Quick Notes: Gift Cards with PINs do not work right away and Staples FAR deal troubles

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Quick Note

Quick Notes: Gift Cards with PINs do not work right away and Staples FAR deal troubles

I was in CVS this afternoon and bought a $20 Home Improvement Gift Card to test out (you can read Million Mile Secret’s post from yesterday for more info).  Walked next door to Walmart and tried to load this card to my Bluebird Card.  I even clicked “other payment options” and debit, but still didn’t work.  I had 2 MasterCard Gift Cards from Staples that I had just called to add a PIN.  Neither of those cards would load to Bluebird either.

Therefore, it looks like it takes at least 20 minutes (probably longer) for the PIN to be registered with the Home Improvement Gift Card and the other gift cards.  Let me know if your experiences are similar/different than mine.  My dad always goes to Home Depot, so I just gave the Home Improvement Gift Card to him in exchange for a $20 bill.

IMG_3381

I also went to Staples this afternoon and bought a pack of Staples Photo Supreme Paper.

Photo Paper

Here is the Free After Rebate (FAR) deal description.  I should have received a $3 discount, but the cashier was only able to get the $2 discount to show up.  By the way, you can purchase up to 4 with the FAR.  If you really want this photo paper, check Ebay for many deals.

FAR Paper

That’s all the quick notes and updates for today.


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6 thoughts on “Quick Notes: Gift Cards with PINs do not work right away and Staples FAR deal troubles

  1. Jacob

    I went in LARGE with a thousand upfront. I went to Walmart and hit cancel then debit and the girl swapped and I put in random 4numbers like 10 times. I was sweating!!!! Took the amount down to $500 and declined then same thing again and it went thru! Took me 1 hour and a lot of stress but eventually got it to go thru. Took much time and effort for the reward

    Reply
    1. Grant

      You must find very patient cashiers. I always feel nervous and they look at my like I am an idiot. I’m going to stay out of the HIGC game. I do fine with VRC.

      Reply
  2. robin

    had no problem with my six cards. have transferred 4 over so far . Tell cashier to load the amount that is on the card then press the cancel button on the screen. You should get a prompt for atm/debit. It should go right through. If the cashier presses anything, it screws it up

    Reply
    1. Grant

      In theory it should work, but making sure the cashier presses the right button is out of my control. Glad it all worked out fine for you.

      Reply
  3. Toni

    This happened to me and I freaked out a little deep inside, but then the cashier took my card and pressed debit on her end and it went through! I didn’t even have to enter my pin, which was totally weird! Just wanted to share my experience!

    Reply
    1. Grant

      Thanks for sharing Toni, I went to a different Walmart than I normally go to, but will be back at my normal store to try tomorrow. I only have $20 on my card, so i wasn’t freaked out at all (ok, maybe just a little bit).

      Reply

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