Bigzamboni

In the end, the police helped me get my cards back because I had paid for them and they didn't believe I was doing anything wrong.

It was a situation where I obviously know I looked suspicious and needed to be careful about what I said. I don't know if a lawyer would say it was the "right" choice, but I went to wait outside the front entrance because the assistant manager really seemed like she was trying to troll me with her snickering, and so I could talk to the police first. Briefly explained the gas points offers at S&S and Giant as well as some airline miles as the reason for having purchased the Happy cards and why it was better to have the plain Visas. I did realize later that I had the purchase receipts and card in my name for some of the Happy cards I had on me, so I guess that might've cleared things up if they hadn't believed me or suspected me of using stolen cards. Also to my luck, one of the officers said he shops at S&S and he knows of the gas points but hadn't realized they had promos that could be so worthwhile.

To be fair, I had never been told at this specific store that it had to be a chip card. There is no company wide policy other than "BBB gift cards cannot be used to buy other gift cards." At one BBB near me, the store manager (and not just manager on duty) always approves it if she's there and has told me, as of about 2 weeks ago, there is nothing in company policy about them, since they aren't issued by BBB.

I'm also not a law expert by any means, but as far as I'm aware, "Shopkeepers privilege" pertains to shoplifting. They weren't stopping me from leaving as a loss prevention "officer" might at a big box store, just refusing to hand over the cards I had paid for because she "told me before they had to be chip cards," which she in fact hadn't.

riphamilton

as we enter a new decade, let us remind ourselves that flying under the radar will keep this promotion going.

i know i’m setting a REALLY high bar here, but if you don’t have the ability to complete the entire process without having the police called on you (and then informing the cops about the program), please reconsider. the police will fill out a report, and may forward a copy to stop and shop LP. if stop and shop starts getting regular heat from the cops, that changes their equation for the program.

as i’ve said a time or two before, don’t ruin this for the rest of us.

i hope i’m not asking too much.

merry christmas!

Sandybestdog

Same thing happened to me back in the 5 back days. Cards were already paid for. She said she was going to hold the cards and void it. Turned into a 3 month ordeal. Gave up on BBB a few months ago when 2 happy cards both wouldn’t work with the magstripe. So I’m slowly buying stuff to drain them and they have to call a manager over and type the number in.

Bigzamboni

I've gone through I'm sure over 100 Happy cards and if I'm told I can't use a card, I leave quietly, because I agree staying under the radar is best.I'm not a 5 post n00b just starting. Obviously I would have preferred to avoid the situation. I realize it is so easy to tell someone else to leave their money and proof of purchase when the store wanted to void a transaction you know can't be voided, because it's no skin off your back. Cue the chorus of "cost of the hobby, fa-la-la-bla-bla"

I'm not sure how it is in BDL/BOS, but in NJ, police reports generally need to be requested even by involved parties. I highly doubt one will make its way unsolicited to an uninvolved third party. While ultimately, wanting to require chip cards comes down to LP, the assistant manager at BBB wasn't accusing me of any wrongdoing on that end. I'm sure we've all been told the "GCs with GCs is money laundering" line, and that never came up. They had the receipt and activated GCs and I didn't want to leave without a copy or something in writing, which they wouldn't give me. Not an unreasonable request. If you would have just potentially left a $400 Christmas bonus to someone, more power to you. If this BBB location recognized me and truly thought I was repeatedly using stolen credit cards or somehow committing fraud, they might have contacted the police at some point anyway, whether or not I was present. They had already made a comment about "having me on camera." What's next? "If someone can recognize you for any reason, please reconsider" or the like? I'll start a GoFundMe for a makeover or some plastic surgery. Sometimes .... happens, and believe me, I try to avoid it whenever possible.

I know it's a REALLY high bar here, but lets try to remember it is a lot easier to criticize others from afar about how they handled a situation rather than try to think about how you might actually act in the heat of the moment, rather than what you hope you might do. Imagine you purchased and paid for something. Said merchandise and the proof of purchase are withheld to "void later". You are unable to receive anything in writing that you actually made a purchase that they want to void. Do you really thing you would just leave? I'd wager most people wouldn't. When they offered to call, in the heat of the moment, I agreed they should. It seemed like a confrontation was inevitable, because I knew they would not be able to void the transaction, due to a prior experience with a card that did not get approved for activation and the headache that caused. The assistant manager calling 911 and saying they had an "emergency" when I was calm, rather than calling a non-emergency number was just trolling. Any video they do have would show me patiently waiting, and if they record sound, that I wasn't yelling, being abusive, or anything of that nature.

At that point I felt I had two options. Try and leave and have some BBB employee follow me to my car to get my license plate number or wait for the police to arrive. The former seemed like a terrible idea, since the assistant manager lied about an "emergency." The prospect of possibly getting stopped later seemed like it would only make things worse, so I did the latter. Yes, I know I have the right to say nothing, but with gift cards being involved and the increase in news reports around the holidays of gift card fraud, etc., I felt saying nothing would have made them more suspicious. And yes, I was careful about what I said. They asked where I got the Happy cards, and I told them. They asked why I would want to do that, and I mentioned discounts on gas as well as airline miles and cashback. I didn't give them a whole lesson on stacking points from S&S and Giant, cashing out the VGC/MGC for money orders or anything like that. I realize the "telling the truth when you have nothing to hide" mantra can bite someone in the ... if the police are really out to get someone. They didn't really ask much that was not related to the transactions at BBB. I imagine if they had suspicions that I was committing illegal activities, they would have perhaps asked about searching me. After all, they knew I had a pocket full of gift cards. But nothing of the sort occurred and judging by the fact they helped me retrieve the paid for cards and leave, they believed what I said and it's probably the end of things. Stop & Shop probably won't catch even a whiff.

