MyPoints made a Rotten Aunt out of me!

I knew this was bound to happen! I gifted a $10 Burger King card that I redeemed at MyPoints to my niece and when she went to use it - you guessed it - it had no value.

<--- My niece, when she had her card refused and confiscated

<---- My sister, when she had to call me and let me know what happened

<--- Me, for obvious reasons!

I would send them off a NASTY email. I have had 3 cards from them have no value when I tried to use them. They were some of the ones I got during the shitola thing. They DID replacce them, but it took alot of nasty emails.

I sent a friendly email telling them how embarrassed we all were and letting them know which city she tried to redeem the card in. 'Tis the season, I bet they're getting swamped with these types of complaints.

i guess its bound to happen when they send out lots of cards that some may be missing the value. I would suggest checkin your cards when yo get them in the mail to make sure they have a balance either by calling the 1-800 number on the card or the website if mentioned on the card.

Mypoints seems pretty good with fixing any issues or at least I've always had good customer service with them... remember it better to start off with a friendly and nice email than a nasty email.

oh that is so sad, for your niece, and very frustrating for you... but I'm hoping with emails or phone calls, you'll get it straightened out

Wow! I would be so upset. I hope she had other money on her and didn't have to skip a meal.

would have been rather embarrassing, wouldn't it Karen, especially for a young gal!

We bought Walmart gift cards for 18 great grand nieces & nephews... and DH was so worry about "what if the the clerk he bought them from" didn't activate them.... and wouldn't work when they went to buy a toy or a shirt or whatever... and I just said "whatcha gonna do?" The same with all the GC's we bought and mailed... you just never know and hope they're activated correctly....

How could they be so incompetant??? Especially since it takes 6 WHOLE WEEKS to receive these cards! I'm supposed to be getting an amazon card from them,still waiting.It's not like they're rushing to get the cards to us and they slip up.For God's sake!

I received my first response:

Thank you for contacting MyPoints Member Services.



We are sorry to hear that you are having difficulties when using your reward. To confirm that your reward is unfunded, please call the number located on the back of your reward and follow the prompts. If your reward is still being read as unfunded please mail the reward to the address below with a brief explanation of the situation (a printout of your original message to us will suffice), your full name, and your email address. Please note that the Fulfillment department will only refund your Points if the reward is in good condition.



Please allow 4-6 weeks for our Fulfillment Department to receive and process your returned reward. At the end of this process, Points will be returned to your account so that you may re-redeem for a fully-funded card.



MyPoints.com, Inc.

P.O. Box 681517

Schaumburg, IL 60168-1384

The question is though,why would they confiscate card? That makes no sense whatsoever

I know, but my sister said something like they said the card had not been activated or registered or something. Maybe it looked like it was stolen or a forgery? They usually give them back so they can be reloaded.

IF they took the card, how are you supposed to call or send it back?
I am betting the peson who took it was a bit overzealous. They do sometimes order them to take CC if they are reported stolen, but not a gc....someone on a power trip most likely.

It's also a pain because you don't have the card anymore. It now involves you getting it back from your neice, then getting it to MyPits, then getting it back to your neice. Such a PITA when the idea of giftcards is the simplicity.

I've also had cards not activated properly. In fact, that and the fact that most of them have an expiration date are the main reasons I no longer use / buy / give gift cards if at all possible. Plus if a business declares bankruptcy, they won't honor their cards any more. There are a lot of risks in gift cards if you aren't careful.

I a so sorry this happened to you! How sad. Sad for all the reasons you already stated, and sad because you are in for a heck of a time with them. I just fought for 2 months to get 250 points they owed me, and I had complete proof yet it still took 2 months to resolve. I have done that time after time, and stupid me recently completed a new offer that is not showing up (bangs head against wall). I have had nothing but the worst customer service ever from them. I can think of no worse company off the top of my head, as far as customer service goes anyway. I am thinking you are going to have to contact Burger King and lodge a complaint about them taking the card. They have now complicated the entire issue. You now have no proof the card was not activated. Good luck to you.

