No, they don't.

Hate to bump an old thread but seemed better than starting a new one.

Ordered a single $500 Simon Mall gift card about six days ago. Got a confirmation email and the "pending" charge immediately hit my credit card. All of the info. I used matches the info. on file with my CC, etc.

Today, while looking at my CC account online, the "pending" charge has disappeared but the $500 charge didn't post, so I assume the order was canceled. What gives? I didn't get any calls, emails, etc., to suggest anything was amiss.

A known issue with chase cards (possibly others) with Staples/GCM/AGC. It'll post at some point.

Really? I don't recall ever seeing a pending charge disappear and then have the charge post. I figured the order was dead.

I used an Amex card, if that makes a difference. Thanks for the reply.

Whenever I buy AGC from Amex' website using any Amex (charge, credit, Serve), it goes into pending, pretty much forever. Then it disappears for a while (neither pending nor posted). After about a day or two of disappearing, it posts. Sometimes it doesn't even post until about a week or two after I've already received the cards. Used to be really annoying back when AGCs were profitable since I needed to check near-daily 'cause I didn't want a 2-8k balance posting on my statement to ruin my utilization (though in retrospect, I could have done bill-pay to push a payment before it posted)

That's interesting (and strange). I didn't think charges could disappear from pending and then still post. It seems contrary to the whole "pending" concept/rationale.

Happens all the time and its very annoying as it jacks with my MS accounting.

Same experience; same annoyance.

Strange things, well to me anyway.

Got an email to call within 5 days or my order would be canceled. It's my first order, so I figured they are just being careful. The email makes a point that "Visa gift cards do not have a pin" and the card can't be used for cash back or on-line bill pay.

So, I call in. After I give my name and address, they ask for the names of the people I intend to give the cards to. I refused, telling her I'm not about to give out names of people who don't even know anything about the transaction. She says we can stop there, or I can answer her questions. I let her know I'd answer any other security questions, but no names. She can put down that I'm giving them to myself. (May have shot myself in the foot, there.) Other questions included the cross street to my address, where I was when I placed the order, and the last 4 digits of the card.

So, no idea if they will cancel the order. Guess I'll have to stick with driving 45 minutes to the Simon Mall. At least I can get all the cards I need at once.

Is this standard for GCM?

When I last called (probably two months ago), they just asked to confirm that I was the one who ordered, the card type, last four, and zip of the credit card. They didn't ask who I was sending it to, but it was pretty obvious that they were being sent to myself (send location same as card, my own name on the vgc).

Yeah, now that you mention it, I did use my name for on the card, and my address to mail it. So, it's even more bizarre. I got a bit annoyed at the question, but she was just as pushy that I had to answer or I could cancel the order.

Hmmm. Maybe that was what she was trying to confirm. That I knew the name that was to be on the cards. I completely forgot these cards have a name on them. So, just me being paranoid and not thinking.

Thanks for making me think it all through!

I hope your conclusion is not that it is OK to answer that stupid question. I would probably reply with, "Are you serious?" and then, "I see no need to give you that information."

My conclusion was they already have that information. You give it when you buy the cards, and that name is put on the card. I'm thinking they were using this as some sort of security question - checking to see if I knew who the cards were going to. Although that makes no sense, either, but who knows.
Not remembering that I had given my own name to be put on the cards, I got annoyed and said I wouldn't tell her that. Eventually, I said, just put down that I gave them to myself. Which I actually had done.
I still don't know if they'll cancel the order. Seems like a big hassle. Even though SM is a 45 minute drive, I'll probably go back to that. Wanna get my Avios bonus.

Datapoint - VGC come with a pin. Las 4 digits are the pin. I ordered just one card a week back and received today.

Lucky. For me, it's also a 45 minute (one way) drive, but I don't have a car making it a 3 hour bike ride, $30 Uber, or a half-day via public transit (all one way). Fortunately I still have CVS and WAG, but when more places start checking for names, I'll using this again.