money gift cards

curlylox

Hi there

Please accept my apologies if this is not the correct place to post this.

I have recently been given 2 of the new plastic money giftcards (instead of old style paper gift vouchers) One was for Debenhams and the other for Starbucks. When I tried to use them they were declined saying there is no money on them! I know that the Debenhams one had £20 put on it at Xmas and the Starbucks one had £10. It is my word against theirs as the people who gave me them no longer have the receipts. At least with the old style vouchers you could see exactly what you were getting.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Sooler

Where have you been keeping them?

Could it be possible that someone sneaked them away and spent them and put them back?

May be if you write to the head office for each store they might be able to tell you where and when the cards were spent.

MoaningMyrtle

How annoying, when these are purchased, they are activated at the time of sale and a special separate receipt issued. This should be given to the recipent with the gift card as proof they have been activated and paid for. Otherwise people can just pick them up and keep them as worthless bits of plastic.

Is there a helpline number on the back of the Gift Car you can call and give them the gift card number for them to track it?

C_Ronaldo

There isnt by any chance theres a time limit on when you have to use the credit on the cards

curlylox

Thanks for all the replies. There is no chance anyone else could have used them. I have tried contacting both companies and they say they were either not loaded correctly or been kept near magnets which can stop them working. I think it is a real scam as they wont do anything about it. As these were both xmas pressies the people no longer have the receipts. I would def not buy plastic cards to give to anyone else now. You live and learn eh? The Debenhams one was actually purchased in BP petrol station.

hollydays

Did the sender pay by debit/credit card and have their statement?

nikki_angel

C_Ronaldo wrote: »

There isnt by any chance theres a time limit on when you have to use the credit on the cards

I think there is a six month limit on a lot of them.

Sorry to the OP that you have lost out on your christmas gift.

liuhut

nikki_angel wrote: »

I think there is a six month limit on a lot of them.

Sorry to the OP that you have lost out on your christmas gift.

Most of them have a 2 year limit, Next certainly does.
Regarding the comment about the strip not working, that should make no difference, the money should still be on their system so they can just reissue another card.
I would go in and speak to a manager and explain the situation, if no money has EVER been put on the card then that would be differnet and you would need either the receipt or a bank statement showing the original transaction.

Hope you get your money.

brightonman123

can you get details of hat/where the card was used for? the person giving it to you may be able to find out who had it at the time..