I posted this story in the facebook group yesterday, but then there was more and it’s pretty important info. My mom happened to mention to me at lunch yesterday that she was going to pick up new blinds at Home Depot – I thought was a perfect way to score with some shopper’s points for her. Off she went to 2 shopper’s to pick up a ton of gift cards (using the promo spend 150$ get 8000 points) – She drove all the way to Home Depot, and none of her dozen gift cards would work! They all showed a zero balance – the staff at Home Depot was great, they phoned Shopper’s for her – who told her the cards had been scanned through properly etc.
Anyway, after a few phone calls, and some info from Home Depot it ends up that some gift cards are actually not active until the next day! She returned to Home Depot today and it all worked out. Just wanted to make sure to share this story, in case anyone else was doing something similar. Not sure if this is for all gift cards, I actually haven’t used any of ours on the day we’ve bought them. It was a stressful way to learn this lesson! Has this happened to anyone else? Anything else we should know about buying or using gift cards?
You also don’t get any regular shoppers optimum points if you purchase gift cards other than Shoppers Drug Mart.
I went to Shoppers yesterday to buy some gift card, $100 Shoppers and $50 Tim’s. I only received 1000 optimum points.
If I remember correctly, that applies to most gift cards. I have even heard that if you try to redeem them too quickly after purchasing them, that it can completely cancel the gift card.
A great place to pick up giftcards is Safeway – you can snag some airmiles at the same time!
I purchased a Toys R Us GC and used it about 2 hours after, with no hassle.
When you buy gift cards for someone, keep the receipt! I worked as tech support for a big electronics store and you wouldn’t believe how many calls we got with messed up gift cards.
For sure! I heard a lot of stuff about cards that weren’t loaded, cards that the balance disappears etc. We were just lucky with my mom that it all worked out. Now, just have to hope nothing goes wrong with the Shopper’s points next week! I hope this kind of stuff doesn’t happen with any of the gift cards we’re giving away as xmas gifts either.