Gift Card Issue

[retailworker7]

On Monday while I was working in Cosmetics this customer hands me a stack of giftcards to pay for her stuff. She has no idea if any of them even have money on them and she probably had at least 20 cards. I start running them through the register and the ones with no money on the are declined. The ones that have money on them take off a little bit. I gave her back the cards that went through and probably still have money on them. She decides to try to tell me that I messed up because one of them should have $43.00 on it still. I was getting ready to go to lunch any way so I paged one of my co-workers over for assistance. He starts talking to her and spot checks several cards to check balances he tells her that none of those cards have that amount of money on them. He then asks her if that is all the gift cards she has and she mentions she has more at home. He tells her that maybe she left that one at home. She thinks about and says that could have happened. She walks away and I let my co-worker know I am going to lunch. About 10 minutes after I clock out for lunch my co-worker gets paged to the Cosmetics counter for customer assistance. Pain in the but demanded she get all of her gift cards back. My co-worker gave her some of them back and she did not even notice she did not have all of them back. I was surprised he gave them back.

I come back from lunch and I mentioned this customer to a manager when she was bringing me change. We both agree that the customer was behaving in a strange manor and may be trying to scam the store. She got into it with another manager over returns before. My boss and I decided that if she comes back with more gift cards that do not work that a manager needs to be called to deal with the transaction. I have mentioned this to my co-workers I saw the rest of that day. My manager said she would let the other managers know to watch for her. The rest of the management staff will communicate with the other employees who were off that day.

I think I would not have given her back those gift cards that easily. My boss told me that it would have been completely acceptable to call for a manager approval first if I had been dealing with her request.

[lineswine]

She's an idiot at best, or a scam artist at worst...either way I wish she'd never darken your doors again.

[taxguykarl]

How did she get all those cards? I wouldn't be surprised if she lifted the unloaded ones--they don't always trip the shoplifting alarms.

[Catwoman2965]

I don't get how SC's think a gift card they simply snatch up will work! I know in my store if one has no balance, and the customer insists they do, we call customer service. Who I know will tell us there's no balance, but can also tell us whether or not it ever had one and if it did, when it was used. And they don't back down, so SC's can insist and bitch all they want, they won't get squat.

The only time we can do anything is if say it was given as a gift, there's no balance, and they can produce a receipt showing how much it should ahve been for, and CS can verify it hasn't been used. Other than that, they are SOL.

[BrenDAnn]

I know at C-Store, stealing cards from the shelf would do no good. They have to be activated to be used. Our system comes up and tells us if they aren't, and management can also call corporate and get them to get the info on when/where it was purchased, used, etc. Also, I think I'd start cutting the empty cards up next time she comes back. That would shut down at least part of her scamming, even if it did royally piss her off.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

How did she get all those cards? I wouldn't be surprised if she lifted the unloaded ones--they don't always trip the shoplifting alarms.

I don't get how SC's think a gift card they simply snatch up will work! I know in my store if one has no balance, and the customer insists they do, we call customer service.

I know at C-Store, stealing cards from the shelf would do no good. They have to be activated to be used.

It might also be possible for somebody else to be stealing the cards and selling them to unsuspecting marks claiming they're activated and have money on them.

This may have happened at the swamp a couple years ago.

[retailworker7]

My store does not have a customer service department. The managers handle those types of issues. Also the company I work for has a large amount of stores in the area. I think I will ask at work if there is a way to find out if the card has been activated? The registers do not let us know. Stealing gift cards and trying to use them in the store would not work because they have to be activated to actually be useful.

If these cards are being stolen it is probably from other locations. Someone would have noticed a pattern with the counts being off when they were doing scan outs if that many gift cards where disappearing from the store.

I think this person is just a cheap skate that thinks it is not possible for her to have used up all the money on the cards or she was trying to scam me. If she comes back management will probably throw her out.

[ralerin]

Hence why, with all gift cards that are used up, I put them behind my counter and bend them back and forth so they break in half. Prevents someone lifting them from the garbage and using them.

[retailworker7]

I was totally surprised my co-worker gave them back to her while I was on lunch. I would not have done that unless a manager said I had to. I am pretty sure the manager on duty would have told her no.

[bainsidhe]

What sort of scam could she be running? I'm trying to figure it out but I've got nothing.

Bit of a tangent: A woman came through my line with a few gift cards and asked if I'd check how much was on them. Seems her husband had them for a while, but never bothered to use them. The oldest one was about 7 years old and combined, her 4-5 gift cards were worth over a grand. Good thing he wasn't my husband, I'd have killed him.

[CarcinogenCrunchies]

I start running them through the register and the ones with no money on the are declined. The ones that have money on them take off a little bit. I gave her back the cards that went through and probably still have money on them.

I'm confused. If there were cards that went through and took a bit off the total, wouldn't those cards be empty? Why would there be multiple cards to give back that probably still have money on them? Furthermore, why would there be discarded cards that could be used for any kind of scam?

[retailworker7]

I'm confused. If there were cards that went through and took a bit off the total, wouldn't those cards be empty? Why would there be multiple cards to give back that probably still have money on them? Furthermore, why would there be discarded cards that could be used for any kind of scam?

By the end of the transaction all the cards were definitely empty. I am guessing that this customer asked for her cards back so she could claim that they should have money on them and someone else or someone at another store would be stupid enough to believe her. Perhaps she may try to complain to corporate that the cards were defective. Perhaps she stole the cards from another location and will claim they were never activated properly.

In the customers messed up mind those cards should not have been empty even though the register said DO NOT ACCEPT when I went to process them. This is the same way the register would decline a credit card. It does not tell us why the payment method is not acceptable.

[taxguykarl]

It might also be possible for somebody else to be stealing the cards and selling them to unsuspecting marks claiming they're activated and have money on them.

That wouldn't surprise me--I've run into a scammer with just that come-on once.

A woman came through my line with a few gift cards and asked if I'd check how much was on them. Seems her husband had them for a while, but never bothered to use them. The oldest one was about 7 years old and combined, her 4-5 gift cards were worth over a grand.

Tell me the cards were still good.