Phrases clerks have called you when trying to buy MO with GC
 

I think we've all been accused of doing something nefarious, especially when turning GC's into paper, but things are starting to get ridiculous these days.

I have a local establishment (not Wally) that has accused me of:

Money laundering ($499.10 at a time... woohoo!, and I was using my loyalty card for MO discount so there goes anonymity)
Structuring (apparently can't use wikipedia or google)
Possibly stealing gift cards from other stores (guess they don't need to be activated in some places)
Possibly hiding drug money (again after giving my loyalty card)
and the best one "comitting Money Order Fraud"

Anyone else have good ones? I do ~$3000 a month which is a pittance. I might start eating higher payment fees when trying to reach min spend on cards just to avoid the ridiculousness of money center folks. If you don't want to sell me a MO tell me, don't make up phrases to justify it.

Not a name, but was told that everyone (employees AND me, I'm assuming) could "go to jail" for doing split tender on MO because it's in violation of the Patriot Act. lol

Few curious questions...
 

I love the righteous cashier who tells me it's money laundering and they know about this stuff and the law. I come back and say, if it was really against the law, wouldn't the system block the MO purchase with VGC? 'You're right'... 'but they haven't yet right?' 'No, they haven't' ' then lets see what the system does... 'Can't do that', I go to the next grocery store down the road, no problem.

I have been told by one WM cashier that I was "structuring and that is illegal". I was buying 1 $800 MO at the time. I did not have the heart to tell her that she might benefit from reading up on structuring. I just thanked her for the information and left. (In all honesty, if I wait a month, the WM staff have recycled and I might get lucky and work with one not quite so righteous.)

What I never do is fight with them. Its like wrestling with pigs. They like it, you lose and still get dirty.

People say this all the time, but at the WMs that I frequent it seems that the CS and MC personnel are all "lifers," i.e., very little turnover. Maybe these individuals are the cream of the WM crop, but don't/can't move on to higher earning jobs, inside or outside of WM?

Fortunately the retail establishment I frequent has dozens of locations around my area. I might need to drive a ways to find "fresh" territory, but can always find a place.

Surprisingly the most MO friendly location is close to the SM I frequent. They've got bigger things to worry about than me, although I haven't tried multiple swipes with the guy yet. Maybe next time.

I had one CVS shift manager tell me that the Secret Service had come around asking about me and my purchases. I felt like he was trying to dissuade me from purchasing VGCs. I handed him my business card and said "Next time the Secret Service comes by give them this and tell them to give me a call, I'd love to talk to them". He just stared at me with his mouth open, shocked I wasn't afraid of the "secret service".

I usually just get called sweetie or honey, but my WM and Simon CSRs love me.

cvs
 

one time when Dosh was alive, i went CVS to get 2 VGC, older cashier said can only sell me one, then a Mexican customer behind joined her and told me to buy just one(said its against law to buy more), i calmly paid one, then wait for her free and asked her manager, manager came and told her i can buy 2k per day, then he said same thing to me: if you buy too much, FBI or secret service will come to you. I said ok and bought 2 more and left, i went the store every other day for VGC until Dosh died. but i do not miss Dosh much. Due to that incident, every employee treated me super nice ever since and the manager always welcomes me to the store even i do not go much unless chase or citi 5% promotion.

That's great! I hate turnover in staff. Have to retrain them all the time.

I would rather be training new faces than having to avoid old ones that have given me the heave ho ;)

I'm guessing most of the insanity and making things up is from CSR's at from Wal Mart. If that's the only MO avenue you have I sincerely feel bad for you. Finding paces that autodrain is a blessing. That and wearing business casual work clothes.

At the opposite end of the spectrum....

I was at $afeway buying a grip of VGC about 2 weeks ago. $6K+ transaction, which is just another day at the MS office for us folks. But the cashier was just mystified about my purchase. She brought the manager over to check my ID and payment card. He asked "if I was purchasing these under duress" - which I chuckled to and said no. He went on to share that there was a recent local issue with giftcard fraud and that my volume was concerning. I then gave him the readers digest version of what I do for points and miles and MS, to which he said "Damn, that's pretty smart! I should start doing it, my wife wants to go to Hawaii soon!"

I should have got his email to send a CC referral link :D :D