by Janet H.
Member since:
August 10, 2006

I won a $50 Best Buy card on Gather, went to the store to spend it and found the card was no good!

May 07, 2011 06:12 PM UTC (Updated: May 07, 2011 06:19 PM UTC)
views: 0 | 16 people recommend this | comments: 51

Awhile back I won a $50 Best Buy gift card on Gather but it didn't come for a very long time.  I contacted Gather and they checked with Best Buy who said they had sent it and that it must have gotten lost in the mail.  Gather said Best Buy "generously" offered to replace the lost card.  So, I finally got the card in the mail.  It was activated on February 10 and mailed to me on February 17 and I got it awhile after that.  I took the card to Best Buy today and let my daughter pick out some CDs and a movie she wanted with my gift card.  We gave the cashier the card at the register and she said there was NO MONEY on the card!  She sent me to customer service and they did some checking.  They said some kind of lab had cashed my card (which never left my possession) the first week of March.  They had no idea who or where this lab was.  They did a search on the Internet and couldn't find any such place.  So, they said I'd have to pay cash for the $50 of merchandise or put it back.  I didn't want my daughter heartbroken so I paid for the stuff in cash.  One of the head guys at Best Buy on the phone said he would investigate and send me a new $50 gift card that I should get in about 2 weeks.  I hope it will come and I hope that it will work!  I am so very glad that I didn't give the $50 gift card to someone as a gift or I would have been horrified when someone tried to cash it only to find it was worthless!!!  For some reason, I have had a hard time getting most of the gifts I have won from Gather. I have no idea why.  I hope the replacement card comes soon so I can take my receipt back to Best Buy and ask them to refund my cash and then pay for the merchandise with the gift card.  They said I could do that as long as I don't lose my receipt and as long as the next card works!  Frustration!  Frustration!

Comments: 51

Sandra T. May 7, 2011, 6:17pm UTC
Wow that isn't right at all! I hope that the next card works out better for you!
Tina Dalasinski May 7, 2011, 9:46pm UTC
Wow. I hope your next card works when you get it.
laura l. May 7, 2011, 6:20pm UTC
I hope you get your card soon.
Solskin Iam May 7, 2011, 6:24pm UTC
that would be very frustrating.........good luck with the next card........
☃ Shannon K. Wendt May 7, 2011, 7:06pm UTC
What a pain in the butt!

Hope it all works out for you!
Angela M. May 7, 2011, 7:23pm UTC
always call and check the card before you go to the store learned my lesson about that a long time ago.
Heather - child of God, C. May 7, 2011, 7:55pm UTC
I hope they replace it with one that works. I never had a problem when I got cards, but I switched to e-bay. My last payment paid for a civil war dvd set ... my daughter is fascinated with the civil war.
Larry H. May 7, 2011, 8:11pm UTC
that was a wasted trip..
Peter Joseph Swanson May 7, 2011, 9:05pm UTC
Frustration! Frustration!
mary v. May 7, 2011, 9:10pm UTC
Sorry to hear this.
Adelaide M. May 7, 2011, 9:23pm UTC
Hopefully Gather has gotten an email about this. Even with as long as I've been a member of Gather, I'm leery of entering any contests sponsored by Gather or it's partners as I've heard several others mention the same thing about their gift cards. Interestingly, I've been involved with Gather contests run by Gather members and I've never had a problem redeeming those gift cards.

