If you are looking for holiday gifts, DON'T buy VISA gift cards!!!!

[jujsky]

I just received one from my ILs as a belated b-day present. What a headache!!!!! It says you can use it online as long as you register it with your zip code. I did that. I tried to use it to buy myself a Barnes & Noble gift certificate so I could buy Nook books. The purchase was denied, yet the $150 is now missing from my card. I canceled the order through B&N and called the Visa place. They said that B&N approved the charge and they gave me an approval code. Called B&N back and they didn't approve the charge & since I canceled the order there was nothing they could do. B&N said the money should be refunded to my card within 48 hours. The Visa place is saying my funds won't be returned to my card for 7-8 DAYS! IF the $$$ is back on the card in 7-8 days I'll drive to B&N and try to purchase a card in person, but it will probably be denied and I'll face utter humiliation. I had another Visa gift card for a very small amount around Christmas time last year and I ended up throwing it out because it was such a hassle and I couldn't use it anywhere. This one is too much $$$$ to just pitch. I am SO frustrated! I did some research on it last night. If you google "Vanilla Visa scam" you will come up with so many stories of unauthorized fees being taken out, cards being denied even when they're used at the stores they're bought from, etc. If you love your family & friends please, please don't buy them one of these! Give cash or a gift card to an actual store. The one and only thing I wanted for my b-day was books for my Nook. I'm honestly not counting on ever seeing this money.

[Tammyla]

:grouphug:I'm sorry and hope it works out. That just stinks to say the least.

[katemary63]

That just doesn't make any sense. I had no idea! Thanks for the warning!

[Pippen]

Sorry that didn't work out for you. My in laws bought them for all of us grown kids a few years back, but warned they shouldn't be used for online purchases. They worked fine at local stores so I just used mine for groceries and shopped online for my gift using my regular credit card.

[Sun]

They can also be hard to use in restaurants because when a restaurant runs it, it preauthorizes an amount greater than the bill to allow for whatever tip you might add. So, if your bill is $50, and your card has $60 on it, it might not be approved.

 

They also charge fees every month after a certain amount of time (a year? six months?), and I think that in many cases those fees are retroactively applied for all the months it wasn't used, which can wipe out a lot of cards completely! Even in my state where regular gift cards and gift certificates aren't allowed to expire or charge fees, these "visa" cards can and do charge. I won't buy them because I think they're such a rip off.

[HLDoll]

Another annoying thing about those Visa cards is that if you don't use them within a few months, they start deducting a monthly fee. I got one as a baby shower gift and was holding on to it to use it for a forward facing carseat for when my daughter outgrew her infant carrier. When I finally went to use it, it's value was significantly depleted due to non-use fees. I was very upset because I'd counted on the full value of the card to put toward my purchase.

[Lolly]

My suggestion if you do get one as a gift is to immediately take it to your bank and cash it in. I get these blasted things as rebates and have found this to be the best way to deal with them.

[Night Elf]

We didn't have a great experience either, but ours worked out in the end. We sent $100 to MIL and it wouldn't let her use it anywhere. DH had to contact the Visa company and they finally did give her a new card with the $100 but we decided checks were definitely the easier way to go when giving a cash gift!

[i.love.lucy]

I had a horrible experience too! I got a small one as a gift ($35). The person who gave it to me didn't know that there was some kind of code on the receipt that I had to use to validate it. By the time I realized it and contacted the giver, the receipt was long gone. This might have been specific to this kind of Visa card, it was bought from the big display they have of them at WalMart. I will NEVER buy anyone one of those things. A simple Target or WalMart card is so much more practical!!!

[tearose]

I also hate the Visa gift cards because it's a pain to use a small balance left over at the end. I am absolutely sure that Visa makes a fortune on a couple dollars or even a couple cents that people often leave unused. I end up buying postage stamps with the odd amount leftover (yes, I have sent letters with a huge number of five or one-cent stamps).

[Audrey]

Thanks for the warning! I was actually, quite seriously, considering buying one of those Vanilla Visas for my ds as a gift.

 

I think I'll stick to store gift certificates as originally planned.

[Forget-Me-Not]

Oh my goodness they are a pain in the backside! We've had a few of them for rebates and such and they're a nightmare. I hate that you can't take the amount on the card and apply it to a larger amount and then pay the balance with another method. If we get them, we usually use them to purchase a gift card from somewhere in the exact same amount. I didn't know they could be cashed in at a bank though.

[myfunnybunch]

Bumping just because I think this is important. They *seem* like such a great idea, but they are a huge hassle.

 

My dd got a Visa gift card 2 years ago. Her dad gave it to her and told me about the fees so we knew she had to spend it soon. She had a hard time using it online, so she finally gave it to me for groceries and such, and I just "owed" her until she found the item she wanted in a store.

 

Cat

[MeaganS]

I had a horrible experience with mine as well. I think they are junk.

[Mandy in TN]

I just wanted to say that we use Visa gift cards all the time. I have never had any problem using them in person at Starbucks, or for fast food, or at book stores. I bought my subscription to enchanted learning with a Visa gift card. I have purchased Cornerstone magazines online with Visa gift cards. I purchase almost all of my Rainbow Resource orders and my Amazon orders with Visa gift cards. I actually placed an order with Rainbow this morning using 3 different Visa gift cards and it was no problem.

 

My kids use Visa gift cards all the time and it has never been a problem. They think that Visa gift cards are fabulous gifts.

 

Maybe this was a problem with B&N that would have happened even with a regular credit card.

 

The only downside we have found is cards that have less than a dollar on them and what to do with them.

Mandy

[Twigs]

I've had trouble with Visa gift cards also. My solution is to take it immediately to a store and use it to buy one of the store's gift cards (WalMart, Target, Kroger, etc). Then I don't have any of the other hassels described.

 

:grouphug: I hope your situation works out well.

 

Best Wishes.