What to do if your US Bank gift card no longer works as debit OR credit

Introduction

You would think that by now I wouldn’t make silly mistakes, but carelessness happens to the both of us.  So what happened?  I bought a $500 VGC from our favorite grocery chain and forgot to Sharpie the pin down on the white strip that I normally do.  I went to liquidate the card and typed in the wrong pin 2-3 times.  I then called the number on the card to change my pin.  Tried again.  NO GO.  I then went to Target and tried to run it as credit.  STILL NO GO.

I then called back the number a 2nd time, this time speaking to a rep, who said my pin was locked and she would unlock it.  She did that, and I called to change the pin a 3rd time.  Went to go use it.  Well you’ll never guess what happened….NO GO!

Resolution

From what I’ve read online, the unlocking should have worked, but since it didn’t, I had to call back a 3rd time.  I told her what happened, and she then ‘registered’ the card in my name and said a replacement card would be mailed out.  I was surprised I didn’t need to send in a receipt.  The card took about 2 weeks to arrive.  Of course when I activated it, the balance was only $494.05.  I then called back a fourth time to ask for my $5.95 back since it wasn’t technically my fault the card didn’t work.  In the past, they’ve been able to credit it back immediately, but now, they have to put in a ticket and I’d have to wait a couple of days.  I’m at this point right now; the rep seemed confident I’ll get the $5.95 back onto the card.

Lessons Learned

Try not to lock the card.  If you didn’t get the PIN right the first time, call the number to have it changed before trying again and locking yourself out.