Hope you new gift card works. It's nice that you payed for the things for your daughter, but it never should have been an issue.
Janet "Jax" B. May 7, 2011, 9:39pm UTC
I had one of my Home Depot cards not work....and the other 4 did....oh, I was not happy. I had to pay the $50, which we really didn't have. Since it was the last gc that didn't work, the other ones had been used and they said there was no way to put the money back on the gc.
Janet H. May 7, 2011, 9:51pm UTC
Did Gather replace the card that didn't work?
Janet "Jax" B. May 7, 2011, 9:59pm UTC
YEs they did.
dee b. May 7, 2011, 10:06pm UTC
That would have ticked me off to no end! Wait all that time for the card then this.
Visionaerie B. May 7, 2011, 10:28pm UTC
Good for Best Buy and not so good for Gather! Whooh -- hope my quite-old Target gift cards are still good. I won one from LJS's panel once but did have trouble using it online. I was told they were just updating the site at the time. I guess electronic money or currency definitely has its limitations. Sounds like it worked out ok -- keep us posted though!
Leslie ~ from NYC ~ R. May 7, 2011, 10:39pm UTC
I had that situation years ago with gather card and CVS. Gather told me to return the card and get a different one.
amy bryant May 7, 2011, 11:12pm UTC
I've received cvs cards and one starbucks card from gather. I had to contact gather to get them to resend one of the cvs cards, but they all worked. I also won some deodorant from gather that never came, so when I brought this to their attention, they sent 2 deodorants and a deodorant body spray. I'm sorry to hear you had such a hard time with that card. That would have made me not only blazing mad, but also pretty embaressed.
There has been some talk online lately of store gift card numbers being stolen before the cards are even loaded. If there isn't a scratch off section covering the actual gift card number, then anyone can see the number while it's on the shelf at the store- from there, it's a matter of taking a stack of blank cards, recording the numbers, replacing them on the shelf, and waiting until people purchase the card. They check the numbers online until they are full, and turn right around and spend the cards online, because they only need the number to do that.

I'm not sure if that's what happened to you, but given that it was used online before you were able to spend it, but after it was sent to you, that would be my first guess.
April H. May 8, 2011, 12:41am UTC
I recommend contacting gather support over this matter. I know that they will make this right they have never failed me; although it will take time. I remember several posts about Gather GC's not working sometime back and then posts that gather staff made it right.
Sammie Brown May 8, 2011, 12:48am UTC
That definitely would frustrate the crap out of me. I've had that happen with Walmart cards before (not from Gather, obviously) and it's not only extremely embarrassing to finish your shopping trip and go to cash out and be told it's not accepted, but it's also very inconvenient to spend that amount of money you didn't really expect to spend on it.

I'd send a message to Gather, though, and try to get things sorted out. They're usually pretty good about working on things like this from my experience. I hope everything works out for you!
wendy st. john-devereaux May 8, 2011, 6:16am UTC
what a rip-off
and son embarrassing, too

yikes
J F. May 8, 2011, 7:53am UTC
That is awful. I always call the toll free number on the back of a gc to make sure it okay before I go to the store and try to spend it. Fortunately, all the cards I get have that on it.

Hope you get a new one soon.
RedBird. B. May 8, 2011, 8:30am UTC
Janet, This is just shameful! I would contact Gather and let them know all that you went through. I Do Hope You have a Happy Mother's Day!
Blessings,Friend!
Lori A May 8, 2011, 2:04pm UTC
wow that must have been very frustrating for you I would be mad to , I'm so sorry this happened to you I know I would have had a fit if that 50.00 visa I got the other day from one2one would have not worked ,I would have had to put everything back because a extra 50.. I do not have . I hope you get your card replaced soon !
Elaine A. May 8, 2011, 2:55pm UTC
wow I hope you get your card replaced
Sonia M. May 8, 2011, 3:21pm UTC
I used to redeem points for gift cards when I first started on Gather....mainly Border's Gift Cards.....I now only redeem points for cash, and not gift cards - the cash is deposited from Gather directly into my PayPal account and then I can transfer to my bank account. No one can steal GC numbers this way.
That sucks! Hope that Best Buy and Gather work this out for you. A couple years back there was a similar problem on Gather with giftcards from Macy's that had no value when you got to the register.
Amanda "middle of nowhere" C. May 15, 2011, 9:52pm UTC
I know you're frustrated, but stay on top of it. $50 is $50!
Janet H. May 15, 2011, 10:32pm UTC
Best Buy sent me a replacement card and the 2nd one worked fine. Gather also said they are sending me a $50 Target gift card to make up for the inconvenience. They said it was mailed but I haven't gotten that one yet. I hope it will come soon.
Nora D. May 15, 2011, 10:40pm UTC
Oh wow, that would be sooooo embarrassing! I had a major problem with a $10 Borders gift card I won on here many, many months ago.....I kept contacting the gal about it....four times.....only got one response.....she was "checking into it." Well, one time, Connie C. had posted something about problems with GCs on Gather, so I responded and how disgusted I was, that I would never get the $10 Borders GC....well, Chuck McGuire saw it, he e-mailed me right away and said that the GC was on its way.....plus, he was sending me an additional $10 Borders GC, for all the trouble! I did get both of them and thought that was very nice of him to do that!
Winona (the crazy rat lady) May 22, 2011, 9:04pm UTC
Sorry to hear that happened. I hope best buy does get you a working card!

