Caution When Using eGift Card

[NeuvilleR920350]

I recently purchased a $5 Albertson eGift Card for 14,000 reward points. After printing eGift Card I attempt to use it. I actually made two different attempts. What happen was, instead of taking $5 off my bill, it added $5 to my bill. The store cashier could not figure out why it was doing that. If I wasn’t paying attention I would have paid $5 more than my bill was. So a word of caution, Pay Close Attention when using eGift Cards.

[mi4090]

No expiration @JoLo49 😊

[JoLo49]

Mine expires October 2021.  At least you can save yours indefinitely to use on a road trip, @mi4090 .

[mi4090]

The Marathon 25 cents off per gallon up to a 100 gallons is horrible.  Store owners and cashiers in (3) surrounding states can't accept or didn't know how to use the gift card.

@AARPSandyY  could I get my 30,000 points refunded for a card that's

not able to be used in (4) states.

Thanks for your assistance.

Have a Blessed Day,

Marylin

[JoLo49]

Last year I won a Marathon Instant Win and found out that there are no participating stations in my area.  I contacted the corporate office to find out that there are only a limited few stations willing to accept this gift card.  There is also an expiration date on the gift card, so it's not like other gift cards which don't expire.

[RussellP197074]

Whenever I have tried using gift cards the person at the register always has trouble with it and it takes several minutes to get it straight.  Makes the people behind me in line real happy when that happens.  I won't even bother trying for anything less than $10 anymore.

[a170938b]

For me the e-gift cards work only if I can order online (Amazon, also Target and Walmart online and pickup for instance). Only exception is Kroger; at Kroger, before shopping, I go directly to customer service and tell them that I will use an e-gift card; this way they are prepared to assist when the cashier has no clue (every time!); it is a bit cumbersome considering the small amount or small discount but it works for me. A bit stressful too, lots of apologies on my part for their troubles. Sometimes I wonder if it is worth it!

[JoLo49]

The majority of e-gift cards for points redemption are now of $5 value, unless you do streaming.   The higher value gift cards now are ones that can be purchased.

[andrewtoo]

Although I have had the same issue using both Walmart and Kroger $5 e-gift cards. And, yes, I was watching how it was applied to my bill.  The first time I used it at Walmart they said something about it trying to load money on the e-gift card rather than applying the balance of the e-gift card to my bill.  After realizing that the register may want to add funds to the card, then it has been easy to explain to an experienced cashier or to a front-line manager that comes to help when it happens.

Frankly, I try to watch as items are scanned, whenever possible, because grocery store price errors have become commonplace.  (Remember when: the price was on the product and the grocery "checker" had to enter the price on the register and paper coupons could be 5¢ off.)

[JoLo49]

That also happened to me when trying to use an AARP gift card at Safeway.  The cashier charged me for purchasing a gift card instead of taking the money off of the bill.  It was a cashier error by pushing the wrong button on the register.   Agree, you need to pay close attention when using the eGift cards.