Had you bought during the Nov/Dec promotion?

AAA Northway (NY) is selling no fee Visa.

I went to AAA today to get 4x$500 cards. Very conveniently located in the same shopping center as the CVS!

They were nice and all, but what a convoluted process. It took me 25 minutes to get the cards. First she explained in detail how the cards work, then she had to get the cards from the safe and show me the different designs so I could pick the designs, then lots and lots of typing, 37 letter-sized pages printed (9 per card plus one summary) that she gave me, then each card goes in its own fancy folder, each folder goes into its own envelope with a personalized handwritten note from AAA showing the value. And lots of talk about her son and how he is also getting one of these for graduation. Geez, 25 minutes. I used a 2% card, so I will only have $40 coming from this transaction. $40 for 25 minutes, not worth it. And I still have to go to WM to unload this.

No, this was my first VGC purchase at a AAA.

Haha, pretty much my experience at Tyson's. I felt bad for the 3 people waiting behind me. I think they were there for legitimate purposes.

Got 4 cards today, went to wal mart, but they would not load BB, nor could I use them for bill pay. Anyone else have that experience in the last few days? Should I go to another wal amrt?

I can confirm that the American Auto A office closest to the Liberty Bell is running the promotion through 06/30, but you do have to show a A.. card to purchase.



Did you call to set the pin before visiting wally? In theory, you should not have to do this, but in my experience, it is helpful, and at a minimum you can check to make sure of your card's balance. So, I would try that, wait a couple of hours, and try wally and/or katherine again. I have also been told by MC employees that if a card declines twice, you have to wait 24 hours to try it again at any wally.

Yes I set the PIN, and went about 45min after that - is that too soon? Should I look for a store with a kiosk?

In my experience, it took longer than 30 minutes after setting the pin, but after two hours was fine, so that may be your issue. Yes, I would look for a kate. Many here prefer cashiers or the Money Center, and I have used both. However, the relative anonymity and lack of katy making up her own rules when using her makes up for the additional time required. (She is quite slow to load BBs) Just make sure you don't try to load more than $1999 every 15 minutes or so or the machine will lock up and require a reset by management.

My AAA VGC got charged the full $500 when I tried the wal mart bill pay, which was canceled as the transaction errorred out. What do I do now? Should I call AAA to get the money back?

As MANY others have reported, just wait 7 days or so and it will appear back on your card.

Very successful on this front in the titletown area. Almost every little town around here has an AAA office and there are 3 on my way home from work. With it being graduation season I've told all of the AAA employees that I'm buying them for graduation gifts for our company's interns (I can intern at my own company right?) and they have let me purchase enough to cover each of our 10 fine students at 500 a pop. So it seems all employees have a way to override the system, you just have to give them a reason to.

so one needs to be a Triple A member to buy these at the retail locations? hmm wonder if this offer is going on here in TX and if this would be worth it (esp if theres no 4 card per promo limit here)

also the folks buying AGCs for no fees, my Q is why?? does your CC have some kinda promo for buying at AAA? you'd still have to buy VGCs with fees or how else are you liquidating AGCs... also you could just buy AGCs w/o fees in many cases online with CB.

Even if they are bought at a fee of 2.95 you basically pay off the membership after 30 gift cards vs buying 4.95 OV at CVS so. If they are fee free then you pay it off after about 12 purchases.

AAA membership = $60
Normal Visa Card Fee = 2.95
Normal OV Fee = 4.95
Difference = $2
Number of Cards to Recoup cost and pay for AAA membership = 30

AAA membership = $60
Discounted Visa Card Fee = $0
Normal OV Fee = $4.95
Difference = $4.95
Number of cards to Recoup cost and pay for AAA membership = 12

I hit it pretty hard this past week but this will probably only be a quarterly thing that I do around ~$2k per store or $6k every 3 months. Since each AAA office tracks the purchases manually and by your member # I don't want to arouse too much suspicion and use it as supplemental tactic during promos rather than a big piece of my overall MS strategy. You would probably be wise to do the same. Plus the AAA membership can you get some good discounts on travel especially if you travel rail anywhere in the US. Traveling Amtrak from BNL to STL for 8.95 round trip which saves about $40 in gas and about $35 in parking to go to Cards vs. Brewers game later this summer.

cool, good to know there are no limits in your neck of the woods. where are you located?

and yeah I already have most of the benefits AAA provides thru my insurance and no Amtrak around here. infact dont think I've ever used the rail in the US. diff story in Europe ;) but dont think AAA works there.