Walmart No Longer Loading BlueBirds!!!!!!!

I loaded two of my Bluebirds at Walmart today with no problem.
Then I took my third to a different register, and they were unable to load it (OV). They called the supervisor, and then the manager, who both told me (separately) that Walmart had "just recalled" the Bluebirds and would no longer allow in store loading. The manager told me that some other stores will still service them, as Amex, and suggested I try a Walgreens.

I didn't think it would be wise to say "I just loaded 2 five minutes ago" so I left.

So I went to another Walmart, and, surprise surprise, no problem at all.

Still, a little dumbfounded by the statements at the first Walmart. What were they misreading?

So, anyone going to Walgreens to reload their BlueBird! Tell them the manager of the Providence RI Walmart said they would....

Any time I am in a store, and the employees tells me that they have to get a manager, I just tell them

"Forget it. I am a hurry. I'll just come back later."

There really is no point in talking to managers. It's really a coin flip as to whether they will be helpful, or give the employees instructions to shutdown all similar activities in the future.

Mixed message again: Tried to buy MO at WM, the 8/21 one did not work with multiple attempts; while the 6/22 one worked at the first attempt. The 8/21 one does work with other purposes (e.g., AMP). FYSA.

I just had my first really bad day at Wally World.
CS/MC counter had long line but so did all the registers ..I had two Birds to load so thought I would wait out the MC to get one done. One hour later I finally got to counter. One cashier working and every customer had a major computer problem. Should have left but kept thinking it would soon move along. Got to the counter..handed over my BB Card and asked to load $600. with 3 swipes. She said only two swipes are allowed. I only had a "real" Debit in my hand showing. She looked at my hand and said no Gift Cards. I showed it to her and pointed out it was a debit card from my credit union with my name on it. She loudly explained to my that that was what was considered a gift card at WM???
I nicely asked for my BB Card back and moved to the register lines. Over an hour and nothing loaded yet.

First Cashier (manager name tag) wisked $600. in a flash despite long lines.
Second Cashier had never seen a Bluebird. Told her I would go to another so she did not have to be concerned. She thanked me.
Third Cashier told me that she would have to swipe each debit card herself. New WM policy "Countrywide"
4th Cashier did not know how to run them through together and ran them separate transactions @ $200. each time. No problem...but long line behind me.

Went to another WM and was in and out in 10 minutes for the 2nd Bluebird.

Hard day in Wally World. Saturday was not smart...but needed to get April filled up so I can stay away for a month. Still a couple of thousand to go on each account. :(

I just had loading issue with these Vanilla VGCs today. Bought them at OD near closing time. Headed to WM right afterward, tried loading at Kate, got error 51, debit not allowed. Tried clearing PIN on the phone. Tried again at Kate & at MC counter, same error with debit not allowed. These are 484735 with exp date 7/21. Tried again two hours later at a different WM, no problem at all. Not sure whether the issue is on Bancorp or WM side.

Was not able to load the BB today with my OVs. Kept getting the " debit not approved, call authorized user" at the MC and the register. Tried giving myself 30 mins break but no go.

As a data point it loaded just fine, this was yesterday.

What do you guys do with your VGC when you have a load failure at WM? Just spend them on normal purchases? Or return the VGC to the store you bought them at?

I wished someone would answer the last persons question. I bought 5 vgc at OD, 484735/06/22 and wm rejected them for load to bb or serve. Any ideas how to unload them? Appreciate any help as floating $1k is stressful.

If you are having a problem loading, you are doing something wrong or hit a limit.

I ran into this, was able to load on 1 BB but not the 2nd one. Sometimes just waiting and using other cards was enough, other times I used them at a different WM or a different day and they worked. If in the end still a no-go I would have tried to buy something for a $1 and if rejected I would try all of them and then call up the CS 800# and ask for a refund since I tried making purchases and it wasnt working. also call and check the bal to make sure it in fact was activated

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Floating can be stressful, you are right.

Please consider buying MOs. Do it this way. Take your bank debit cards and hold them out over your GCs when you approach grocer customer service desk or WM Money Center. Say hi, pause and advise, I need to purchase a MO, please, and I need to use two (three?) debit swipes or cards (I say swipes). Give them time to process the information and they will ask how much the MO is for.

A lot of times, one gets nervous because the slowness of the responses from the cashier, thinking they are gonna know there's a GC involved, when really it's that they are processing the amount one has asked for along with the steps in handling multiple debit swipes. It's kinda like, seeing a snake for the first time: is it a garden snake or a rattler?

OH....its just a garden snake. Processing the info one has offered is a little like that, too. Remember they encounter a multitude of transactions per day!

Keep the Bank Debit card prominent, but use the GC(s) underneath.

I used the WM ATM kiosk yesterday for the first time to buy a MO, just to try it out so I can be ready if there is a long line in the future to the CSR.

That MO has to be $499.32 to liquidate a $500 GC. I didn't see a multiple swipe option to use more than one card. Not optimal, but if one is stressed over $1k, great way to decompress and pay $1.36 to be done with it.

Hitting a limit ($1k per 24 hours or $5k per month) is the most likely problem. Another problem that I've run into is trying to unload the card before the money hits the account. Although theoretically this is instant, in reality it can take up to an hour.

Although this is what happens most times, Ive been called out and asked to hand over my DC that I will be using and asked why do I have more then 1 DC in my hand. I now put the GCs into my wallet and take them out from there 1 by 1. I have on occasion had the cashier at Wallys run around to look at the card I just swiped (was trying to load a BB) since they have to press something once the swipe was done for the process to continue

In those cases I simply walked out and drove to another WM and did what I wanted to at the 1st place.

When you say WM rejected them, do you mean that the system rejected the card or that a CSR told you that you could not use that card? Also, if all else fails, you can always use them for Amazon Payments (if you get a willing partner of course)