What happens if the Walmart money order doesn’t print correctly

 

Introduction

Walmart giveth and they taketh away.  In this hobby, you sort of get complacent/lazy in your usual routine.  You may not check if the gift card packaging hasn’t been tampered or if your money order printed correctly.

 

Money Order process

I went to Walmart a couple of weeks ago and bought 2 money orders.  After the first MO printed, the cashier will type in the MO number into the computer before the 2nd one starts printing.  Then they type in the 2nd MO’s number, and then hand you both of the MO’s along with the receipt.  Ninety nine percent of the time, you’re good to go.  In this occasion, I didn’t notice that the 2nd MO wasn’t fully printed until days later (both the cashier and I didn’t check at the time of the transaction.)

 

Bank won’t cash

I took the MO to Wells Fargo.  The teller tells me that they need a date and the amount on a check to be able to cash it.  Since this was missing the full date, they could not check it.

 

Moneygram says talk to Walmart

I call up Moneygram and the automated system says they can replace damaged MO’s for $18.  Well that’s no bueno.  I was able to talk to a rep who told me to go back to Walmart and have them call MG for them to VOID the MO and print out a new one.  That did NOT sound like fun, but it seemed to be my only option.

 

Back to Walmart

I go back to Walmart to the same cashier as when the MO machine broke, but not the same one who gave me the “bad” MO.  She tried to call MG, but we were on hold for 20+ minutes.  I even asked her to just cash it.  I’d be willing to pay the $3 to not have to wait for the MG folks.  The system rejected the MO (prob due to the lack of date, etc).  I told them I’ll come back at another time since I didn’t want to wait any longer.

 

Back to Walmart AGAIN

So I go back to Walmart again, and luckily, the CSM was working the CSR desk this morning.  I explained to her the situation.  She took the MO and my driver’s license to the backroom again.  After 5 minutes, she comes back with a pouch, which I figure was cash in there.  Sure enough, she hands me cash for the bad MO.

 

Lessons Learned

Don’t get complacent in this game.