Vanilla Gift Cards review: Rip off 151

NBCLA investigation http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local-beat/Your-Card-Is-Declined-114757339.html

Don't buy this card! It's a total scam from the company my brother recently bought me a card fo Christmas and I tried using it at the stores and it was declined I called the company the send me to the store where it was purchased and they kept me going back and forth till the end the manager spoke with them and they said the card was already used! And we jst opened it! So it was a waste of 125 dollars...we now learned never buy gift cards!

I agree with Average Ape. When I call the 800 Number provided it tells me the card balance is zero and that I can hold for a customer representative. After it repeats that 5-6 times the call automatically disconnects. So there is no one to talk to about the problems with the card!

i love how everyone here is able to talk to customer service rep. i have called numerous times. my card balance is zero though its never been used. i want to know why but when i log into the website i have no history on there as ever having used the card. i recieved it as a gift and now its just worthless. i just wish i could contact a customer service rep to find out whats up with it but when i call the customer service line it says please hold for a customer service rep and then hangs up everytime.

I haven't even been able to get a real person by phone. I received this card as a Christmas gift and attempted to use it at a gas station to pay at the pump, the pump wanted a zip code and would not accept mine so I used my check card to purchase the gas. I checked online for the balance and it shows the entire balance was used at the gas station at the same time my check card was used...I suspect that it is just a hold, but good lord how long are they gonna hold it? I really don't want to even try to call these folks again. I can't find any e-mail or on line contact for them...DON'T BUY THIS CARD!

I loaded up a card with $300 and had troubles ordering from any reputable online vendors in the states. Even Nintendo declined the card! I was able to make online purchases mostly from smaller foreign vendors in Canada and other areas.
Never was able to use the card for what I had intended to purchase so eventually I went to ATM machine to recover my money (cost me $4.50 fees to drain it!)

My wife bought me a Visa gift card for my birthday and when I tried to use it I was told it had expired four months before it was even bought. I called the number on the back and they said they would send me a replacement within ten days. About a month later, still no new card, so I called them back and they told they didn't know when I would get my new card and were very rude about it. Another month later I called back again and the guy told me he was very sorry for the delay and he would have a new card overnighted to me. That was three weeks ago and still no card. I am trying to tell as many people as I can to beware of the Visa gift cards. I'll never buy them again.

I actually used to like this card. Everything was great for a while, but then the cards started to not work. I emailed customer service a while back and they said the card was never registered to their system and they would need the purchase receipt to fix it in their system. So I email it to them. They can't read it. I faxed it, they can't read it. I saw the pdf when I emailed it and I could read it just fine. This whole ordeal takes a few weeks. Next thing you know, the email is not responded to. I check the website to see if they changed it and the email support link is GONE! I called customer service and they said they don't do email support anymore. Wierd. So I give them the trouble ticket number and they can't pull it up because the system is down, go figure. Next week, I call back. The CSR doesn't make any sense and sounds Filipino. I ask what country I was calling and they say Georgia. I thought they meant Georgia the country at first because I would believe that but they said Atlanta, GA. I asked for a supervisor and they hung up. I called again and asked for a supervisor immediately and they said they wouldn't transfer me unless I told them why I wanted a supervisor.

So, my giftcard doesn't work and communication seems to have been outsourced to a country without email. WTF?

I finally get ahold of a supervisor named Demetri and he says he is going to take care of it and he will call me back. At least he speaks good English. A month passes because I forgot about it and I receive a letter in the mail because they couldn't activate it from their office? Why not. I have the credit card number here, all they have to do is put it in the system. Oh well, so I call to check the balance and guess what. It says I need to return it to the store I bought it from because it was not activated. x.x I call back and ask for Demetri and guess what. He's been let go and doesn't work there now. No one knows what he did to help me because it wasn't put into the trouble ticket. So they need the receipt again and I fax it because they don't have email. They can read it, but it doesn't match the card I have. No [censor], they sent me a new one with a different card number because they couldn't activate the first one. Now this one isn't active neither. So they say I need to go to the store, but I got the card from them! Not a store.

