nadir576

Completely agree! As I said, I already put this loss as a cost of doing business.
I wish I can do a charge back under credit card protection but I don't want to wake up a sleeping giant.

benzemalyonnais

Losing 500$ can't be taken as an expense when one can just go buy 40k us airways miles with that money.

TAWS

I always use my cellphone camera to take pictures of any GCs/reloads I buy in case I lose the actual card.

miniaturekat

Hadn't thought of this. Good idea.

jewsus

Even if you have a receipt, good luck with Incomm helping you these days. My wife was handed the wrong VR (inactive) by a store employee (mix up after one VR would not activate). Called Incomm and sent in everything they asked for. One month later and a dozen phone calls...nothing.

Same exact thing happened to me about 6 months ago. Was resolved in a matter of hours.

cuebert

Same thing happened with me involving a MP. I contacted GD and a month later...nothing.

Bender464

While I am prepared for the possibility, that only serves to focus my attention to detail even more. I think if I lost 1 or 2 $500 VRs or GCs, I would probably stop MS. I treat these EXACTLY the same as $100 bills. I never leave them lying around or set them down or otherwise let them leave my possession, until they've been properly drained and only then do they go into the shoebox with the receipts.

Without the actual VR card and/or receipt, it's like it never happened. Except now you have to pay the CC bill. You NEED to find that VR card...

rdover1

My recommendation. If you bought these at a CVS and you have tracking through ExtraBucks and you have at least the approximate time the store can look up the purchase. They can then forward that to their back office investigations who can look up the exact VR number. With this you can call Incomm and ask them to cancel this card and credit you the $500.

Best of luck.

Dad to GO

More like... buy the VR, get in your car and load your Bluebird...

slickpokerdealer

Exactly... I feel that there is no room for error here.. Losing 1 or 2 is will spoil the fun.. Unless you churn for $100K a month, losing 1 or 2 $500 GC over a period of time is not a acceptable loss...

particlemn

I know this is after the fact but would you leave 5 $100 bills laying around on your desk? it is the exact same thing. the reason we all by these is because they are cash that we can purchase with a credit card. churning and manufacturing spend takes an incrediable attention to detail or it will cost you more than its ever worth

chongwj8

Have you tried contact NSA? They might overheard something from phone line chats or posts etc regarding ur lost VR.

1800-NSA-SCREWU

deant

Go online to the credit card you purchased the VR with. Request a copy of the receipt. That should give you the last 4 numbers.

nadir576

Thanks for the suggestions. I am working on few angles while still looking for it in and around my home. I will post the update once I hear something concrete. Might help other folks.

MDWCommuter

This is going to sound a little OCD, but you have to train yourself to do things the same way every time until it becomes second nature.

For example, when I'm loading my BB's at the kiosk, I have set steps (unused GCs in right pocket, used in left, wallet, BB, and GC in play in my hands), go thru each and every step with evey gift card before moving on to the next one (place loaded GC in left pocket, grab receipt, pocket receipt, then and only then grab new GC). It has to be a ritual. It's so easy to doze off standing there that you have to hope that your rote memory takes over and alerts you when a step is missed. It's saved me a number of times when the machine misbehaves.

Same thing with every other step and method in your game. Drill it into your brain so that you don't forget a step.

I've also purchased money bags (you know, the old blue plastic thingies) at OD (natch) in which I store stuff that are in various states. Unused gift cards in one. Credit cards in another. Stuff going to the bank in a third. You just have to be super organized and s-l-o-w down - there's no rush. Stop if something seems not right.