gift card warning

[mickeyluv'r]

When we went to use a gift card, we were told in the parks that the 'network' was down. This also impacted MDE online food orders. If a customer tried to buy something, or place an order, the order would not go through, other times the card showed a zero balance.

This = it is doubly important to keep track of gift card balances. I thought funds were stolen, but now I am pretty sure it was just an error of about $15. I need to go back and check the balance of the gift cards we used. ugh!

On top of that, one of our online food orders simply disappeared after I received a confirmation code. When we went to click, "I'm here," the order did not exist. I advise taking a screen shot of any orders! We never got the confirmation email, so I had no proof of the order. The manager said if the order was not picked up, the held funds would be returned to the giftcard but that was somewhat useless to me. On our last day, we had to unexpectedly charge everything to a credit card. We also had to re-order all the food which cost extra time.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

I used to stock up on gift cards prior to any Disney vacation. This year will be the first time in 20+ years I won't be doing it. I've had some problems with buying/using gift cards, especially from Target. Most recently I bought a $100 Visa gift card from Target on 12/20/23. A Christmas gift for my sister. She went to use it 12/30/23 and it was denid, saying zero balance. After investigation she found out the gift card was used in Canada at a Home Depot for 2 $50 Home Depot Gift cards. The gift card was all intact when I bought it and even though I gave her the receipt and activation receipts, she is still battling with Visa to get money back. Target would not help.

 

[garris3404]

I used to stock up on gift cards prior to any Disney vacation. This year will be the first time in 20+ years I won't be doing it. I've had some problems with buying/using gift cards, especially from Target. Most recently I bought a $100 Visa gift card from Target on 12/20/23. A Christmas gift for my sister. She went to use it 12/30/23 and it was denid, saying zero balance. After investigation she found out the gift card was used in Canada at a Home Depot for 2 $50 Home Depot Gift cards. The gift card was all intact when I bought it and even though I gave her the receipt and activation receipts, she is still battling with Visa to get money back. Target would not help.

Target was hit with a big gift card scam effort last December. we had a similar issue with a sealed Target gift card. Luckily Target made it good.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

Target was hit with a big gift card scam effort last December. we had a similar issue with a sealed Target gift card. Luckily Target made it good.

I bought the gift card at Target but it' a Visa gift card. They told me that once the gift card is bought, Target tranfers funds to Visa. My sister has been calling Visa since December, she opened a claim. Sometimes when she calls to follow up, she's told they have no record of her claim (even though she has a claim number). She is so fed up with them but she said she's not going to give up.

 

[SL6827]

I buy my DGCs from Target online only now.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Most recently I bought a $100 Visa gift card from Target on 12/20/23....

Stop buying Visa gc's. The system is soooo full of fraud right now. You would have been better off to literally buy her any other gift card. This has been true for a couple years and the fraud increases every year on the Visa, MC type gc's.

 

[gottalovepluto]

When we went to use a gift card, we were told in the parks that the 'network' was down.

I would file a complaint with the FL Attorney General here. Use a throw-away type email account as your email address will become public record. Disney sold you the gift card promising you could use it at Disney World and then refused to let you redeem it. That's fraud. The fact that their IT was down is not your problem- they are a big enough company they can afford back-up systems. The complaint probably won't go anywhere but you never know and it might be nice to write out a vent on the issue.

 

[SL6827]

When we went to use a gift card, we were told in the parks that the 'network' was down. This also impacted MDE online food orders. If a customer tried to buy something, or place an order, the order would not go through, other times the card showed a zero balance.

This = it is doubly important to keep track of gift card balances. I thought funds were stolen, but now I am pretty sure it was just an error of about $15. I need to go back and check the balance of the gift cards we used. ugh!

On top of that, one of our online food orders simply disappeared after I received a confirmation code. When we went to click, "I'm here," the order did not exist. I advise taking a screen shot of any orders! We never got the confirmation email, so I had no proof of the order. The manager said if the order was not picked up, the held funds would be returned to the giftcard but that was somewhat useless to me. On our last day, we had to unexpectedly charge everything to a credit card. We also had to re-order all the food which cost extra time.

So you had to put a good amount on your credit card that you had funds on DGCards to pay for?

