Gift Card Rescue Final Update
This is the final update in my more than month long saga with the Gift Card reseller Gift Card Rescue. Last week I mentioned that I still had not received my check for the sale of gift cards to Gift Card Rescue despite being told that the payment had been sent out on July 14, 2015.
Then on August 4, I followed up with them and received a response back the next day saying that they would reissue a “green” manual check and it would take 3-5 business days to arrive. In that response they told me to disregard a “blue” check if one were to come in the mail.
Of course, what do you think arrived on August 8? In the mail I received a blue check. Not knowing what to do, I contacted Gift Card Rescue and was told the check was still good and that I could cash it. The curious thing about this blue check was that it was dated August 4. The same day I had emailed them.
So lets look at the timeline of things:
- July 1 – I agree to sell my cards to Gift Card Rescue.
- July 8 – The company processes my cards and marks them as received.
- July 14 – The company says they have sent payment.
- August 4 – I contact the company to ask where my money is.
- August 4 – A blue check is mysteriously sent out for the correct amount.
- August 5 – I am told a manual “green” check will be issued.
- August 9 – The blue check dated August 4 arrives in the mail.
- August 12 – I have confirmed the blue check cleared and the money is in my account.
So What Happened
I can only assume that a check never went out on July 14, 2015 when I was originally told it had. Then, when I emailed on August 4, it would appear that they sent the check that day instead. Either way, it took more than a month and several follow ups to receive my money. Many other readers have experienced the same thing. Not good and while I won’t say they were purposely being dishonest, I was given misinformation several times.
How to Possibly Get Your Money
If you are having issues, there may be an easier way to get a resolution besides simply emailing the company. Quite a few readers have had success getting their situation looked into by tweeting the CEO of Gift Card Rescue on Twitter. You can find his Twitter account here. This is his personal account, but he seems to have been gracious enough to help quite a few people out when they have asked him.
Conclusion
I don’t know why I was told a check was mailed on July 14 and why suddenly a check was only mailed on August 4 after a follow up email. Personally, I don’t really care. At this point I am glad I received my money and to be honest I probably won’t be doing business with Gift Card Rescue again, simply because there is no reason I should have to float my money for that long.
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Gift Card Rescue withheld my GC’s after I paid to mail them off. Said their fraud/loss prevention department did not approve the sale. Then told me I had to send a self addressed envelope to get them back within 30 days or they’d confiscate the cards. After attempting the polite and friendly path to be reasonable, I threatened to report them to the FTC at which point they then offered to ship them back for free and instructed me not to send an envelope. I still sent it because I knew they were likely just making promises as delaying tactic to have cause to seize the cards. Low and behold the cards came back in the envelopes I sent them and not paid for by them as they promised. In the mean time I got burned on price drops and lost time/effort. I’d advise everyone to avoid them at all costs. Don’t be fooled by there professional looking website, they are con artists.
Hello Parkerthon, I have the exact same situation as yours. did you end up getting back your cards?
I had the exact same experience with GCR. What liars. They also said the new check would be sent with a tracking number. It wasn’t.
Unrelated to giftcard sales, but based on your experiences and others… I’m going apply for bulk seller for all my reselling. I can’t float money that long and it’s incredibly unscrupous they wanted to see if they can pocket your cards and cash. Saveya has ACH and that to me is way safer than waiting for checks in the mail.
And now my story, I may have told you a month ago that I bought a tampered giftcard and I’m disputing with Greendot (damn Sunnies) and every time they would chat me up and say they would deal with it and a check(s) would be automatically sent once investigations complete. I believe they’ve been twice and had I not call to bug them at least once a week, these refund checks would not be sent out. It’s not like I can use a tampered/demagnetized card so it leaves me to see that they had no intention to return the money unless I call them out on it. So similar to your stories, I will not be purchasing any more Sunnies now that I can somewhat confirm that Kate hates them too.
anthonyjh21,
Yes, I sent the print out in with the gift card. Below is the exact email that I received from them a couple of hours after I received the confirmation email that they received my gift cards. I forgot to mention one other thing. Before I mailed in the gc to Cardpool I looked once more at GiftCardWiki. I was tempted to renege on the deal with Cardpool when I saw that GGR had an 80% rate. None of the bad stuff about GGR had come out at that point but I still didn’t feel right screwing over Cardpool. Isn’t that ironic how they ended up doing that to me?
We recently received your gift card but our processing center encountered an issue while processing your card(s). Our risk assessment team has determined that we aren’t able to accept the transaction at this time. We have cancelled the transaction and are returning the gift card(s) to you. Unfortunately, we’re not able to disclose any further specifics regarding this process.
I had exactly the same experience with Giftcardzen as you, including the green and blue checks. The green check was supposed to be a hand written check and I was supposed to not cash a blue check. If I did they would not pay for insufficient fund fees. When I received a check dated the exact day of my last communication with them, I was so excited that I immediately deposited it. An hour later, I realized that it was not hand written and it was the wrong color. I tried to stop the deposit, but the bank would not do it. The next day I received an email from Giftcardzen saying they were closing out my complaint since they noticed I had deposited the new check. I just chalked up the incorrect check instructions as another reason not to trust them.