So here I am, defeated and out of $175.00 because I've got about 5 cards that don't work. Can't keep in touch with someone there who will keep their job or understand the ones remaining. And they won't give me a refund or activate my replacement card because I don't have a receipt for it even though I didn't buy it in the store.

From what I've been able to gather, they made changes in the past year in management and now we are stuck with the fallout.

If anyone cares, the parent company isn't Silverton, it's Incomm and their website is www.incomm.com . You can see the VVGC on that website. They are headquartered in Atlanta, GA and Silverton is the card issuer but not in charge of the rules and regulations of the card itself. They also work with Greendot, Mio, Rapidpay, Fastcard, and those expensive long distance and ATT, Tmobile and Verizon phone cards you get at Walmart. Btw, I learned that because of their recent fraud issue. Most Walmarts in California have banned the use of VV giftcards for purchases. NBC Los Angeles has also gotten involved and is investigating them.

Hello all. I recently did a merchandising job for Vanilla Visa cards, and some others. They are pretty nice looking cards.
You really have to read the info on the card packet, to check for hidden fees, and fees just for buying the card! It's mostly the bank or American Express Visa cards that do this. They usually put this info on the top right or left of the packet. Most gift cards that are sold at grocery stores, pharmacies, etc do NOT have any fees, such as the restaurant or retail ones. Do NOT buy cards before reading ALL the info, or you and your recipient may be scammed. Jarlib1

omg.. Nothing pissed me off more than this card. This is the worst piece of [censored] I have ever bought. Didn't even work -__- . I bought the card so that i could buy some gifts online, thinking that it would be safer than to use my debit card during the Christmas season. However, this was not the case. the card didn't work. I had to try calling customer care more than 30 times before I finally get in contact with a human being -.-, only to be given the run around. i'm so sorry i wasted my money on this [censor]. I won't recommend this to anyone.

I bought this card to use for Christmas online shopping to be safer. Let me say this now, I HATE THIS CARD! Most transactions were declined and one company charged me double for something that was declined and i had to wait 14 days to have the money put back.

Wow, I just bought a vanilla visa gift card and put a large sum on it, after reading your posts, I'm starting to think I should have done a little more research. Well the lady at the Lowes didn't know how to ring me up using it and needed assistance. I think the down side to this thing so far; being the paranoid person I am, is that it is a lot easier to scam someone if you don't have access to the internet. I didn't use the card for a few days and was able to use the vanilla visa site without any problem. But now that I have used it, it is strange, I can't seem to log in and get the balance of the card. This really does seem to be an extremely well thought out scam if it is one. With enough complaints, if it turns out that this is yet another elaborate scheme for the corporate elite to get rich, legislation can be brought about that could cure this type of activity if it is found to be fraudulent. But we must look into forums like this and someone has really gotta care that its wrong. Kind of like the whole double taxation thing on an estate after a person dies. I know, many people will justify it by saying it's not a double tax, but look into the wording, it really is. If the average Joe did what these companies do, they would end up in jail. Is it fair? No, but what is the alternative right now? Write on this board and make others aware of your existing complaints, it's worth it.

Our problem is slightly different from most. We received a $250 Vanilla Visa as a wedding present in August - in Canadian dollars. We're in the US. We figured we'd save the card to use on our honeymoon in Europe. Card was declined there for insufficient funds. When we got back to the states, we found out that the same day we attempted to use the card for the first time, some crook also decided to use the card. To the tune of $245?
Customer service has been impossible. Visa doesn't support these cards at all. They say it's the bank's responsibility to make good on the card. So what does the name VISA actually mean on the card? Apparently nothing!

