carsnoceans

Typical example for Tragedy of Commons.

At the risk of sounding like a sour puss... I'll go ahead and say it. These people ruin it for everyone!! I did over 10K on VRs last month in MoCo but I spread it on 5 cards and never more than 1K a day.

Then they'll come and whine on account closures and FRs, heh.

farwest101

Er, you weren't playing dumb.

Why wouldn't you go to CVS and buy VRs for $3.95 and save $ and let people get 5x at OD? Or if you want gcs for some specific reason, CVS sells all you can eat for $4.95.

But no, you have to go to one of the very few ODs that carries variable load cards and buy em with a non-Ink card?


Where's the face palm emoticon when you need it?

vagrants

http://boardingarea.com/frequentmile...oes-it-matter/

"5X or not?

If we can buy gift cards with credit cards, will we still get bonus points by using credit cards that offer office supply bonuses? Commenter “M”, in my blog says maybe not:

word is that possibly- and i say POSSIBLY- these might not get 5x. a little bird in the form of a manager friend told me that they were supposedly coded in register POS differently than before per chase request. i don’t want a stack of thousands of cards at 1x, so i for one will only try a few until i SEE that i receive 5x after statement generates. i cannot confirm any of this, so each person must make his own choice. but i wanted to give a heads up to everyone just in case. i mean it is rather odd that these would just ‘suddenly, magically’ re-appear out of the blue. it is definitely possible that chase has found a new way of doing things after the tsunami from before and studying the problem for several months. time will tell…

And, Gabriel writes:

Also, regarding rumors that these might not count as 5x…I found some data that unfortunately supports this claim. I’m not sure if this existed a couple of months ago, but if you look up the merchant category codes for Office Depot at Visa’s merchant category database, you’ll notice that each Office Depot has TWO categories it reports at. One is office supplies (5943) as well as “General Merchandise” (5965). The Gen Merch category also reports L III Summary L III Line Item detail as well, which means Chase will know that you bought a gift card and not actual office supplies. Perhaps this is why OD is now coming back with the $500 cards…they may have actually figured out a way to prevent us from earning 5x (and thus paying a higher % of transaction fees towards chase)."

My statement won't close until later this week, so I can test it if I can find one of the 3 flavors...unfortunately, I won't with Ink (not sure if any flags associated with it)...I might try Freedom though to verify through BluePrint.

satz

+1, won't take very long to have his/her account shutdown and we'll see this person on FT whining about it

Rick471

8AM on east coast. I am sure we will get updates on cash only policy soon!

random00b

Sorry you feel the need to face palm & roll eyes. There are no CVS in Pacific Northwest (OR or WA), else I would do VR and be done with it. RiteAid, Walgreens, et al are cash only, else I would use them and leave the "precious" variable GCs @ OD.

I did what works for me; I didn't break the system by buying $5k, $10K, $26K worth of GCs. Not everyone needs to use Ink cards for UR; we may have other projects going on.

jeanie

Just curious, why are so many people mentioning that they have to wait to see how the statement closes before finding out whether the GC transactions are counted as cash advances or they get 1 or 5 UR points?

After the transactions post in a couple of days, couldn't someone do a SM or make a phone call to verify how the transaction posted? The SM could be one sentence,"Please verify whether the Office Depot charge on July 8 is an office supply store purchase eligible for 5 ultimate rewards points per dollar spent."

Personally, rather than risk a cash advance fee post with the high interest rate when the statement closes, I would verify so that I could pay it immediately and avoid the interest charges. I mean, if those $25k charges from earlier posts were coded as a cash advance, that could end up being a pretty significant interest fee!

I am getting a new Bold card in the mail later this week, and am interested in how this plays out. Thank all of you for your posts!

ricohitman

I am tempted to test the waters with Freedom or Sapphire with a very small denomination and look up the transaction in "dispute a transaction" to see what it was hard coded as.

rambo

My statement closed on 7/5 and I got 5x on all OD/OM gift card purchases.