eBay stole my Gift card balance
Summary: brisk_deals shared their frustration with eBay over a gift card balance dispute. Two years after receiving a $200 eBay gift card, they found the remaining balance inaccessible due to alleged fraud concerns, possibly triggered by a VPN usage. Despite providing proof of purchase, customer service demands impossible documentation like a receipt and physical card from years ago. brisk_deals describes the support as unhelpful, and contacts through Twitter provided no resolution either, leaving them intending to persist in submitting support tickets out of principle. Another participant, romat-2290, faces a similar issue with eBay, and guidance is given to pursue customer service through social media for better assistance.
Two years ago my friend sent me an eBay GIFT CARD as a GIFT to buy some Pokémon cards. He emailed the code since he’s on the other side of the country. Initially I used $20 of the $200, then set aside the rest to use later on. A few weeks ago I remembered that I had it and decided to use the rest with the exact same eBay account and shipping address that I used the first time I used the card.
After I placed the order, it said the payment was pending for a few hours and then that the payment failed. Thought this was strange so I decided to try again with the gift card and it said there was no remaining balance on the card. I’m guessing it must have been my VPN that set off a red flag.
I call eBay customer support and the guy says that he will email me a link to a form so that I can prove ownership of the card. He says I have to take pictures of the receipt, card and a signature with the date in both pics, to get my balance restored. I told him that I can’t possibly provide that because it was two years ago that my friend sent me the code and he has thrown out the physical card. He says something along the lines of “That’s fine, just say that in the form”. This guy seemed like a complete noob at customer service and was looking up what to do at each step. I think he mistakenly flagged my card as fraudulent.
Now every time I submit the form, the response comes back that I need to provide the pictures, no matter what I say. I’ve called and done chats many times but nothing gets past the form. How can they expect me to have documents like this, especially a receipt, from a gift?
So does eBay just rip me off and keep the money? This is in Canada by the way, if there is a way to submit a complaint to authorities please let me know.
brisk_deals
OP3 years agoI tried Twitter and they basically told me the same thing as before (fill out the form with a picture of a note) and then ghosted me.
Sorry, but this is very scammy behaviour from eBay, and I'm tired of being ignored by their support.
"Gift cards are expected to be used in a timely manner regardless of whether or not there is an expiry date"
Really?? Doesn't say anywhere on the gift card, and that's exactly what an expiry date is for. Without one, they are expected to be valid as long as the company is alive.
Nowhere on the gift card does it say you need to retain the receipt or need to write a note. On the website, it only asks for the code to use. I assumed that I could simply save the code to use at a later date, and don't think I did anything wrong here. It's very simple to verify that I was the original user by checking the card history.
I am a stubborn person and will keep opening support tickets, chats and calls out of principle. It will be a fun hobby of mine.
romat-2290
·2 years agoHi Im having the same issue, did you get your money back? they also did 2 investigations and found nothing wrong, I'm dealing with complete idiots on thier side. is there any way to speak to someone with authority or an actual brain?
mrdutch1001
·2 years agoyou are responding to a thread from 2022 which may no longer contain relevant information to your situation and therefore best to start your own thread to bring attention to a current issue that can be addressed with any current applicable information.
pjcdn2005
·2 years agoTry contacting eBay customer service on their Facebook or Twitter accounts. You can send a private message and they are usually quite helpful