That sucks! I don't see how they can screw up like that when it takes so long for them to fill reward requests. And their reply really puts a lot of the onus on you to even get them to look into the matter further.

You know, I don't think it's that unusual for people to give these cards as gifts. I also don't think it's unusual for the giftee to live far away. They need to check and double check at their end before they mail these cards to us.

If and when I do get my gc from mypoints and I am definitely going to check the balance befor I try to use it.

Some gift cards have a covered PIN number that you have to scratch off to check the balance. That's ok if I'm keeping it, but I just hate to do that when I'm using it as part of a gift. It makes the card look "used" no matter how careful you are.

However, I will be checking balances from now on, too!

sAME THING HAPPENED HERE AT bURGER kING- ONLY THEY JUST WOULDN'T ACCEPT IT- SO i THOUGHT OK, IF i SAY i HAVE NO MONEY THEY WILL HAVE TO TAKE IT. nOPE, BUT DID GET THE ORDER FOR FREE- NOW DOES THAT MAKE SENSE?

idatater46 wrote:sAME THING HAPPENED HERE AT bURGER kING- ONLY THEY JUST WOULDN'T ACCEPT IT- SO i THOUGHT OK, IF i SAY i HAVE NO MONEY THEY WILL HAVE TO TAKE IT. nOPE, BUT DID GET THE ORDER FOR FREE- NOW DOES THAT MAKE SENSE?

Yes, perfect sense!

idatater46 wrote:sAME THING HAPPENED HERE AT bURGER kING- ONLY THEY JUST WOULDN'T ACCEPT IT- SO i THOUGHT OK, IF i SAY i HAVE NO MONEY THEY WILL HAVE TO TAKE IT. nOPE, BUT DID GET THE ORDER FOR FREE- NOW DOES THAT MAKE SENSE?

HUH ? that's strange.. but good, I guess ???

Got another response from them:

Dear Lori,
Thank you for contacting MyPoints Member Services.

We apologize for the inconvenience.But we cannot issue another reward unless you return the $10 Burger King Gift Card.

Please allow 4-6 weeks for our Fulfillment Department to receive and process your returned reward. At the end of this process, Points will be returned to your account so that you may re-redeem for a fully-funded card.

MyPoints.com, Inc.

P.O. Box 681517

Schaumburg, IL 60168-1384

Again, we apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your continued
patience.

Sincerely,

Danny T
MyPoints Member Services

My response:

This issue is not my fault. This is a problem that occurred at your
end and it falls on you to correct it and make things right.

Am I to travel to try to retrieve a card that was presented
to Burger King almost a month ago in the off chance that the card is
still sitting there isolated from all the other zero-balance gift
cards that have been redeemed?

The only way to rectify this is for you to send another $10 Burger
King card - one that actually has a value, this time, please. This has
caused a lot of embarrassment, and you continue to embarrass yourself
by presenting me with impossible demands.

Please remember that I was the victim here, not MyPoints, not Burger
King. If the card is replaced, nobody has lost anything! This isn't a
lost card, this is a card that was sent to me with the understanding
that it had a $10 value.

Again, I am not calling this issue closed and I will not be paying
travel costs to try to locate a zero-value card. I will also not be
embarrassing my niece further by asking her to do that!

I will provide my information again so you can make this right.

I think Erin called this one. It'll get increasingly ugly and then I may or may not be reimbursed for the card in the end.

I know this is Mypoints fault to begin with, but Burger King made it worse. I can't exactly blame MyPoints for asking for proof by providing the card back. I doubt you will ever get anywhere with them if you don't provide some proof. I would suggest you call that Burger King and explain how they made a bad situation impossible to make right due to their actions. Perhaps they could provide a letter for you to send to MP. Either that, or Burger King can provide you a new gift card. Getting upset with Burger King will likely get you further than getting upset with MP.

This is probably true. I was only hoping to wear them down with time.

All I can say is, what a bunch of jackasses. I wonder if they know that this is posted on a public board for the whole world to read? If they do, I wonder if they care?