maksimfa

Rite aid does actually have a corporate policy which I have seen with my own eyes, but as most may know, the register does not enforce it. Furthermore, mo is supposed to be cash only, however because there is a difference between mo, western union, and gift cards, they are often confused.

Only two stores here actually let me buy with debit. Buying prepaids, no issues here.

trippinbilly

Good to know. thx. I haven't touched Rite Aid, but 1 is close to work and 1 close to home. time to check it out.

ericdabbs

Yeah that is why I decided not to ring up 8 transactions in a row because I know that will trigger fraud. 3 is not the magic number. I have done about 4 x $500 transactions at a Vons to buy Rlits so I didn't get a call but I am sure its gotta be somewhere before 8 transactions.

What I don't get is why the RA store suddenly think that it is no problem doing 8 transactions in a row and not trigger a fraud alert. Its like they have no issue with me buying $4K in total of prepaid cards since the corporate policy says I can buy up to $10K/day but yet they have to make it so tedious and make it $500/transaction. I think they should stop telling us what is valid and not valid and just let our cards get denied. Do they think they get some backlash if our cards end up getting denied. Worst case is that they would tell us...if its truly your card you can call your bank and tell them to make the exception of a large purchase.

maxmnx

Thanks!

GTFan

At my local RA only the mgr insists on ringing every prepaid up separately, none of the cashiers care and will ring them all at once. Since the register doesn't enforce it, I always hope he's in the back or something. He's a nice guy but very nervous when I buy even $2k, always thinks I'm getting away with something even though I've told him why I'm doing it.

ericdabbs

Either this policy in place is to help deter folks from buying a large amount of prepaid cards OR corporate is naive into thinking what they think banks will or won't allow in terms of amounts per transaction. The reasoning I was given by a RA manager was that they thought CCs are not capable of handling a transaction larger than $500 at a drugstore which I don't buy that at all especially when you can buy up to $10K/day. As if doing 6 x $500 transactions would make any difference in the way a bank would evaluate what is allowable in a drugstore.

FatTalker

The reason I was given was that MPs may not activate properly if more than one per transaction.

FTR 787

whenever I have tried, I have not been able to buy 2 MPs on the same transaction at another place (GS)... the system wont allow it.

moreover, breaking up MP purchases into diff transactions and even buying em with diff CCs in a short period of time at the same store (I guess per register?) conks the whole activation system out for some reason. tried to buy 5 in a row... only to find out upon closer inspection that 4 & 5 did not activate even though I was charged the full amount. the clerk didnt know how to do refunds for this product as it required a manager override and he was gone for the day. had to follow up with GDot and only got my money back after about 4-5 wks.

goblue77

I've recently ran into this problem at a RA I frequented in the past. The cashier was adamant about separate transactions for GCs. Tried to buy 2k, 4 separate transactions. First one got blocked by WF(even after 3 months, every 5th or 6th transaction gets blocked). I just left and haven't gone back.

Went down the road to the RA where I had an "incident". They remembered me because I stopped by after the incident to apologize. That was months ago. Able to buy 2k all in one transaction without a problem. Been shopping there regularly now(albeit I don't do more than 2k at a time).

Now, there's a "go to" RA. I know the manager there and we speak often when she's there. I also ran into a compliance officer for the region at this store. Had a nice chat. He asked me a few questions and I answered them. He asked me to limit my transactions to 10k/week. The manager told me to buy as much as I like.

It's kind of out of the way for me, but I go there often. Everyone knows me and it's such a pleasure to walk in and walk out without scrutiny. I think RA is better than CVS because the limit is higher 10k/day. They write your DL# down, but purchases are not limited to 24hr rule like CVS.

MoneyPaks are a different story. I've bought as much as 3k all in one transaction, but I wouldn't advise that. Like others have mentioned, GD can block the activation on their end when they suspect fraud. I guess I was very lucky.

dedkends

I have recently had a local RA start to enforce the $500/transaction policy (and for awhile they seemed to be reading from a memo, etc. posted near the register when enforcing that rule). Then again, this same RA was enforcing a cash only policy for quite some time.

The one a 1/2 mile away is still cash-only.

Another RA near my office has for quite some time let you purchase on CC and still lets you do more than $500 in one transaction -- but they limit it to $1000/day.

These places are all over the map.

GTFan

MPs have a ton of issues, starting with the zeroed card number that prints out for activation so you can't pair up a card with the receipt. Then as pointed out sometimes they won't activate, or will error out at the register AFTER your charge goes through so you better hope they know how to do a prepaid return, etc. And then if you get a zero balance card (that said it was activated) you have to fight with Greendot to get your money, or if you try to use too many in some unspecified period they'll blacklist the prepaid card you're trying to load to.

MPs at RA are just asking for trouble IMO, but if you really want to play with fire do one of them per trans.

goblue77

Oh, I forgot to mention that I no longer buy these. They put a stop to loading the Prepaids(AN and Rush) real fast. I was able to unload to PayPal for some time, but that's done as well. I was so excited when I could load Serve with it, then that was stopped as well. I got a refund for one of my cards(which was surprisingly quick). I didn't even have to call them. They denied loading to PP and told me right then and there that I was gonna get a check in the mail.

Many members have had issues with MPs. I'm not touching this stuff anymore...

Rooks

I can't remember if we have another thread for RA or not. I searched but couldn't find one.

Anyway, I tried to buy two PP and two OV cards today at RA and after I swiped my CC a screen came up asking me for my PIN. I told the cashier I was paying with CC and she said it's now cash or debit only. I wonder if it's just this location or some select ones? Going to experiment but wondering if anybody else ran into this recently? It's been about a month since I bought from RA.

flymax77

I assume you are all using 5% point earning cards like blue cash at CVS?

If not, why buy the cards from here when it is more lucrative to buy the cards using a 5% Chase Ink card online at staples?

Even with the higher fees, staples with 5% is the better play here unless you are using a 5% drug store card, correct?

Rooks

Chase closed all my accounts a few months ago. Staples doesn't sell PP cards either, unless I wasn't looking close enough.

I do have BC but was only using a 2%er today since I'm almost at my limit on BC and already got my accounts canceled once with AMEX and was fortunate to get them re-opened with a 'warning' so I'm not hitting BC too hard.