HORRIBLE card! My husband drove to Michigan last night (a 12 hour drive) and i gave him cash as well as $200 on this Vanilla Visa Card so that he could get gas if there was no attendent around. He tried to use the card at the gas station, it declined it and told him to go inside and so he did and then he called the number on the back and apparently since he tried to get gas with it, there is a 75$ HOLD on the card for like 4 days... WTF! Now i am going to have to go through the hassel and MORE MONEY and transfer him money. I WILL NEVER BUY A VANILLA VISA GIFT CARD OR ANY VISA GIFT CARD EVER AGAIN!

i bought 2 100 dollar cards and neither one of them work, ive been on hold for about 15 minutes with vanilla ugh stupid [censor]ers

Vanilla Gift card is scam do not buy, I was charged $17.50 have filed a complaint with Better Business Bureau.

I have been ripped off by this company too. I have just filed a compaint with better business bureau www.bbb.org . Maybe if they get enough comopaints on them they will actually penalize them.

I had a $50 gift card inside a $100 packet. Cstomer Service will not issue new card and CVS will not refund the money.

BEWEARE DON'T BUY A VANILLA VISA CARD Bought one yesterday at CVS to make an online purchase. Card was declined even though transaction amount was equal to card value. Tried calling their customer service number on the back of the card and had to listed to about 4 minutes of recording and then prompted to select an option but none of the options were to speak to a live person. Thinking that perhaps because it was Sunday, they were closed. So I tried again today, Monday, after 9am California time and still same recording and no option to speak to a live agent.

I then called CVS corporate office to let them know they might want to think twice about carrying Vanilla Visa cards. CVS customer relations was very interested in the complaint and they're attempting to resolve it through their vendor hotline.

If you look closely at the fine print on the back of the card it says the card was issued by Silverton Bank. I Googled them and found a number and the woman who answered the phone says "Receivership for Silverton Bank, How may I help you". I was transfered finally to someone that helped me. The REAL customer service number isn't the one on the back of the card but the Silverton Bank number which is [protected], which is the one I had to find on my own on Google. Apparently Silverton Bank is in trouble and has been taken over by the FDIC and they own Vanilla Visa.

Hey Folks I have I believe if its correct THE address these Vanilla cards use. Im not 100% sure but pretty sure this is THE ADDRESS for Vanilla Visa (Vanilla Gift Visa $25 $50 $100 Reloadable) Cards. Alot of searching and trying makes me believe this is correct. If this is indeed the Correct address for these cards then the only thing left to tackle is the name. But im certain its possible. If this is the address and someone can verify please expose these people to the world for there services they KNOW is ridiculous. This Name and Address situation where you cannot add a name or address to the card has got to stop. If the government wont put a end to it WE need to. Its not the card thats the issue with me, its the principle. So if this is the address please spread this as fast as possible over the internet so they dont have a chance to change this. As I said only need to tackle the name issue now which should be easy enough. Enjoy!

250 WILLIAMS ST NW SUITE M100
ATLANTA, GA [protected]

Just like that folks!
btw they claim to have an address in California...
So much unexplained fishy things going on. Lets end it.

Vanilla Card Fraud

I have just purchased a $250 Visa Vanilla Card from a Canadian local drug store, Pharmaprix

and when I opened the package that it came in and tried to activate it, it failed..., So I called the number that is on the package, to activate by phone, the automated voice, failed to activate the card
So, I went back to the store with the receipet and the card, and explained them the situation but, they refused to refund me or replace the card.they said it is not their problem... call visa. and they have givin me a number to call.
so I called a company called income that supposed to service the vanilla visa, and when I gave them the number that is on my card, the woman who answered said that the card is not theirs.
so I told them that it says on the card vanilla and it looks genuine. I even offoered to mail the card with the package that it came in to them to verify, and she refused and said "the card is not ours, I can't do nothing about it, good bye",
so I have got screwed in a day light robbery

She claims that the card is not theirs because all their 16 digits visa cards starts with 4315 and mine starts with 4729..
so either I'm a liar (who is holding a proof of purchase and a card that looks genuine ) or they are a fraud.

