Sainsburys gift cards blocked

edda

A warning to anyone who may have got a Sainsburys student meal ticket card for someone.

There has been a 'technical problem' with some gift cards that affects those bought over 3 months ago. These cards have been deactivated and can't be used any more.

I got one last September for the start of the new term and Sainsburys has had to block some of these - and are in the process of reissuing them out with any remaining balance on.

However, this doesn't help those with meal tickets, as only one new standard gift card is being sent out.

It doesn't affect everybody, but could be embarrassing at the till. Sainsburys told me all stores know about it and it can be fixed at the time of the shop.

See the 2nd and other postings in this thread as well:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2930828

Mp32

I've had the same problem, thanks for letting me know

cadburys

Hi - thank you to whoever started this thread. My son is at uni and I thought the meal ticket was a great idea. However finding that the card was blocked yesterday I then sought answers and found sainsburys somewhat unhelpful. Today I spoke to one of the customer service managers who explained that a team of only four girls was handling the initial problem of thousands of blocked gift cards so no wonder progress was slow. The idea of putting a situation update/explanation on the website had not occurred to them apparently and the manager said she would put forward the idea for if it happened again.... I wasnt impressed!
In theory letters have been sent out now to everyone - I havent got one, have you? - with gift cards enclosed to the value left on the old card. I wait with baited breath......

money0001

A total fiasco it has to be said. I have had no less that 3 sets of phone calls over a week. Each has promised based upon bank records & emails I provided as evidence to put £30 on to the new alternative gift card they sent me with a poor explanatory letter. The gift card came with zero balance. Now the customer service line for this refuses to answer! I have had to resort to twic calling my local Sainabury's. The are extremely vague about the whole thing. You would think they were not aware of it. Sheer frustration natuarly set in after a week talking to very inadequate Sainsbury's staff. This is certainly not one of thier strong points!. I have gone in to the Hedge End store after a telephone call to them again at my expense and they have given me another Meal Ticket saying it will be ok now. I bring this home and find (why was I surprised !!!!!) that the website is still down after this time even though I was led to believe that all was ok now. The only was I can now top up (if I am lucky!!) is in store. That was exactly what i did not want to do. Sainsbury's have no idea about customer service or IT. get something posted on the WEBSITE clearly regarding this and be informative about what to do to resolve. I think Sainsbury's gift card are best avoided.

deadleg21

I received a letter saying your new gift card is enclosed.

It was an empty envelope..............:mad:

XxX

Chomeur

I had a letter from the on 10th March with a new gift card, saying it would be activated within 48 hours. It still hasn't been activated today. I'm going to write to them asking for compensation for the inconvenience.

joanna1984

To be honest I didn't wait the 2 days I rang as soon as my card arrived and they sorted it straight out, I was told that after the letters had be issued they decided not to transfer the balances automatically and were waiting for customers to call but by this time it was too late as the letters had been posted. I have to agree with their reasoning though as it was explained that Sainsburys head office sent out the letter but that the gift card team themselves thought it would be a bad idea to post cards with balances on in case they were lost in the post (as cards and money tend to) and so stopped this going ahead. I would be more upset having a card sent and it going missing than ringing a freephone number and sorting it with the card in my hand.

The lady I spoke to said they'd been working non stop to try and sort the situation, they must have been on strong coffee wish I sounded as perky at work

jo
x

MrsB2100

Just out of curiosity, has anyone had this problem this year at all? Mu sister-in-law gave us a £20 gift card for Christmas this year (so, December 2012). I went to go and buy petrol with it yesterday and the assistant told me there was a problem and the card couldn't be accepted. He also mentioned that a couple of other people have had a similar problem.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to go instore to talk to the Customer Service desk, and I've tried their automated balance confirmation service which just says there is a problem with the card. I tried it yesterday and a couple of times today too, just in case the service was down.

So, before I call them, I'm just wondering if other people have had this issue this year?

Thanks all!

** UPDATE ** I finally got to calling them ...first they thought it was a problem with activating the card at the till ... then they discovered that there was no money loaded onto it. Looks like my sister-in-law didnt get this one done properly. Oh well ... Not a problem at Sainbobs end then.