VR at MurphyUSA deactivated after purchase by Incomm??
 

I finally found a MurphyUSA that sells VR! I was so excited that I bought 4 x $500. I went to dinner and then tried to load the cards when I got home. No dice. "Card not found (4008)" error. I called customer service who said they could get them activated and moved to my MVD within 7-10 business days after I sent in pictures of all receipts and front/back of all cards, which I did that evening.

Fast forward 10 days. I left for vacation the day after I purchased the cards and I was still gone when the 10th day arrived. Imagine that, actually traveling with the points I've earned?! Anyway, I call Incomm CS and am told to return to the store that I purchased the cards. There was an "investigation" and the cards were deactivated; I would have to return to the store to get my money returned.

I got home last night and finally had a chance to go back to the MurphyUSA where I purchased the VRs. Luckily, I got there when an assistant manager was working. She was very patient and helped me get it all sorted out. Here's what had happened:

I purchased the cards (4 x $500). That cashier's shift ended. The next cashier received a phone call, supposedly from Incomm, asking if they approved 4 x $500 VR purchase and if an ID was checked. Since the new cashier did not know anything, she said no. Incomm supposedly deactivated the cards! I have never heard of this happening. I've been playing the VR game since January and I've kept up with the threads. This was NOT my first rodeo with VR; however, it was my first rodeo with MurphyUSA.

After 30+ minute on the phone, the manager was able to have the cards were reactiavted by Incomm and I loaded them right there at the store while she waited. Incomm's department had contacted the store at some point during their "investigation" because they had the name of the manager and the cashier who sold the cards to me.

All is good now, but I cannot believe that they were deactivated. Buyer beware?

Probably 4*500 was too much for a gas station purchase :)

Load 'em fast I guess. Weird. I think there was a report of some bought at 7-11 that got deactivated in a similar manner.

Hit it fast and hit it hard.

Amen.

Perhaps. Several months ago that was too much for me in an entire month. Now I don't think twice.

You know, it's not really surprising that something went wrong there.

Murphy's Law.

</rimshot>

Did the charge still post to your credit card in the time between the sale and when you had the cards reactivated?

I'd be beyond pissed if Incomm took it upon themselves to deactivate cards, and still posted a charge, simply because a front line cashier didn't give their relief a detailed itemized list of what everyone purchased the prior shift.

YES... All four charges (1 per card) were still posted and no refunds were given. Even if it was a case of stolen identity, put the money back on the card or else the bank will have to refund $503.95 to someone Incomm would keep the original sale! This is what had me the most frustrated and I couldn't get the manager to understand. I kept my cool with her because it was not her fault, but I really wanted more answers. It seems like Incomm shouldn't be able to do that.

You're right, Incomm shouldn't be allowed to do that. In many industries that would be considered fraud.

I don't blame Incomm at all. They did the right thing by calling to verify a suspicious transaction.

I place the blame squarely on the second cashier. She should have realized that the transaction, if it had taken place, would have been during the previous shift, and either checked with the previous cashier or told Incomm that she didn't know because she wasn't there. But I guess you can't expect that much from minimum wage gas station staff.

I don't blame Incomm because they called for verification, I blame Incomm because they didn't have the charge reversed after calling for verification. After it couldn't be verified they should have instructed the merchant to reverse the charges. Instead, they continued to accept payment for the VRs via the merchant, but yet deactivated the VR's. That's the part that is disturbing.

It'd be similar to Microsoft and their MS Office software. One day Best Buy sells one hundred MS Office set ups at once, and Microsoft calls Best Buy about suspicious activity. When Best Buy can't confirm the charge because the cashier already went home, Microsoft remotely disables your product identification key, rendering your purchased software useless. And they still instruct Best Buy to continue posting the charge.

Imagine a scenario where the credit card was actually stolen. The cardholder after seeing a fraudulent charge would have called their card issuer, who would have had no knowledge of what was going on, since Incomm and the gas station proceeded to keep the funds and handle it internally. Incomm didn't handle this correctly, they should have told the gas station to immediately reverse the charges.

Had the exact same thing happen to me, But Incomm and the merchant didnt play as nice, I eventually had to have the bank credit it off. The whole process took about 6 months.

Purchased 2x500 VR at 711 earlier today, came back 4hrs later and the same clerk told me he got a similar call asking whether he checked for ID or not. Fortunately it's the same clerk so I was still able to load the VRs just few min ago. So it looks like Incomm is working extra hard to prevent multiple VR purchases at "service stations".

So stay at counter after purchase and load the beans right away before you hear Incomm is calling the station :)