Bigzamboni

Also, there seems to be a roll of tin-foil getting passed around on here about an impending demise of Fuel Rewards.

So as we enter a new decade, let us be thankful and not forget

That Kroger/Harris Teeter coexist in a portion of Ahold territory with a gas rewards program.
That Weis markets, Ahold's largest competitor in the Giant-PA market also operates a gas rewards program.
That Albertsons, which coexists in a large portion of Ahold territory recently expanded their gas rewards program.
That Ahold themselves feel it necessary to expand their programs to attract shoppers.
That the discount supermarkets Aldi and Lidl are continuing their expansion in Ahold territory
That grocery wars in general are still bringing huge advantages to customers.

While BHN might rethink their Happy offerings, Ahold probably won't abandon their loyalty program all that quickly.

And lest us not forget, at the end of the day, whether you want to admit it for not, MS is about acting selfishly for personal benefit. Some people are lucky and never have problems. Praise be to them, thusly exalted! Those who are unfortunate enough to have a problem are going to do what is best for themselves. If you can't handle that, please reconsider.

Happy holidays!

Chelski

Worst thing to do is leave items of value at a store. There is nothing a grocery could do. There are certain people who could definitely be adversity impacted by police involvement but those people need to figure it out. Everyone should act how they feel is appropriate. Whining is just that.

Bigzamboni

On an unrelated note:

The "not authorized" issue that had been affecting Kroger, Walmart, and a few others may have now hit Ahold. During the main epidemic I used a few dozen MCGC without problem.

Last night I was buying an MO for $798.22 at a Giant-PA where the kids are friendly to multiple swipes. First card not authorized. Thinking maybe I entered the pin incorrectly, I went to the next card, which drained with no problem. 3rd card declined. 4th card drained no problem. 5th not authorized. 6 and 7 both drained without issue. All were MCGC. Checked later, and the 3 that were not authorized have a $0 balance now.

No problems with 2 other MCGC at the Giant I had been to yesterday before that, so I'm not sure if it's an isolated incident, considering 4 cards drained without issue, but just a Public Service Announcement for everyone to be aware.

RedSun

For whose sake of this kind of arguing? You sound more self educated lawyer...

Bigzamboni

If you are referring to my reference to "Shopkeepers privilege," you were saying BBB could detain me for suspecting fraud. At least in NJ where this happened, with a cursory search on google, I can find nothing related to a store being allowed to detain a customer for suspecting the card they used was stolen or otherwise fraudulent. Only for cases of shoplifting, which involve unpaid merchandise. The merchandise in this case had been paid.

If you are referring to the assistant manager's claim of only accepting chip cards, that's up to them, sure, but I had never been told that at this store. I know it's not a company wide policy and have been allowed to purchase cards there previously. Inform me of the policy and void out the second transaction before it's completed, fine. That they can do. I never disputed that. Attempting to confiscate paid-for merchandise is what I had a problem with.

I invite you to prove me wrong on either account that they are allowed to do that. If my statement makes me sound like a "self educated lawyer," your statement makes you sound like a self educated rent-a-cop.

tuphat

Easiest way to prevent the “declined in but still charged” problem is to make sure each swipe is for less than full value of card. Eg, for $200 card ask that it be charged for $199. Then burn remaining balance(s) on cheeseburger or something.

edit to add: As pointed out elsewhere, I should have clarified that my comment here was in the context of the Metabank MC issue, where transactions were declined at POS but still deducted from card. The self-help mentioned here was workaround for this problem.

tuphat

“After all, they knew I had a pocket full of gift cards.” Although I often succumb to convenience, this is not a best practice. Carry into the store only what you plan to use.

RedSun

@Bigzamboni

We are here to share the experience of MS. There is tons of articles online about the legality of it. We have had enough of it. It is not the legality, but the practicality. I do not want to earn 1,000 points and end up spending 2 hours at the questioning of the police and store manager. Or run the risk of having $2,000 GC money frozen somewhere for 2 weeks and have to spend hours to get it back. This puts us at the spotlight and incur the mental stress. This defeats the whole purpose of MS for travel and other leisure. Of course this is different for people who do MS for living or just like to take the risk.

So I'd like to see this forum to be as peaceful as we are most of the time. I appreciate all the update about the promotions. But I do not like to see some long articles like some MS thesis of the legality of the MS activities. If WM says I can't use my GCs to load my BB card or buy a MO, then I'll walk away quietly. I would not want to argue with the store manager and question her the legality of paying with debit cards.

Peace with you and us all.

Zepcro

I'm not sure what the problem you referenced but from going by the rest of your message why would that prevent the problem? If you have them charge your $200 card for $199 and it gets declined but still charged $199 is still lost.

deker0

Hi Zepcro, apparently some data points indicated that charging less than the full value of the MCGC allowed the transaction to go through without any issues / declines. I don't think it was the case for all instances, but people did use that strategy in order to play it safe and try to avoid any declines. I personally did not purchase any MCGC and only stick with VGC.

radonc1

Correct.
Numerous DPs now on MCGCs draining but being declined. We still have not heard of a satisfactory resolution to the issue of funds recovery.

@tuphat has reported that partial drainage of MCGCs will not produce the problem but we could use more DPs on this issue.

When I have an issue with a GC being declined, I void the entire transaction. This eliminates any claim of purchase on the card. I then step aside and immediately check the balance of the card to see if it has the full amount on it. So far, I have not had any issues like the ones described upstream.

However, it does require me to check the card balance before going to the store to make sure that the card is fully charged. Otherwise, how would I know if a $0 balance card was due to drainage or not being filled in the first place??