Well I use these Cards when I have to do a purchase online so if some hackers get the info of the credit card they won't find [censored], this is the only use, why I should pay 5 dollars of activation for give the card as a gift, I would give cash, instead of giving 50 dollars card I will give 55 dollars cash gift. But stupid people they give to VISA 5 dollars gift and then their friends, wake up even if they do not charge you the 2.5 dollars still stupid to use it for a gift.

anyway use it only for online purchase. then the rest I shop with it ASAP. Period.

i bought this card a week ago from shoppers drug mart in canada, i was charged for the 250 dollars plus the activation fee, and when i decided to register online to check balance error came up saying it was never sold and does not match anything in the database. so i call customer service and have to report the card stolen in order to talk to someone. they straight up told me that i have to go to the store because it wasnt bought properly, and that the drug store should have a technician to look at the system. when i got there the clerks said they had no idea that they had a technician for fixing problems like this... the manager came and was willing to help but he did not know wat to do so he called them and they basically started playing the blaming game. however, its very clear that the store did nothing wrong, because when they rescan the card and the system said it was issued yet "vanilla" had no record of it. this company is a scam in every aspect of business, they would lie to a customer about information regarding an imaginary "technician" at a drug store, then blame others for their incompetence. after i called back having no intentions of being on hold again since they hung up on me before, they finally said they would put me on the list for technical support that will probably give me a call back in a week, and no i am not actually expecting them to even look at my file because this company is a total scam and needs to be shut down immediately.

I called the Ontario Consumer and Commercial affairs and they told me to call the feds. The feds told me to call the provincial.? I guess my next step is to contact my MPP or MP as the Citizen' Bank Visa "GIFT CARD is extortionist to say the least!

I bought this card a few times to make purchases online cuz i didn't want to use my debit card that's connected to my bank account to prevent me from overspending...i never had a problem wit this card...what people should know is..gift cards are meant to be spent...and they want you to spend it right away that's why they say they'll charge you after so many months...if it's such a humongous problem for people...tell people to give cash money instead of cards..saves you the headache...one thing is...when the purchase exceeds the balance on the card...it's gonna decline cuz most likely the cashier swiped it then accepted your money for the rest of the balance...i told my husband to use the rest of the money on the card and came back pissed cuz it was declined...he doesn't listen sometimes :(...that's y it declines for some of yall!...just remind the cashier..give cash first...then the card if the purchase exceeds the balance!...

We need to put this company out of business. They are cheating way too many people! Their customer service is horrible and they just don't care about your business!

Oh yeah, the VVGC is a definite rip off. First of all, things like this aren't supposed to be complicated to use and cause frustration. Secondly, the information the card comes with is misleading and so is the info on the website about registering it before online use... it does not work! I don't know why they continue to sell this card because there are a lot of complaints about it. It's crazy because not everyone wants to get a credit/debit card from a bank or be involved in bank mess. One just wants to be able to get a card, purchase whatever online or where ever and keep it moving w/out worrying about extra fees and what not from the bank. These companies are just making it hard for the simple folk. Filing a claim with the Better Business Bureau is ur best bet at getting a refund because the VVGC company will not refund and neither will the place u bought the care at will. I have read quite a few complaints on Google and most of the people got full refunds by filing claims. Hope it works out...

AGREED!
EVERY TIME I TRIED TO USE IT, IT WAS DECLINED.
FINALLY IT EXPIRED.
QUESTION NOW: DO YOU TELL THE GIFT GIVER OR NOT?
WHAT A SCAM!

I AGREE. IT WOULD NEVER WORK THEN IT FINALLY EXPRIED.
ITS A SCAM AND THEN AS THE GIFT RECEIVER, DO WE TELL THE GIFT GIVER THAT IT NEVER WORKED?

I received a $100 Vanilla Visa gift card. I registered the card under my home address. I tried to use it to purchase an item online through a site that excepted it. My card was declined due to having unmatching AVS numbers. I tried numerous times to use it online & each time I received the same message that stated my shipping & billing address did not match up. Finally I tried again & only entered a shipping address & left the billing area blank. This worked.

Yesterday I purchased a Vanilla Visa to send to my brother. I took it out of the bulky packing to pop it into the card and just happened to decide to call to confirm the balance. "Invalid Card." So I assumed it would take time to activate. I logged into the website and was given the same error message.

