Unexpected Error - Gift Card Purchase but was char...

MarkO272310 · ‎08-28-2022

This Sunday morning I went though the process of purchasing $900 in Carnival gift cards. During the check out with my credit card I received the message:

Something went wrong with your transaction. Please try again or contact AARP Rewards Support at 1-866-451-6305.

I waited about 15 minutes after checking my credit card website for any security notifications or pending transactions and I tried the check out again and received the same message.

Another 15 minutes passes and I noticed 2 pending $900 charges on my credit card and emails from AARP with instructions on how to redeem my gift cards.

The issue is I didn't want to purchase $1800 worth of gift cards I only wanted $900.

Has anyone else run into this situation, I am a bit stressed and concerned now because I can't redeem anything until I speak with customer service on Monday morning and I don't know if they will refund me my money for the purchase I didn't want because of their website errors.
Thanks.

AARPJanelleM · ‎08-30-2022

@MarkO272310 Thank you for letting us know. I have sent you a private message here on the Community site requesting additional information so that we can get to the bottom of this. Here are instructions to locate your private messages: https://community.aarp.org/t5/Technology/How-do-I-send-a-private-message/ta-p/2185159 I look forward to speaking with you further!

MarkO272310 · ‎08-29-2022

@AARPJanelleM @AARPTeri
Including moderators in this discussion. There is my thread and another recent thread from a member with the same issue. Maybe there is something AARP - Janelle & Teri can do to help resolve these.

MarkO272310 · ‎08-29-2022

Update Monday 8/29/2022. I spoke with Juan (Rewards customer service) who stated he saw the charges were made to the credit card but can not do anything because they were still in pending status with my card. He also stated I had evidently purchased a $100 gift card in addition to the other transactions and was confused as to why this charge was not showing as pending also. He advised that I do not click on any of the links provided in the rewards emails, and I was to wait to see if the charges are applied to my credit card. He also said don't order any more gift cards until it's known if these charges will be applied.
He then told me that because of their policy they do not offer refunds and I told him this was a concern because this was clearly a system generated error message that notified me that something went wrong with the transaction(s).
Either way, I am in limbo now with purchasing anything from AARP and finalizing my vacation payments until this is resolved. 😫

a170938b · ‎08-29-2022

As you used a credit card, I suggest you call the bank and see what your recourse is if the charges go through and AARP refuses to stand by their mistakes. Have everything clearly documented.

Then you would have started laying the ground work for a complaint.