Chelski

My SM used to take AP, but I don't think it'll come back based on the ladies and manager at my location. AP worked for about 4-6 weeks. Maybe the other NfCs. It appears the MC fast pass or whatever would currently work.

kenme1

Talk about differing SM's. Went to a different SM then my usual to get 3*$500 VGC to complete a min spend and it was like applying for a mortgage. The attendant had to very my name was not on a No Sell list (saw the paper), then call and ask permission from someone to sell these cards then call a second person for I don't even know what and had to fill out a form. My normal SM, I just email for 19 cards and then pick them up, nicest people there. Just goes to show how YMMV.

kewe

Bought 20 cards and I have 2 cards that no matter what WM will not take.. they have money on them but will not work. I have tried 3 times already

Chelski

Use them somewhere else. Try to buy a candy bar. I'm sure they will work somewhere or with some irregular swipe method. Just read the thread more.

getstarted

Went to SM today to complete reward spend for new SPG card. I also intended to buy two more for a test run on a second card. The associate wouldn't let me split the transaction so I just asked for the three on my SPG. While she was processing those I'm thinking to myself maybe she simply meant I couldn't pay for a single transaction with two cards. So as she finishes the first transaction I ask if I can do a second transaction with the other card, she politely says NO I can't, but I could if I return tomorrow. (Its a 40+ mile RT, so not something I'm going to do even weekly).

Anybody else run into this?
I have seen many posts of people splitting transactions on multiple cards, I only wanted 5 VGCs not 19.

skitch23

I haven't experienced your situation, but others may have... just a thought tho for your low volume purchases - assuming you are not rolling around in an electric car, and that you don't live in a "cash only" zone, you'd probably be better off saving your gas & time and just spending the extra $1-2/card at CVS or the grocery store.

Chelski

You should've asked to talk to the mall manager or have them look at their policy book. They can split like 7 ways. At my primary mall they don't allow me to do more than one transaction. I can split pretty much as I like. I usually don't do more than 2-3 cards. They know me as the one card guy.

Last time I was there they went through 58 cards b/w myself and two others (father/son).

rasgueado

I saw someone at Simons today ask for $10k in gift cards, while giggling. I have to assume they were MSing :P The associate barely batted an eyelid, she just asked "so you want 20 of the $500s?" and, I'm assuming, they went on their merry way. (I walked off after that, having already paid for my comparatively-paltry $1000 in VGCs!)

kewe

I bought 2 $500 MO at Winn-Dixie and no issues they worked. First time that happened

weaver808

Went to my local SM and bought 2 $500 gift cards. The attendant asked if I was using this for rewards...
I responded with "What? Oh, no. My mom asked me to get these for her..."
He said "Cool, usually people are doing these for rewards."
I said: "Oh, interesting!" and I left,
I guess he knows about MSing and it's pretty common in my area...

macrophage

Simon as a company knows that most of their purchases go towards MSing... nothing to hide!

javabytes

One of my local SMs is becoming quite hostile towards MS. Management has told the clerks that people buy the gift cards to earn points and not actually make purchases and that this is theft. So they won't sell $500 GCs to people without management approval. Without approval you can only get about half that per card. And if they think they've seen you before, you must be one of these people after the points, in which case they won't sell to you at all. Don't think about going anywhere near the $10k daily limit printed on the form either.

Another SM did something recently I've never seen before. Before running through the GCs, they asked for the credit card I was using. They called a number on the phone and went through a series of menus, at one point punching in my card number and the purchase amount. Eventually someone picked up on the other and and they exchanged a few words. I asked the clerk about it - said they had to pre authorize the card and make sure it actually had that much money on it, and that they got some sort of authorization number required to put the transaction through. It wasn't a call to a manager asking permission, nor was the form required. After the clerk hung up, then they swiped the GCs and I had to swipe my CC again for payment.

weezl

Some Staples do this in store with VGC purchases, too. Extra fraud protection. I don't care about it much but it does compromise efficiency, which I hate.

jsk1973

I'm sure it's because they've been burned — i.e., a stack of cards that had the strip removed and then the charge declined.

krazykanuck

At Houston Galleria, they always call (as in they have for months) to do a pre-auth on my CC if I'm buying multiple GCs. Slight annoyance/slowdown but NBD. You can tell because they write the pre-auth number on the form you fill out.