I called the company, who told me that the card was improperly activated. I returned to Walgreen's where the card was purchased, and was told that because I was given a confirmation receipt, that the card was indeed activated and that from there standpoint, there was no next actionable step.

BACK on the phone with Vanilla Visa. By now, I have grown concerned that the card inside the package may not have matched the information on the cardboard packaging. I tried bringing this to the attention of the customer service representative that I was speaking with who told me that they could do NOTHING with anything except for the card number, and that number was invalid.

By now, I am afraid that the activation number per my receipt is linked to another account. I am also afraid that because of their inaction, that the money will be spent by the time they are willing to investigate this. Furious, I called back, AGAIN. I was receiving the same runaround when I asked the rep for her ID. Her name was 'Tracy' and she begrudgingly gave me her id- 5148. I said "I paid you 100 dollars and a service fee to provide me with a preloaded card. This has not happened. What is my next step?" She mumbled a bit, and started on about going back to the retailer, and finally I said "They are unable to help me further. This is a Vanilla Visa problem. WHAT IS MY NEXT STEP!?" She finally initiated a ticket number and I am to fax in my receipt for an investigation which 'may' result in my receiving a refund.

I understand that people in this world will try anything for a free buck. HOWEVER, if Vanilla Visa is willing to take 100 dollars and a service fee from me, they need to have a course of action when that 100 dollars does not make it to it's destination. The people at Walgreen's were extremely helpful and actually regretted not having further action available. Vanilla Visa has been nothing but rude, aggressive and only marginally competent. Believe me, I am NOT going to stop here. I will follow this through as far as it takes on principle, this is simply not okay.

This is the biggest ###ing scam EVER. I have my giftcard in my hand and I registered it to MY name and MY birthday online. yet, somehow, a "replacement" card has been mysteriously ordered my someone with a different birthday than mine and my card is no longer valid. And whoever gets that replacement card, they get to activate it and use it. I had to email the company 4 times because I could not get a real live person on the phone. The one email said to press 4 to speak with a rep. There wasn't an option 4 to press! And so I emailed again, and was told to hit #0 3 times in a row and THEN hit 4! Are you kidding me? Do NOT buy this card and I CANNOT WAIT to complain to BBB about this scam. Such ###!

I received a vanilla visa for $300 and when I checked the balance, it said there was only $100 on the card. Now (after two weeks of back and forth calling and faxing) I am still with no resolution. Vanilla Visa is actually a different company paying visa to use their name, so that is probably where a substantial amount of the fees are going. I am so angry about this whole fiasco and I will never buy another Vanilla Visa gift card.

Totally agree. This has to be the worst pre-paid CC company there is. My kids each have a $50 card, both were declined several times today, no one to talk to as far as customer service goes, and their website is down for maintenance. How convenient.

NEVER BUY OR GIVE A VANILLA GIFT CARD. IT'S A RIP-OFF. I HAVE A GIFT CARD FOR $50.00 WITH AN EXPIRATION DATE OF 07/10. I received it at Christmas time last year. Tried to use it in November, and it only had a balance fof $7.50 cents on it, although it showed only debits of $22.50 only for fees and no purchases. I was charged five months of fees at $2.50 per month. The back of my card says I will be charged $1.50 per month after the 13th month. They started charging me a fee afer 6 months, and at a rate of $2.50. Same thing happened to me on another Vanilla Gift Card received at the same time

i purchased a vanilla visa gift card and had the same problems as most of you. i was unable to use the card for a few days while they re-booted their system that was down when i purchased my card. i called in to ask why i was having the trouble using the card, and they said the system was down when i purchased it and they were experiencing "technical difficulties". i faxed a copy of the sales receipt and they filled out a trouble ticket for me; which was the required action to remedy this situation. 48 hrs later, i was able to use my card to make purchases at amazon.com.

although i was extremely irritated when i first learned i had to wait to use my card, i took the necessary steps and let time take its course. i would recommend vanilla visa to anyone, but with this advice: "USE THE CARD RIGHT AWAY, DONT LET IT SIT AROUND". if you procrastennate on using the card, you will incur the service charges that are clearly laid out in the card agreement.

