On February 16th, I purchased 2 Wal-mart gift cards, one in the amount of $100.00, the other for $50.00. I usually purchase these gift cards to pay bills online because I do not have a bank account as of now.
So I get home to use these gift cards to pay a cable bill, and the cable company tells me that the cards are not being accepted. So I got ahead and call the customer service line, which from there I should have known that this was going to be a bad ride. The customer service line is a completely automated system which is designed to solve what ever problem from there or re-direct you to their website, which gives you the same information, but there is no option to connect directly to an agent unless you keep puting in an invalid gift card number. That was strike one for me.
So I finally get through to an agent, I tell them my problem. He checks on the account, and tells me that it is experiencing "technical difficulties", so he gave me a reference number, and told me that they were going to fix the problem.
So the next day, I try to use the card again, thinking the problem was already fixed, but I was wrong. I called again to find out what the deal was, spoke to another agend, and he looked up the account, just to tell me that my claim was incompleted because the previous rep made a mistake and did not file it correctly. So, he told me that that he completed the claim and that I should be getting the problem fixed in 1 business day for sure this time. This is now February 17th
To make a long story short, I kept getting this run around until February 20th, because people were NOT taking note of this information they needed to complete this claim, or giving me the right information of what I needed to do. What the first rep should have told me, and that was that they needed to receive a facsimile of the receipt and front and back of the gift cards, was not told to me until the 20th. And even with that, the first rep I spoke to only told me to fax the receipts, and I didn't know anything about having to fax the gift cards front and back as well, which I didn't find out until I spoke to the supervisor. I tried to fax it Sunday, the next day, but was having trouble sending to the nuimber they gave me, so I tried again at a different fax machine the next day, and it was sent so this is on February 22.
So, today is February 25th, and I am still out of $150.00. I spoke to 3 differnt supervisors throughout this whole thing, and they finally gave me a call this morning to let me know that it was processing (which I don't really believe, given their reliability) and that I should be getting a refund check within 7-10 business days. Not I already told the 2nd supervisor, that 7-10 business days is not a working time frame for me, considering that I've already been waiting long enough to receive money that is mine over a mistake that was not mine, so he and the second supervisor I spoke assured me that it would be delivered to me through Fedex. But, when I got the phonecall from them this morning, and I reminded the rep of the situation when he told me the time frame of whick I will receive it, he told me there was no note on the account that said there were going to send it Fedex. Then he said that he was going to make that he put that on the account.
So, because of my trust that is already weak with this company, I called back to double check and make sure he did do that, and sure enough the next rep I spoke to told me there was no note of that. Naturally, I spoke to a supervisor (again...) about it, and she assured me that she would be sending an e-mail in regards to the delivery, and I should be receiving the check tomorrow.
Now even though this whole ordeal is not complete until I finally do get my money back, I had to write this report. It is funny how I came across the website. When I spoke to the rep today, I asked her to give me a way to contact their cooperate offices, and she gave me this address, and told me they cannot be contacted by phone or e-mail, only letters, so I googled the address because I knew that could not be true, and I ran across their company name on this website, which gives me no surprise considering what I've had to deal with from this.
In conclusion, I would have to say, after this experince, I will NEVER purchase another Wal-mart gift card. The gift cards are supposed to be activated at the register, and the fact that they still took my money and gave me invalid cards is a MAJOR goof up that someone needs to be paying for. The fact that I have been waiting for OVER A WEEK for money that is mine, because of a mistake that was not mine is completely and utterly ridiculous. As far as I'm concerned, everyone who works in that department are obviously illiterate idiots because now that everything is said and done I could have had this solved in no time. Thanks again Wal-mart, you have lost me and whoever hears me on this one as customers.
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