New Issue at WM
 

Hey everyone. Wondering if anyone has ever had this happen to them before.

I've been using the Staples sales to max out my CIC Bonus, converting BHN 200 VGC to SS 500 VGC at WM SCO. Also, load at MC in the same WM, usually the next day. Perhaps I've been hitting it too hard because today a WM Employee in plain clothes seemed to follow me out the door, but keeping his distance. I was tipped off by the fact that he had the WM Employee badge hanging around his neck. He had an earpiece in one ear connected to his phone. He keeps his distance, acting nonchalant but watches me get into my car. As I pull away, he watches my car, then goes back into WM typing something on his phone. Possibly my License Plate number?

Anyway, what do y'all think? I won't be going back to that WM any time soon (except maybe to buy groceries and act normal). Do y'all think the location is burned, or am I being paranoid? At the very least, would like to know if the same has ever happened to anyone else here?

what do you mean by “converting BHN 200 VGC to SS 500 VGC at WM SCO”?

I was confused by this also.
It sounds as if he is buying $200. Blackhawk at Staples (and paying fee) and then buying Secure Spend VGC at Walmart (and paying fee) in order to liquidate the BHN cards.
Sounds expensive if this is the case.

Staples 200 usually go on sale fee free. question is why is he converting 200 to 500!?? Why not directly liquidate 200 ones!??

Staples VGC are on sale, no fee. BHN tho so hard to liquidate. Convert to SS is a small cost to be able to load easily.

That being said, back to the subject at hand. Has anyone else ever been followed by a plain clothes WM employee before?

Because BHN 200 VGC do not like to be liquidated. It's difficult. SS loads up everywhere, super easy. Any suggestion on easy, working ways to liquidate BHN?

Still no refund as of 11/17. Probably have to go into store for this. Very annoying as 2 of the swipes were $200 BHN and those take FOREVER to refund.

I had a $500. BHN recently....Just spaced out when I bought it....
I finally was able to liqudate at several Krogers and WalMart using maximum $99.00.
Actually WM denied first try as I asked for $99. and the fee pushed it to 99.75 and it was denied. over max..backed it off to 98. and all went through.
Kroger accepted $99. plus 1.07 fee for a total of $107. (Kroger's fee sucks in this area)
So....try keeping the total at $99. in WM and probably the same elsewhere.
Then....never buy a BlackHawk again. :cool:

There is talk on the internet and TV that WM is paranoid and agressive about real and perceived theft and misuse of the the self service machines. Several stories about agressive door guards detaining people falsely and doing some serious searches of the groceries of others.
Maybe it had something to do with the use of the Self Service. They did show that the machines have cameras above them and that they are monitored full time...much like Las Vegas.

Seems likely. This and another story I just read about people starting a gift card transaction at the SCO, then not finishing it. Scammers who are hoping the next shopper won't notice and will just start scanning groceries.... so yeah... TL/DR Walmart may just be on hyper alert r/n.

Anyway, I'm kinda freaked out. Getting followed out the door and watched from afar like that, it's just creepy. (LOL, like all this clandestine points churning doesn't warrant that behavior)

Sounds like your talking about MOs? I prefer loading Debits over MOs because of all the bank shutdowns. Check out the links I posted over here to understand why I think that way. This is, of course, me reading tea leaves. I'm no lawyer, so many grains of salt.

Does anybody have an opinion on being asked to fill out MSAR? I guess I've been buying too many gift cards cause they finally asked. Thought I'd research a bit before I went through with it and it doesn't seem like something to be concerned about but they do ask for a social security number. Still unsure if I should fill it out.

In and of itself, it doesn't mean much. However........

There are plenty of DPs out there of people being banned by WM for MSing activities and getting asked continuously for ID or being asked to fill out forms is a tell :o See link below.


https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/manu...-wal-mart.html

You may just wish to bail from that particular WM for several weeks or even months and use another one. Employee turnover is quite high and in that time, anyone who might have recognized you will probably be long gone.

I found this link just googling around. if I'm not mistaken, it looks like the FTC filed a law suit against WM this June demanding that they crack down on MO activity?

Just read through the complaint a little bit more thoroughly. Looks like that complaint is about using Western Union and other money transfer services for money transfers. It's not about money orders. In fact, from reading that complaint from the FTC, it seems as if the whole MSAR process was developed by Walmart to try and deal with fraud in the money transfer area. That makes me wonder if asking for an MSAR in response to a money order transaction is just an employee that wasn't trained right? Would love it if we had some employees of Walmart here to help us understand the policies better!

It wasn't in response to a money-order purchase, it was heavy gift card purchases. Was buying 1K twice a day every other day. Since self-checkout requires associate approval, I've been going to customer service and I guess somebody took notice.