Gift card issue...needs to be fixed!

[mjross]

I had a problem today with gift cards.

I currently have 2 gift cards in my account; one didn't have enough to cover the cost of a book I bought, the second one had more than enough.

Instead of pulling the remaining balance off the second card, bn pulled the balance off my debit card. Nowhere on the website does it say that this is the case.  In fact, the website explicitly states that if there is a gift card balance that purchases default to that.  Granted, it wasn't a lot of money, but, like many people, I am on a strict budget.

When I called, the account people sent me over to the tech side; after waiting a total of just over 2 hours on hold (5 calls, 3 were cut before I ever talked to a tech person...one the account person told me that volume was high so I "should call back later" if I wanted to talk to someone from tech), I found out that "that's just the way it is" from Brad in technical support.

Basically, it doesn't pay to keep multiple cards in your account the way it is currently set up. BN.com needs to make it clear that the total gift card balance is not, in fact, relevant for an individual purchase...only the balance on the first card in line is.

[kattyge]

OH I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU !!!

I've had this issue from day one and have complained about it several times!

I've had many people buy me gift cards $20 and up as gifts because that's what I ask for (I love my books) and although I can only load 3 on at a time, the money should automatically come off the NEXT card not come out of my checking account !!!

And sometimes it says unable to process funds not available (which is crapt) my account is my backup (and it's available), but I want the funds to come off my cards NOT out of my account, especially if I have other cards on my account !!!

WAKE UP B&N LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE... YOUR CUSTOMERS !!!

CAN YOU HEAR US NOW ???

I am also on a budget like most people and want to control my money, that's why I use the gift cards to see and keep track of my balance for buying books as I do music on i-tunes.

When I get i-tunes cards the amount just gets added to my balance and when I get low I purchase another one because I don't want it coming out of my account.  I've NEVER had an issue with i-tunes taking money out of my account because I've always had the funds in my i-tunes account.

All in all I love my Nook, but the gift card issue needs to be fixed !!!

[DariaJane]

I agree, this is a bug on B&N's end that should be fixed...but one way around it would be to consolidate multiple gift card balances onto one card.  They can do this for you in one simple transaction in a store, if you have one near you.

I'm by no means saying that this issue shouldn't be resolved by B&N, but there is a way around it for now.

[PepaLou]

I have never once had this issue, and always have at LEAST 2 GC's listed on my account.  I have been buying content for months, and when one card runs out, the next one is charged.  GC's are all I ask for for birthdays and Christmas.

This is actually the first I've heard of this.  I have heard of people consolidating multiple cards into one card to get around the 3 card limit.  I don't see why you couldn't ddo that to fix this problem.  It should work.

[Linda54660]

I have not had this problem either.  At one point I had 3 $20.00 gift cards on my account and they rolled from one card to the next without ever charging my CC.

A CS at the store told a friend of mine the other day that to get around the 3 card limit, he should bring in his gift cards and purchase 1 gift card for the total amount of the smaller ones.

[mykoffee]

I can totally relate, this happened to me too!  Damn right it needs to be fixed!   They did the same thing to me, I had two gift cards on my account and ordered enough books to just about fit the two.  When the first ran out they charged my credit card for the later ones, for about 3 books and then finally start using my second card but by  now it's too late.   I was so ticked!  But ok, I decide to email customer service after trying to call and holding forever.  I email them and clearly explain the problem,  It goes like this -

Wait a couple days they email me back a response that they need order numbers for all the orders involved and my email.   Fine, I tell them all the order numbers and that my email is the same is what I'm using to contact them. 

Wait a couple days and get an email response from them with canned instructions on how to add a gift card to your account.  Grrrrr!  I clearly told them in my email that both gift cards were showing my account.

So now I fire back a ticked off response asking them if they could please actually read my email before responding as I had both gift cards in the account and ready when I placed the orders.

Wait again for a response, this one is apologetic in tone but still they don't have it.   They mention only the first gift card and said if there was a problem with the second I should call customer service (something along those lines).    Ugh!

