PSA: Is Home Depot Auto Draining Gift Cards Purchased With Happy Gift Cards?
I wanted to put together a quick post about a potential problem with Happy Gift Cards at Home Depot. A reader reached out to me about this a week ago but we thought it was just a random issue at the time. I have had another reader reach out with the same issue so I thought it best to put the warning out there. It is possible that Home Depot is auto draining gift cards purchased with Happy Gift Cards.
Happy Gift Card Issues
We have covered some issues in the past with the security of Happy Gift Cards but this is something different. Happy Gift Cards recently changed the terms of their product that said purchasing gift cards with their cards was not allowed. As we all know what is said and what actually happens is often two different things. It appears that purchasing gift cards with Happy Gift Cards continued to work without issues.
People would do this because Happy Gift Cards are often discounted or on sale. You can purchase them at 10%-15% off and then turn them into other gift cards that you can sell at a profit, enter Home Depot. It appears that Home Depot may be fighting back on this.
The First Hand Account
The first reader that reached out had purchased several thousand dollars worth of Home Depot gift cards with Happy Gift Cards. He had done it at two different stores. The cards purchased from one of the stores has no issues. Everything purchased from the other store were auto drained a few days later.
He reached out to The Home Depot to see what happened and they didn’t seem to know much about it. They thought maybe he hit a daily maximum in purchases allowed etc. Basically they were taking a page from Amex Chat’s handbook, if you don’t know make something up.
He was able to get the cards replaced but they would ask him for the purchase method for each card. He side stepped it by saying he didn’t have the payment method with him, which was true. They then questioned why there were separate transactions instead of one etc. So it could get a little uncomfortable if you have issues is what I am saying.
UPDATE: Reader Nick said he thinks it is a store manager voiding the sale after you leave and the money should go back on your Happy Card. Be sure to check your card balances if it happens.
Final Thoughts
I know many gift card resellers use Happy Gift Cards as a way to rack up points and a profit at times. I would exercise caution moving forward if you are doing it with Home Depot. It appears at this moment that it is YMMV depending on the store you shop at but I wouldn’t be surprised if it spreads. If you think it is still worth the risk is up to you from now on.
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Puzzled as to why someone would buy HD gift cards with the Happy’s? HD gift cards are frequently on sale for 10% off and there are better choices at even the worst HD. I’ve bought gas cards, Ebay, restaurant cards, etc. with my Happy Guy G/C. Cool thing is that the self-checkout scanners now let you bypass clerk so no questions about TOS on Happy card! Some HD certainly have a crappy selection of cards and the Visa/MC are low denomination.
Because that most likely gives them the best reselling rate and you can often get Happy Guy cards are better than 10% off.
No doubt the Happy cards can get combined discounts higher than 10%, my question was about spending them. Granted the selection isn’t great but gas card rates are the highest I have seen for reselling. The fact that HD cards are so often on sale should keep even bulk rates lower than other options. Maybe it’s a large denomination issue?
Plus some of the Happy deals exclude Happy Guy cards.
I think it depends on where you sell. I think some people have inside tracks to places that are giving 90%+ for HD gift cards. Volume could be the key…I am not sure.
I purchased a $100 HD gift card at a Kroger store last week, and used it to buy an item online for $88.70. When I went to use the balance the following day, I kept getting the message the balance was zero. I’m going to contact HD to find out what the heck is going on, because my situation had nothing to do with a Happy Gift Card.
Weird – is it showing 0 balance when you do a balance check on it as well?
They’re not auto-draining the cards leaving you with nothing. Some manager at the store is voiding the transaction after you leave. Happened to me more than a few times. The balances were restored on my Happy Cards.
Interesting Nick – I’ll add that in
I had two Happy Cards that somehow HD botched, couldn’t complete the purchase, but there was a sort of lock on the Happy Card where I couldn’t access the balance. I contacted Happy Cards and they sent me a check for the two cards and cancelled them.
Auto-drained doesn’t seem like the right term to use. The proper term is stolen.