simon gc hasn't work for me at fd either.

I went to my local Simon outlet today and the offer is still there.
Buy a $50 Amex GC get a $25 tommy coupon.

They also gave me a bunch of cookie cutters.

Thanks to Simon I'm SPG gold again for 2015 all through spending (not all was done at Simon, but many other places too). Simon pushed me over the 30k threshold. :D

$25 Tommy vouchers are still being offered in Clinton

How much in activation fees did that take? It might be worth it to get a card like the Platinum which offers instant Gold status to SPG.

$450 annual fee - $200 in airline gift cards = $250 annual fee. My guess is your gift card activation fees came close to this if not more?

Just a food for though :D

$10.00 a thousand, so $300.00 for the SPG Gold right on, if you need the full load.

But the points can them be moved to AA at 1.25, and you still have the Gold,

Depends on what your time is worth.,,Use to do it for 7.00 a thousand.

But doing it through manufactured/real spend earns you 30k spg points on the way to gold status. If the plat card gave you gold status plus redeemable points, the plat card might be a clear winner.

Is it hard coded into the register that NO AGC payment is allowed? Otherwise, why we can't pay for the simon GC using AGC?

It's not hard coded but they seem informed in most locations not to accept them.

Awhile ago, I was using them every two weeks and then suddenly the lady who always sold them told me said she was reprimanded by her boss and instructed to only take credit cards with my name embossed. They must've been looking at the receipt that said GIFT FOR YOU and noticed my payment method. Around that time, the self swipe pad was taken away from the counter and must know be done by the rep. I haven't gotten around to trying a personalized AGC at Simon with portals no longer offering an incentive.

The swipe is done by the CSRs in my mall. There is no way they would not recognize it is not a CC. That is despite the pad for signing was still in use. I have never swiped myself, the CSR swipes it at his/her end of the terminal. Though I signed on the pad when everything is done.

During the holiday season, my mall took away the electronic pad for signing and required signing on the paper print out. I am told that is to prevent fraud which tends to go up during busy time.

Simon's CSRs are well-trained. The management office also keeps close tap on how things are done at the kiosk. If not followed protocol, they would be either reprimanded or worse, lose their jobs. Would you want to cause innocent folks to suffer the consequences just because you want to make a few bucks? There is line only you can decide whether you want to cross.

On top of that, if you want to keep this avenue open to you, you better play by the rules set up by them else you would be banned pretty quickly.

datapoint

since black hawk took over my VGC/serve success load rate at wally is 60%(initially for DEC AND JAN)....resetting pins which I do for security is a best practice i don't want to relinquish...I wonder if that's why I get so many wrong pin errors on kate and at the MC and CR..I even tried resetting to the last 4 and waiting a few hrs yesterday and finally managed to load 8/10..did the last two with VGCs fm bilo via 5% chase freedom...i'll likely try some different wallys and then hit the MO trail or prepay my electric bill....I consider replacing simon with wally too..

For the ones that failed, did it say "Tender not allowed" or "Invalid Debit" on the pinpad terminal at your store? I didn't have any problems loading simon vgc to serve at the registers but when I went to the customer service I got "Invalid debit" on the pinpad for money orders.

I've been getting "tender not allowed" for Simon's gift cards the last few times.

Why wouldn't you be doing it for 3.95 a thousand...

You mean with an SM corporate account?