The Gift Card That Keeps On Giving, Part 33
I work for a small local media company, and for an upcoming article, we did a survey with our readers. One reader is randomly chosen to receive a $150 gift card.
My manager chooses the reader and calls her to let her know she won the gift card. The woman is happy, and my manager says she’ll send a digital card via email.
My manager logs onto her usual online gift card site. It’s a site I’ve never heard of, but it is apparently pretty reliable. All is going well until I can audibly hear my manager starting to lose it. She lets out a string of expletives.
Manager: “What is going on?!”
Coworker: “What’s happening?”
Manager: “The gift card order keeps failing! I’ve used this site numerous times before, and I’ve never had a problem!”
A few minutes later, my manager gets a call from the owner.
Owner: “[Manager], why did I just get a fraud alert on your company card?”
Manager: “I’m buying the gift card for the survey, and the website keeps erroring out. What happened?”
Owner: “The card got flagged and frozen. I saw at least ten blocked transactions.”
Manager: “Are you f****** kidding me?!”
Owner: “No. I’m going to call the credit card company. Call the website’s customer support and see if any of the transactions actually went through.”
My manager calls the website and talks to them. I can hear both sides of the conversation.
Manager: “Hi. This is [Manager]. I just tried to buy a gift card from your site, and my card got flagged. I want to make sure I didn’t pay for ten gift cards.”
Agent: “Can I have the transaction number?”
Manager: “Yes, it’s [number].”
Agent: “One moment, please.”
There is silence for a few moments.
Agent: “I’m not seeing that transaction show up. Did we contact you?”
Manager: “I just saw several emails that the confirmation went through, but there’s nothing showing up.”
Agent: “Well… I can assure you that nothing’s gone through. My system is showing that the card declined.”
Manager: “I see. Thank you. Have a great day.”
Agent: “You, too.”
My manager hangs up and sighs loudly.
Manager: “This is f****** stupid. I’ve never had a problem before.”
Coworker: “Just to go [Major Retailer] and buy one there. At this point, it would be easier.”
Me: “Do it in person, not online.”
Manager: “Yeah… you’re right… I’m never going to deal with this website again.”
The next day, my manager left during lunch to buy a physical gift card and mailed it to the reader. The freeze was fortunately lifted, but we’re still not entirely sure if the website glitched out or if it’s not recognized as a legitimate site anymore.
Related:
The Gift Card That Keeps On Giving, Part 32
The Gift Card That Keeps On Giving, Part 31
The Gift Card That Keeps On Giving, Part 30
The Gift Card That Keeps On Giving, Part 29
The Gift Card That Keeps On Giving, Part 28
