One4All Prepaid visa giftcard overly restrictive

[Deleted User]

Fingerbobs said:

jet01 said:

They are not Visa cards. Would be much easier to use them if that were the case. Operates on its own closed loop system. My former employer used to give us these cards for our Christmas bonus and they were always very difficult to use. I had to try three separate branches of Primark one year before chancing upon some one who knew how to ring the thing through the till. Been given Love2Shop vouchers in the past as well which is a similar kind of operation but they were much easier to use than All4one so really no excuse for being so bad. 

I have that problem with a lot of gift cards, even the single-shop branded ones - the staff simply don't know how to process them.

It's usually because they are run by a third party company and still processed externally like any other card. Even though they have the shop's branding on them.

WillPS

Deleted_User said:

Fingerbobs said:

jet01 said:

They are not Visa cards. Would be much easier to use them if that were the case. Operates on its own closed loop system. My former employer used to give us these cards for our Christmas bonus and they were always very difficult to use. I had to try three separate branches of Primark one year before chancing upon some one who knew how to ring the thing through the till. Been given Love2Shop vouchers in the past as well which is a similar kind of operation but they were much easier to use than All4one so really no excuse for being so bad. 

I have that problem with a lot of gift cards, even the single-shop branded ones - the staff simply don't know how to process them.

It's usually because they are run by a third party company and still processed externally like any other card. Even though they have the shop's branding on them.

That's not the case with single-store gift cards though, that's just retailers not providing adequate training.

1000_trees

Seeing this post reminded me that I had an all4one gift card for Christmas. I was not amused! 

I was trying to use it up in the online January sales with no joy as if your order came above the value of the voucher, then you could not use it as part payment. So annoying. 
Not only did that store lose a sale, but I also flung the voucher card into the back of a drawer. 

I dug it back out after reading this forum post. Had a brain wave. I'll buy an e-voucher! It worked! 
So now I have got rid of the unwanted xmas pressie and now have a voucher for one store, which will come in handy and which I can use as part payment for an order. 
Wish I thought of that sooner. 

[Deleted User]

WillPS said:

Deleted_User said:

Fingerbobs said:

jet01 said:

They are not Visa cards. Would be much easier to use them if that were the case. Operates on its own closed loop system. My former employer used to give us these cards for our Christmas bonus and they were always very difficult to use. I had to try three separate branches of Primark one year before chancing upon some one who knew how to ring the thing through the till. Been given Love2Shop vouchers in the past as well which is a similar kind of operation but they were much easier to use than All4one so really no excuse for being so bad. 

I have that problem with a lot of gift cards, even the single-shop branded ones - the staff simply don't know how to process them.

It's usually because they are run by a third party company and still processed externally like any other card. Even though they have the shop's branding on them.

That's not the case with single-store gift cards though, that's just retailers not providing adequate training.

It is the same with single-store gift cards. You know when you walk into TESCO or MORRISONS and they have that wall of gift cards for all different retailers and services, yeah? Well they are all supplied and processed by a single third party company on behalf of the companies advertised on the cards. Therefore when they are used they will go through the third party servers, not just internally at the shop it's for. 

crumpet_man

I've purchased gift cards with one4all at Argos and WHSmith. The till does accept the transaction but it's down to the sales assistant if they put it through.
I think I have also bought M&S gift card at M&S online but it would have been a while ago.  A lot of online retailers sell their own gift cards through a third party so it doesn't count as a purchase at that retailer and therefore one4all would not be accepted.  Argos do it this way which means you can use one4all at Argos online but not for an Argos gift card as it redirects to a different website.

1000_trees

Fingerbobs said:

How did you manage to do that, out of interest? The T&Cs for the One4all card state that it cannot be used to purchase other retailer's gift vouchers.

The T&C's do not state anything of that nature. Kindly refrain from posting false information on the internet. 

From the A4O website: 
"5.5 Part payments are not supported when shopping online, for either physical or digital cards. This means that if the value of the purchase is greater than the balance on your card, you will not be able to use an additional payment card"
As a new member here, I'm not allowed to post a link to the A4O website, but please do check it out yourself on their website. 

It's there in black and white. A4O cards can be used to purchase e-vouchers as well as vouchers instore. 

I had a £25 A4O voucher which I exchanged for a £25 e-voucher for a store of my choice from their list of retailers. It's sat in my inbox. 

Simples! 

crumpet_man

I think it depends on the individual retailer not one4all, eg at WHSmith

https://www.one4all.com/retailer/wh-smith.html

 One4all Gift Cards cannot be used to purchase the following, 3rd Party Gift Cards, Tobacco, Stamps, Scratch Cards or Lottery

Fingerbobs

1000_trees said:

The T&C's do not state anything of that nature. Kindly refrain from posting false information on the internet. 

Blimey, why the attitude? 

I made a mistake - I was thinking of Love2Shop gift vouchers, which definitely do state that they cannot be used to purchase retailer's own gift vouchers (it's actually printed on the vouchers). I apologise for the confusion, and have deleted my incorrect post. 

It was an honest mistake, and I don't see the need for the aggressive response. 

[Deleted User]

I have one of the One4All cards that I still need to do something with. I tried to buy online at a store that they said could use them, got it to about 10p less than the card balance and it refused it. I have previously used them as part payment in Halfords but that was about 6 years ago and not tried since

crumpet_man

More often than not, when they don't work in store it's because the sales assistant has tried to put it through as a gift card instead of a normal debit/credit card transaction. 

Argos and Currys online accept them and I have purchased Xbox, PSN and Steam gift cards without a problem.