So I try calling customer service again,  hold..hold...hold...I'm getting past my patience limit, I give up.  It's just not worth the aggravation, I put up with the charge being on my credit card but the customer service I received leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Linda

[violetangel]

---

PepaLou wrote:

I have never once had this issue, and always have at LEAST 2 GC's listed on my account.  I have been buying content for months, and when one card runs out, the next one is charged.  GC's are all I ask for for birthdays and Christmas.

This is actually the first I've heard of this.  I have heard of people consolidating multiple cards into one card to get around the 3 card limit.  I don't see why you couldn't ddo that to fix this problem.  It should work.

---

Me either.  As I understood it, essentially once they go into your account, it's ONE amount - but you can only put three cards in there at once.

I had 3 gift cards I'd gotten for Christmas, put them in, and bought books to that total amount with only the last one even charging my card.  Not a problem.  (The only thing I learned is that you can't use the gift card balance for subscriptions to magazines or newspapers.)

[nookfan249]

This has never happened to me and I only use gift cards to make purchases.  It always rolls over to the next gift card when 1 card is empty.

[Michael-V]

@ mjross,  kattyge,  mykoffee,

Can you send me via PM your account email address and gift card numbers so that I can investigate this further..?  Also if you have the order number(s) this would be greatly appreciated.

I do apologize for the inconvenience.

Your Admin.,

Michael-V

[Michael-V]

@ mjross,  kattyge,  mykoffee,

Can you send me via PM your account email address and gift card numbers so that I can investigate this further..?  Also if you have the order number(s) this would be greatly appreciated.

I do apologize for the inconvenience.

Your Admin.,

Michael-V

[Michael-V]

@ mjross,  kattyge,  mykoffee,

Can you send me via PM your account email address and gift card numbers so that I can investigate this further..?  Also if you have the order number(s) this would be greatly appreciated.

I do apologize for the inconvenience.

Your Admin.,

Michael-V

[RichardM]

The very first time I ordered the exact same thing happened to me - almost $100 worth of books.  I got the run around forever from customer service.  This is the kind of thing that will drive customers to Brand "A"!

[Michael-V]

@ RichardM,

Was your issue resolved....

Can you send me via PM your account email address and gift card numbers so that I can investigate this further..?  Also if you have the order number(s) this would be greatly appreciated.

I do apologize for the inconvenience.

Your Admin.,

Michael-V

[Michael-V]

@ RichardM,

Was your issue resolved....

Can you send me via PM your account email address and gift card numbers so that I can investigate this further..?  Also if you have the order number(s) this would be greatly appreciated.

I do apologize for the inconvenience.

Your Admin.,

Michael-V

[Michael-V]

@ RichardM,

Was your issue resolved....

Can you send me via PM your account email address and gift card numbers so that I can investigate this further..?  Also if you have the order number(s) this would be greatly appreciated.

I do apologize for the inconvenience.

Your Admin.,

Michael-V

[Michael-V]

@ RichardM,

Was your issue resolved....

Can you send me via PM your account email address and gift card numbers so that I can investigate this further..?  Also if you have the order number(s) this would be greatly appreciated.

I do apologize for the inconvenience.

Your Admin.,

Michael-V

[naylorchic]

I also had this problem back in Dec. or Jan. I have not had this problem since then though. I thought they fixed it. There must still be some glitches in the system. This really needs to be fixed. I had the problem in Dec. or Jan. and people are still have this happen? I really think in 6 months they could have fixed this already. I'm going to be mad if it happens to me again

[cwing6]

It's still a problem.  I ordered several books a couple of days ago with 2 gift cards credited in my account.  B&N used up the smaller balance then charged the rest to my CC leaving a $50 gift card untouched.  Also, why the 3 gift card limit?  This is very frustrating and both are ridiculous problems for an "online" store in 2010!