I've won a few Gather contests. I've been lucky that I got all my winnings and my card did work.
robert morris May 28, 2011, 12:15am UTC
Figures when you deal with Best Buy. I would not have paid for that stuff and I would have walked out with Best Buy giving me that merchandise. They are nothing but trouble and you have to ride their butts.
robert morris May 28, 2011, 12:17am UTC
This also shows what type of worthless country we now live in where someone gets a best buy gift card and uses it, knowing full well it was not theirs. Time to get this country back to the glory days when you had no lock on your car, needed not to lock your house up, could let your kids walk to the neighbors house without an armed escort.
Debra H. May 30, 2011, 5:29pm UTC
I always have problems with Worst Buy and thier products which are mostly 'reconditioned' and sold as new. I quit shopping with them years ago
The Red Headed Witch of Gather G. Jun 30, 2011, 5:24pm UTC
OMG that sucks. And was probably pretty embarrassing.
Diane Huizenga Jul 17, 2011, 5:18pm UTC
wow that stinks have you gotten the new card yet.
ʚϊɞ Carol ʚϊɞ Jul 25, 2011, 4:03pm UTC
Janet, That is too bad to have to go through such an ordeal.
JOHN BECK Jul 25, 2011, 4:06pm UTC
Sounds like $50 worth of grief!
Val G. Aug 13, 2011, 2:03am UTC
How terrible that someone used your card. I wondered if that sort of thing ever happened. So sorry to hear it happened to you and your daughter. Hope you get your replacement soon.
Christos Giannakoulis Aug 13, 2011, 2:06am UTC
sorry to here that and i wish that you gonna get a remplacement one
Marti D. Sep 19, 2011, 10:00pm UTC
Did they replace it?
Janet H. Sep 20, 2011, 1:02pm UTC
Yes, they replaced the Best Buy card with one that worked, plus Gather gave me an extra $50 for my inconvenience. So, I ended up with twice as much and was quite happy!
Rhonda W. Oct 22, 2011, 10:04pm UTC
That is great! I'm glad it worked out for you plus the extra is so awesome!
Melinda ~choosing happiness~ S. Feb 24, 2012, 8:54pm UTC
That would be so disappointing! Glad it all worked out!
Donald M. Sep 20, 2011, 2:23pm UTC
I had the same thing happen with a CVS card. It was not loaded. I did not want to go through all the red tape, so I just ask gather for my points back. Sent them the card back, with a copy I had made of the letter they had sent me when I rodered the first time. It took a considerable time but they did ackknowlede and say they were sorry and that same day the points were back in my account.
Tessa D. Nov 29, 2011, 5:55pm UTC
sorry you had that trouble -- I always get Gather to send me Paypal -- once the cash is in my Paypal account, it can't turn out to be no good
Lillith (it's a secret!) Dec 15, 2011, 2:27am UTC
Dang! That would stink! I got a gift card to CVS awhile back & when I went there to use it, their computer was down, so I had to pay for my stuff too. I don't really go to CVS much, so I haven't tried to use the card again...
Elaine B. Dec 24, 2011, 8:31pm UTC
I'm sorry you had that problem. But glad that you finally got another Best Buy card.
Robert Andover Jun 1, 2012, 12:11pm UTC
Crazy.....I'm glad to hear they replaced your card. I would definitely not have been a happy camper about this!
Debbie W. Jan 19, 2013, 5:02pm UTC
Oh so sorry . I only opt for the Amazon or Paypal. I had some trouble in the past with a gift card. In that case it just wasn't activated and they sent me a new one.

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