"Vanilla Visa Gift Card" are the biggest ripp off i've seen. I spent my time setting it up on paypal, waiting for the 4 verification numbers confirming it as a card. Just to find out that it was declined by multiple online websites that wont accept the card. Big waste of time, plus the $1.85 paypal charges to verify that it is yours. Without reading throughly i clicked the verification button 3 times to find out that my card was charged $5.55. When the card was declined i decided to try to purchase the item via google checkout, i went through the procedure giving my information to find it was charged another $1.00. After having this card for one day i have already spent $6.55 on nothing. Horrible card, i will email friends and family telling them to NEVER purchase one of these horrid cards.

I have virtually the same complaints. Received a card for Xmas 2008. Expiration date wasn't until 7/10. Used it in 11/09 and it was declined. They kept saying to bring it back to where you purchased it or fax in the receipt. It was a gift from my out of state sister. Absolutely horrendous. I never had this experience with ANY OTHER gift card I've bought or used. Why does this company put the burden on the customer. On top of that, the cust. service is snotty.

Never purchase a vanilla visa gift card! WAste of time and money.

I never really realized how much of a scam these cards are until I started thinking analyzing my usage of a card. I received a rebate as a gift card and I'm tracking every penny, it's a pain in the ###. You have to enter your info into the site in order to find the balance, it's a pain to split purchases since many merchants get irritated with you ask.

The credit card companies issuing these cards know exactly what their doing and I feel they are capitalizing on people's laziness, complacency and inability to give gifts.
People may have stopped giving cash because it doesn't look like you put too much thought into it- not that a prepaid visa is any better, but at least you got off your ### to purchase a gift for someone. Personally, don't care, but I can imagine there are many people who feel that way.

My question is:
What is the percentage of people who actually use the full(every penny) amount on the card before it expires or starts to collect fees?
Just think, if 200, 000 people receive a card and half of them(100, 000 people) leave .50 cents on it to expire- that's 50, 000 dollars on just .50 cents! So, what if 100, 000 people leave 5 dollars, that's half a million dollars for the issuing company. See what time saying?
In dealing with these cards:
It is imperitive that the person receiving the card track every single penny of it. How realistic is that when you have other cards or other ways to pay things? It's very easy to forget that you have it, especially when it only has a few bucks on it. I'm willing to bet many people don't track these cards and use them to the fullest.

That being said, the other day I received another gift card and will go to the post office and buy a money order with it. It will probably cost a couple bucks, but I'd rather give the post office my cash than a legal scammer.

All we have to do is put out the word and let people know that it's a scam.
For the few that don't believe it's a scam, I don't know what to tell you; I guess keep buying them, wasting your time tracking them and giving the credit card companies an opportunity to track your purchases as well(perhaps selling demographic info as well).

My young daughters had received Visa gift cards from their uncle and, god bless their hearts, decided to save them up so they could buy stereos for their rooms. They tucked them away until they had collected enough over the course of xmas and their birthdays. But when we went to use them, I was informed that there wasn't enough money on their cards. How could that be? The cards totaled $150 and the stereos were only $129.99. So, I contacted Visa and they informed me that each card had declined by $2 a month due to admin fees.
WTF? Admin fees? For not using a gift card? I understand an admin fee for a regular credit card, but a gift card?
And get this...here in Ontario, Canada, the government passed a law in October 2007 banning both expiry dates and admin fees on gift cards. Yet these ### at Visa have completely ignored it and are still charging fees.
Honestly, I have told everyone I know to stay away from these Visa My Treat gift cards. Maybe they should change the name to Visa Our Treat gift cards as they are scamming consumers out of countless dollars for doing nothing.
For more on this, check out my blog: http://brainfarts-garywatson.blogspot.com

piece of ###! Declines online!