I received a $50 Walmart gift card last year. When I tried to use it at a checkout, the clerk said the card was invalid and I would have to talk to customer service. There were about 20 people waiting in the customer service line so I decided not to wait. The next time I stopped by Walmart there were about 10 people waiting in line. I waited for about 10 minutes and gave up. I wonder how many people give up?
I hate walmart. I know some people have nothing but Wal-Mart at to shop. I have many shopping options. The Wal-Mart by me is dark, dirty and carries cheaply made items. I don’t care for the people who shop at the location. One Xmas I sent a 50 Wal-Mart card to my son in uspc priority mail.
I've had a few gift cards "not work" in recent years, typically a card for some store, restaurant or whatever that I got at Christmas. Most recently, I had an Outback card a couple of Christmases ago and my wife and I went there with it around May of last year. The waitress came back and said it wouldn't go through. So I just had her put the whole bill on my credit card. I wasn't going to bother with it.
It was an uncle who gave it to me but I wasn't going to be a dweeb about it and ring him up in the middle of May to tell him a card he gave me at Christmas didn't work. That's just so lame. So I let it go.
I'm sure there are many others in the same situation - that don't complain. That's probably why "hacking" these cards is such a big industry because so few victims show up to complain. The $550 in this article is an extreme example. Usually it's just a $25 to $50 gift card involved and most people couldn't be bothered.
BTW, the retailers and restaurants love gift cards. This is a real profit center for them. I believe about 20% of gift cards issued are never redeemed and all that cash goes right to the bottom line. Not sure how they account for that revenue but there must be a period of time, probably the end of their fiscal year, where they are able to move that unearned revenue to the profit line. Maybe there's an accountant here that can speak to that.
It is how Walmart makes extra money.