 

[kylenne]

I used to stock up on gift cards prior to any Disney vacation. This year will be the first time in 20+ years I won't be doing it. I've had some problems with buying/using gift cards, especially from Target. Most recently I bought a $100 Visa gift card from Target on 12/20/23. A Christmas gift for my sister. She went to use it 12/30/23 and it was denid, saying zero balance. After investigation she found out the gift card was used in Canada at a Home Depot for 2 $50 Home Depot Gift cards. The gift card was all intact when I bought it and even though I gave her the receipt and activation receipts, she is still battling with Visa to get money back. Target would not help.

e gift cards are the way to go. Anything physical is subject to skimming and scamming now.

 

[SaintsManiac-vol.2]

I had a stack of GCs that I forgot to use in November. I used them all to buy tickets for May and decided not to replace them. I’m tired of having to keep track of it all in the parks. Now I plan to just use my Disney Visa for everything and use the rewards to pay myself back now that it’s an option.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

So you had to put a good amount on your credit card that you had funds on DGCards to pay for?

I suppose. Depends how one defines 'good amount.'

There was one card that CM said had zero bal that I thought maybe had about $5 left. After checking, I think that one was used up.

After that, I was sure next card had funds. When we tried to use it to buy merchandise it came up as zero. After I said I know the card has funds, the CM say the system might be down. In that case, I decided not to buy the item.

A little later, when similar thing happened, I swapped to using a credit card for several small purchases. Several of the CM's knew the system was acting flaky and warned us when we went to use the giftcards. Mildly annoying, but they were all small purchases of snacks at Epcot, about $30.

The one that was most annoying though was the mobile food order for around $55. The order looked like it went through, and a confirmation number appeared on MDE, so I assumed I actually had an order. I placed the order as we were leaving the park, to be picked up at the hotel. But then when we went to click "I'm here" there was no order. By the time I checked a few days later, the funds were on the card. Though manager cautioned that the missing purchase might = funds held for about 48 hours.

It took extra time to frantically try to find out what happened, redo the order/wait for it, and find out if the original order had been charged.

I'm not posting to criticize the CM's, just to let everyone here know that the CM's at the quick serve did not know the system was down until after I raised the issue of the missing order. That was around 5pm, hours after the problem started. Someone might throw away a card if a CM says it has no funds, or after they place a meal order and get a confirmation number.

 

[Ermise]

Something similar happened last summer when we where there with our Disney Visa Rewards card. We knew what the balance was and tried to use it to pay for a meal. The waiter said it was showing up as a zero balance. When I called Visa they said the system was down on their end so everyone with a Disney Rewards card couldn't use them for period of time. I believe the system was down for several hours that day until it was fixed.

 

[Shughart]

They need to fix their crap. That's one thing they can't afford to let break. That's one of our ways to save money. If we lose it, we're out.

 

[SaintsManiac-vol.2]

They need to fix their crap. That's one thing they can't afford to let break. That's one of our ways to save money. If we lose it, we're out.

It’s a big reason why I’ll just use rewards and gift cards to pay for tickets and room now. I don’t want to deal with it while I’m there.

 

[Shughart]

It’s a big reason why I’ll just use rewards and gift cards to pay for tickets and room now. I don’t want to deal with it while I’m there.

I bought our tickets from the undercover tourist, and our room through DVC rental. Most of our merch/souvenir purchases in the park I can get 10% off with my Disney Visa, but we're kind of on our own as far as food, and so we pre-buy the gift cards from Sam's club and combine. We're planning to eat at Narcoossee's which also gives us the cardholder discount as well, but pretty much the only other chance to save on food in the parks is VIA GC.

 

[SaintsManiac-vol.2]

I bought our tickets from the undercover tourist, and our room through DVC rental. Most of our merch/souvenir purchases in the park I can get 10% off with my Disney Visa, but we're kind of on our own as far as food, and so we pre-buy the gift cards from Sam's club and combine. We're planning to eat at Narcoossee's which also gives us the cardholder discount as well, but pretty much the only other chance to save on food in the parks is VIA GC.

Gotcha! I decided I’d rather get the Visa points and just pay ourselves back later

 

[SL6827]

There's no excuse for Disney not having this together at all times.

 

[Jaya]

Several years ago, our company Christmas gift was two Disney tickets and $100 in gift cards.

When I tried to use the gift cards, "the system was down" and they couldn't be used. I was upset, as I didn't plan to be back in the parks for quite a while and wanted to use the gift cards that day.

Luckily, the Pixie Dust was thick that day and a cast member took us somewhere and cashed in the gift cards for money. Saved!