[jhemery]

So I have had the same problem twice now. The first time I had 2 gift cards with a combined total that was more than enough for my purchases. Instead of taking from the second card when the first was done they hit my credit card. It was only for one book so I figured it was just a glitch and let it go. The second time it happened was yesterday. I had received a bunch of gift cards from my going away party (I am in the military and deploying again) and I entered them in and bought 8 books. no issues with 6 of them but the 7th and 8th they charged one of my gift cards 9 cents and then billed my credit card. This time I called customer service, after being on hold at various times for almost an hour the end result was that tech support was going to refund my credit card for the 2 books and delete them from my account. No big deal, I was going to just rebuy them. So tech support says wait a half hour and everything should be all set. I wait an hour go back into my account to find that all of the books I bought that day were deleted, all 8 of them. I called tech support again and after another hour plus of being on hold the end result is this, I am to wait 24 hours and both my credit card and my account will be credited back for the books. At this point I stop the tech and ask how they are going to credit back my gift cards since 2 of the ones I used were no longer in my account (since they had been used up) and I had 3 cards already loaded on my account. The tech responded that my "account" will be credited and as I buy the books again it wouldn't touch my gift cards or credit card until I had exhausted the credit. So the same system that can't seem to get gift cards right is going to "magic" me a credit? Right. So I wait the 24 hours and call them back today. I explain everything to the tech and ask him to verify this credit before I try to re-purchase the books. Nope, no credit, that is not how it works. Now they are going to mail me a gift card to refund me for the books they deleted.

So if anyone that works for this company reads this here are some recommendations. First fix the gift card issue. How about a screen that pops up before the final purchase that tell you for sure where the money is coming from, credit card or gift card. Second, I do not appreciate being lied to by tech support. Tell your techs that if they don't know what the answer is go find out or if they don't feel like finding out to find another job.

I like the NOOK but am not a fan of your online store or tech support. I will not buy another NOOK and I have been recommending to all my soldiers that they go with one of your competitors.

[RHWright]

Is anyone still experiencing this issue with GC rollover from one registered gift card to the next?

I'm about to register a new card, but I still have a small balance from an old one.

It's not a huge deal, but I'd prefer it to rollover correctly.

[Michael-V]

@RHWright,

This is a non-issue and has been fixed.  FYI.

[RHWright]

Thanks Michael,

I was able to register multiple GCs and have the rollover happen just fine. I just had recalled this thread and wondered if it was still an issue.

Happily, I can report that it went off without a hitch.

Other than deciding which books on my wish list to purchase first.

[Karina-O]

I've read all the posts about GC rollover issues. But I'm thinking it may or may not be my issue. I, too, loaded 2 GCs (one $25, one $50), however, when I went to purchase books the other day (granted, it was Christmas Day), there was no real rhyme or reason to which got charged to my credit card, and which got debited from my GC.

Going strictly by "order timestamp": #1 purchase (order #167546122) - debited from my GC; #2 purchase (167550487) - charged to my credit card (CC); #3 (167575672) - GC; #4 (167579838) - GC; #5 (167569380) - CC; #6 (167619227) - GC; #7 (167604132) - GC. Maybe a closer look at the orders will show that the timestamp of the order doesn't quite correlate with sequence of order numbers - but a consumer (or we can talk specifically, ME, in this case) does NOT have the time (nor patience) to have to look through that info to get to the bottom of my issue. This may turn out to be a GC rollover issue - but at first glance, it doesn't appear to be. I still have a $50 GC loaded that certainly hasn't been touched at all, although I have had $21.92 charged to my CC. NONE of these purchases were magazine subscriptions or whatever else cannot be paid by GC. I'm very hesitant to buy any more books until I understand why my CC is getting charged instead of my gift card(s).

Can someone (Michael-V, maybe?) please take a look at this issue?

Mahalo.

[Walklett]

I'm having an issue like that what they told me has yet to work they told me that thier system for gc's is having issues and it is not reading them proir to the credit card. my Credit card denied them and they ignored my 40 dollar gift card so my books would not download. They told me i have to wait till the charge drops from my account to try agin they said it would be 24 to 48 hours but it has now passed that and the charges are not clearing and it will not let me download them untill then so i can rebuy them i hope they fix it so this does not happen again with i try again tomorrow

[Loopy997]

I'm having similar issues. Several books that I've ordered have shown up in my library and I've been able to read them, but no money has been taken out of my gift cards, then I order a book and it takes it out of my default credit card instead. I'm a teenager, so the card is my moms and she most definitely doesn't appreciate me buying books with her money, especially since I have my own money. I know that there's more then enough left on my GCs to cover all the books but it seems that some orders aren't going through. Then I try to order two more books and its telling me I don't have the funds. What's going on with this? This is a brand new Christmas gift and though I love reading from it, its becoming to much of a hassle.