Are you sure you mean GCZ or do you mean GGR?
I meant GCR.
Sorry, miss spoke, should have said GifecardRescue.
I’m still waiting for them to return my cards. They are a non-starter with me at this point, regardless of rate. I will not be using them in the future.
What a major headache. Glad it’s FINALLY over for you and had a positive ending.
This entire saga has been a great illustration as to why it’s imperative to deal with reputable companies when dealing with gift cards (or in any business endeavor when trust and large sums of money is involved).
As far as reselling goes, in my experiences the top three to sell to, in no particular order, are:
Cardpool
Abcgiftcards
Saveya
I personally will not sell to any other company, regardless of their purchase rate. While I believe giftcardzen is a legit operation, their prolonged process and willingness to cancel a deal more than 3 days after a commitment was made at a specified rate is bad business. On the flip side Cardpool actually notifies you a week in advance if a rate is to drop (for bulk sellers). Furthermore, if you sell at a specified rate you’ll lock that rate in. For example I once sold gift cards at 71% just hours before it was to drop to 64% and my higher rate was honored when payout occurred.
Just so you know Cardpool does cancel orders after agreeing to the rate. They did that to me AFTER receiving the gift cards. That’s even worse than what GCZ did. Of course since you are a bulk seller you probably won’t have to worry about that.
What were the specifics of your transaction with them? Did you sell the card exactly as listed on the front and not a universal card with a higher pay rate such as the Phillips/76 cards?
I’ve been selling to cardpool prior to bulk seller status and haven’t had even a blip of a problem. That said, you’ll run into problems with ANY business, let alone within the gift card market, so there is always risk to some degree.
What irked me the most is that they didn’t give a reason. I’m 99% sure the reason was because they felt they were paying me too much (75%) for TGIF gc as they lowered it to 70% shortly after the sale. I saw at least 1 other person had a similar experience with Cardpool. The funny part was that they actually did me a favor. I ended up selling the cards to CardKangaroo for 80% which was the rate GCZ had originally agreed to pay me before reneging on the sale. The entire thing was a HUGE nightmare though so I’m still not happy about it.
Surprised you had that experience. You had a print out of your transaction and you already mailed it before they reneged on the deal? I still believe your experience is the exception and that most dealings with cardpool will be better than the majority of resellers.
Just my opinion but I think you’re gambling and waiting for frustration when you deal with less reputable and less liquid resellers. Just like with us as sellers, they’re going to make mistakes that cause them to lose money on overly generous rates. I’ve said it in the past and I’ll say it again. The direct profit margin on a gift card deal is only one variable and is less important than people make it out to be.
Sites like GCR or this kangaroo one are WAY less likely to absorb losses than Cardpool or Cardcash/ABC, which according their site had a $6mil funding just two years ago and are heavily backed. I can just see sites like GCR being garage operations and crapping themselves when they ran into a losing deal and only start paying when threatened with legal and governmental interjection.
Most gift card shops are extremely unscrupulous. ABC gift card is supposed to be one of the better ones, but after being told my check is in the mail I didn’t receive it. One month later I called and waited on hold for over 30 minutes only to be told I had to fax them a copy of my drivers license before they’d mail a check. I had to call to find that out? Completely disgusting. They just wanted to pocket the cards and never pay.
Sorry to hear of your experience. Depending on your selling velocity, you may want to try to become a bulk seller w/ ABC. No checks (ACH/Paypal) and a direct line of contact. The difference between bulk and non-bulk is night and day for any of these companies.
One often overlooked factor is physical proximity to these companies headquarters. For example, Cardpool is in California about an hour from me. Bulk seller or not, anything mailed to or from Cardpool is usually 1 business day, including USPS First Class mail! I mail a package out at 4 pm on a Monday and it’ll be in their PO BOX by 9 am the next day! If the purchase rate is marginal (let’s say .5-1%) and it’s a relatively large sum and/or you want to get it done quickly as to not float the funds you may want to factor this into your decision making process, especially if you’re having a check sent as method of payment. Conversely, even with FedEx standard overnight shipping, items sent to the east coast (Saveya, ABC) will not be received any sooner than my slower mailing option w/ Cardpool. The other thing to note is that you’re also reducing the chance of mail loss.
There’s always a lot of factors to consider when making the decision who to sell your cards to!
Congrats on getting paid, you deserve a pat on the back and some kind of award or something! GCR is ridiculous!
I had an awful experience and my check should be in the mail by Monday 8/17. My original transaction date for 2 separate orders was 7/3 and the total amount owed is over $800. I usually do a small test transaction first, and I always will going forward, but their payout was much higher at the time for some target gift cards I had. My cards took “14 days” to travel from NC to MD and then my check was supposedly sent 3 days after that and its been over 23 days and 4 emails and phone calls later and I am supposed to have the check by Monday, but given their track record I’m not holding my breath.
I had a very similar experience and share your thoughts. Glad it is done.