Customers' lack of knowledge about gift cards

[BowserKoopa1]

Alright everyone listen up (customers in particular), this is how a gift card is supposed to work.... When you buy a gift card from our store, we can check the balance at a register for you. If you ask us the balance from a gift card that has a credit card logo on it, we cannot, its as simple as that. SGCL= Stupid Gift Card Lady
SGCL (hands me a Visa gift card): I'd like to pay with this.
Me: Do you know how much is on the card?
SGCL: No, but I think it has about $16.
I put it in for $16, the computer rejects it. SURPRISE!!! She gives me another gift card and asks me to put the balance in for this one. The computer rejects it.
SGCL #2: Can't you check the balance?
Me: Not unless its from our store. You need to call the number on the back.
SGCL: Can you please try it for $15?
I try it for $15, the computer rejects it.
Me: I'm sorry, it keeps rejecting it.
SGCL #2 (raising her voice): Why are you getting upset for?
Me: I'm not, but there's nothing I can do. I have no way of telling how much is on those gift cards because they're not from our store, and I don't work for Visa. And if you try to do it for more than what's on the cards, they'll keep kicking it back.
SGCL: Can you try it for $14?
Me: Its not going to do any good.
Rinse, lather, repeat, and finally the computer takes both gift cards. Then they finally leave.
When are customers going to realize that we don't know the balance of their fucking gift cards if it comes from another place or a credit card company? Probably never, ladies and gentlemen, because they are customers after all.

[AmbrosiaWriter]

Personally, I'm fairly good with averaging out how much I have left in my bank/gift cards (either that or I grossly underestimate, which I suppose it better than overestimating.) It would be awesome though if you could register your credit-card logo gift cards and they'd send you an e-mail with "Hey gal/guy, ya'll got this much left on your XXXX gift card!"

Though I doubt it'll happen.

Good on ya for keeping your cool though, I probably would've had a hard time keeping some scathing remark trapped on my tongue.

[AmbrosiaWriter]

I usually keep the receipt with those sorts of cards so I know how much is left on them. It seems to work well for me!

Do the Visa/Mastercard/etc gift cards print out the remainder on the receipt? I've never received/used one so I don't know.

I know store gift cards do, which is wicked useful.

[midnightaurora]

At the GameStore I work at, we can run most credit card labeled gift cards for the full purchase amount & it'll pull off whatever value is on the card. It is awesome, because, as you said, no one ever knows how much is on those things.

[Catwoman2965]

I think it depends on how the store's POS system is set up. I know in my store, if a customer wants to pay, say with a VISA GC, and it's never been used, and the value is $50, we can simply swipe it like a cc, and it will go through.

However, if a customer has used part of it, our system won't let us just swipe them; we have to put in the exact amount, which means the customer has to know what's on it. Which they never do, and they get pissy when you politely tell them it won't go through. Some of my managers will offer to call for th customer to get the balance, but I don't. Quite honestly, its not my problem, nor my job. IF they can't be bothered to figure out or know what's on it, then they can wait to use it until they do.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

You have to watch it with those cards. Some of them have fees attached that can eat away your balance. It's easy to think you have more than you actually do.

[Teskeria]

Yeah, the only one I know for sure has no monthly fees are the Amex gift cards. Most others charge at least $2 a month until they use it all up.

[bhskittykatt]

I keep Post-its attached to all my gift cards, where I write the balance, and I update the Post-Its as I make purchases with them.

It's not just SCs wanting to know balances on gift cards. I have SCs all the time wanting me to check whatever is left on their credit or debit cards.

[MoonCat]

Yeah, the only one I know for sure has no monthly fees are the Amex gift cards. Most others charge at least $2 a month until they use it all up.

I buy Vanilla Visa cards all the time. They don't charge a monthly fee. I use them on Amazon because I don't have a credit card and Amazon won't grow a brain and get PayPal I think a fee kicks in after a year, though I'm not sure because I usually use them up way before a year goes by.

I also keep a list of the card numbers with their balances, and periodically check online to find out if the balance is what I thought it was. They give you a list of transactions.

[Desk clerk knows all]

I once used a Visa gift card at a gas pump and it stopped pumping when the card reached it's limit, so I guess it had a way of knowing the balance.

[ReverendBSB]

I used to get visa gift cards to buy things online when I had not bank account or credit cards. I would buy one big enough to buy my item and usually have anywhere from 5 to 15 dollars left on it. I would use a perm marker and write the remaining balance on the front of the card. When I used it I would cross that out and update it.

[NotAlBundy]

This drives me insane!

Especially when I found out that one of my employees was running cards through for like $2.00 at a time, then another $2 and so on. I had to explain to her that 1) we get charged each time we run a card and are now losing money when she runs it for that low and 2) our register will only let you use a credit card so many times on one transaction. I can't remember the exact amount of times, but after so many, it will demand payment by another means.

I have instructed my people to offer our phone to the customer and tell them they can call for the balance, but we have no way of checking. And if we try to run it for more than the amount, sometimes it will place a hold on the card and then the customer won't have access to any of the funds.

[CoffeeMonkey]

When I get one of those cards, I spend the whole thing, all at once, on either my coffee shop gift card, or at the gas station. That way I never have to deal with keeping track of the balance, and I also don't have to worry that I'm going to wind up with a few pennies that I can't easily use.

[Mystic]

While on the topic of gift cards, I am hoping someone can answer this for me...

I recently got some gift cards from Bulls eye. The problem is that I don't shop at bulls eye and they don't have the items I need. I am assuming that Bulls eye is like big blue in that they sell prepaid gift cards for other places like Amazon. So the question is would I be able to use my bullseye gift card at bullseye to buy a prepaid Amazon gift card?

[fireheart]

Yeah, the only one I know for sure has no monthly fees are the Amex gift cards. Most others charge at least $2 a month until they use it all up.

There's a Visa Prepaid Reloadable Card which doesn't have a fee attached to it down here unless you do certain actions. For the most part, it's simply an extra 9c on your transaction which is capped at $1.

I keep Post-its attached to all my gift cards, where I write the balance, and I update the Post-Its as I make purchases with them.

It's not just SCs wanting to know balances on gift cards. I have SCs all the time wanting me to check whatever is left on their credit or debit cards.

I've seen both of these in action. We COULD check the balance of their credit cards, but only the store credit cards.

While on the topic of gift cards, I am hoping someone can answer this for me...

I recently got some gift cards from Bulls eye. The problem is that I don't shop at bulls eye and they don't have the items I need. I am assuming that Bulls eye is like big blue in that they sell prepaid gift cards for other places like Amazon. So the question is would I be able to use my bullseye gift card at bullseye to buy a prepaid Amazon gift card?

I would probably advise that you ask the store what it CANNOT be used for (without stating your intentions) and go from there.