Introduction
A few days ago, after I wrote about the change from giftcards.com. A reader gave me a tip to call and cancel my unshipped orders. I then called them up and the first line agent cancelled my last 3 days of orders and gave me a reference number. The next day, a guy from giftcards.com called me as I was walking to lunch. Here was our rough conversation (sorry I didn’t immediately takes notes like Comey). Bolding mine.
GC: Hi this is X from giftcards.com. You called yesterday to cancel some orders. You are like the tenth person from the state of Washington that has called in. May I ask why?
Me: Yes, since 6/1, the new Mastercards don’t work at XYZ
GC: Oh, you were buying these for “points boosting” on your credit card?
Me: Yes
GC: Well have you tried ABC? They should still work there.
[I’m in a bit of shock that this guy knows the game and knows the liquidation path. I mean, it’s not surprising since they can see the charges, but it’s more surprising that they KNOW and apparently DGAF.]
Me: Regardless if they work at ABC. This is a bait and switch. I bought these expecting them to work at XYZ.
GC: Well, they are still Mastercards, so it’s not bait and switch. You can still buy a Starbucks with it.
[At this point, I didn’t want to burn and bridges and just said FINE and then hung up. I didn’t think to counter with, “Well if they are Mastercards, they should work EVERYWHERE.” ]
Conclusion
He had also mentioned his management in the phone call, so he was investigating for them. They were probably wondering why they were getting so many cancellation phone calls. They also were not aware that the new cards did not work at XYZ. I’m sure they made a conscious decision to make the change, but probably didn’t know about the new BIN’s effect. Will they now push Metabank to change the BIN or make it work at XYZ? I highly doubt it, but we’ll see. Maybe a drop in volume will motivate them. Regardless, I think referring to this game as the “points boosting game” just made my weekend.
I’ve heard that gc.com was well aware of MS for a long time and quietly supportive since it’s good for their profits. This is the last straw though. Just move all volume to Simon for liquidation at ABC.
I might be missing something, but…why Mastercards?…while Visas probably work at ABC and XYZ…are MCs cheaper or…?
MCs are same price. The liquidation path used to be different b/w Visa and MC, but not anymore. I won’t divulge what ABC and XYZ are. If you were affected, you know. If you’ve been buying Visa, then this won’t affect you at all.
Well, I am dying to know what ABC and XYZ are.
Haha awesome!