Coles gift card offers

[wombatcountry]

I had to write to Flybuys/Coles customer service 6 times to get a full list of the rules, because in my closest store - very far from capital cities - management decided that only a single account in each household would qualify for the purchase. A particularly rude employee went as far as grabbing the cards from my hand twice. I finally showed them the actual rules as confirmed by Coles customer service, and hopefully they'll leave us alone when Mr Wombatcountry and I will try to purchase them again this week.

But the implementation of this promo (and its better twin, the 10% off) in store had the net result of turning me off shopping at Coles for good. Before, about a third of my grocery came from there. Now I only go to buy 3 items which I can't find elsewhere. And when there's this type of gift card promo, of course. I wonder how many other shoppers had such a negative experience that they gave up on Coles altogether... I'm sure this was not Coles's intent for this promo.

 

[Lat34]

Today, for the first time in many, many, many promotions our smallish SYD lower north shore store had... replenished stock of $100 + $250 cards!!!

NEVER in the last 4+ years has this happened during bonus points or % discount offers.

Cards are plentiful prior an upcoming promotion, then display stock evaporates. That's a sign something is likely to happen in the next period but mere mortals have no idea and can't act as no card stocks

Promo starts and our local may have loads of signage... but nil cards on didplay

As always YMMV

 

[andye]

Today, for the first time in many, many, many promotions our smallish SYD lower north shore store had... replenished stock of $100 + $250 cards!!!

NEVER in the last 4+ years has this happened during bonus points or % discount offers.

Cards are plentiful prior an upcoming promotion, then display stock evaporates. That's a sign something is likely to happen in the next period but mere mortals have no idea and can't act as no card stocks

Promo starts and our local may have loads of signage... but nil cards on didplay

As always YMMV

I've seen restock happen quite a few times on the northern beaches

 

[jokes128]

Hello all, I would like to ask for some opinion/experiences and sharing my experience regarding the latest promotion of the Coles Mastercard gift cards.

I bought 20 of $100 gift cards(over 4 Flybuys accounts). I found that I could not use any one of them, and also can't check the balance on the website for any of them. All attempts to check balance resulted in "A system error has occurred. Please try again later"). All I have done to the 20 cards were to initially log in to make sure that the cards were "active" and not scammed and changed the PIN for the cards, about 2-3 hours after I have purchased the cards on Wednesday. On the Coles receipts each gift cards had the word "approved" listed.

So I went to call the customer service, by an offshore agent struggling in English. He managed to unblock/activate the first 5 cards for me(and I can now check balance on these 5 cards and able to use one of them). However, on the 6th card that I tried to unblock, there was an error message and after speaking to his suervisor(put me on hold), he came back and said he has to raise a case and I'll receive the 15 replacement cards in 30 business days.

Complicating things are that (i) I'll be overseas early December and not due to be back until February, so can't pick up the registered mail that they use to send me the replacement cards, and the post office said they will return to sender if the registered mail is not picked up within 7 days. Post office said I could organise to keep the mail in the post office for an exorbitant fee which I declined. (ii) one of my cards from the previous promotion was scammed in June. They investigated and sent me an email in late August informing me that my case was approved and that I should expect the replacement card in 4-5 weeks. This never came and I religiously rang every fortnight to follow up. All of the agents could only "raise a ticket" to ask for the replacement card, until one agent insisted that the card was sent on 24/8/2023 but I said I never received it, so the agent "raised another ticket".

I tried to go back to the Coles store that I bought these 15 cards from, and asked for the possibility of refund. The manager checked the receipts and said all were "approved" so the store cannot do the refund.

I rang customer care this morning to attempt to have some cards unblocked by another(hopefully more competent agent). She managed to unblock 2 cards(and I can check balance on those 2 cards straight away) but then she said there was an error and even though I can now check balance on website, the cards were "compromised" and "locked" so I cannot use them. She wanted to raise a case for replacement cards to which I replied no need and I'll call back when I am home overseas.

I am hoping someone here would give me suggestions as to what I can do next. Should I just keep on waiting(but worry about not able to pick up the replacement cards)? Or should I request a charge back from my credit card company(it was Diners Club which ceases operation in January 2024 though) I used to pay the transaction for?

Suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[Dr Ralph]

Hello all, I would like to ask for some opinion/experiences and sharing my experience regarding the latest promotion of the Coles Mastercard gift cards.

I bought 20 of $100 gift cards(over 4 Flybuys accounts). I found that I could not use any one of them, and also can't check the balance on the website for any of them. All attempts to check balance resulted in "A system error has occurred. Please try again later"). All I have done to the 20 cards were to initially log in to make sure that the cards were "active" and not scammed and changed the PIN for the cards, about 2-3 hours after I have purchased the cards on Wednesday. On the Coles receipts each gift cards had the word "approved" listed.

So I went to call the customer service, by an offshore agent struggling in English. He managed to unblock/activate the first 5 cards for me(and I can now check balance on these 5 cards and able to use one of them). However, on the 6th card that I tried to unblock, there was an error message and after speaking to his suervisor(put me on hold), he came back and said he has to raise a case and I'll receive the 15 replacement cards in 30 business days.

Complicating things are that (i) I'll be overseas early December and not due to be back until February, so can't pick up the registered mail that they use to send me the replacement cards, and the post office said they will return to sender if the registered mail is not picked up within 7 days. Post office said I could organise to keep the mail in the post office for an exorbitant fee which I declined. (ii) one of my cards from the previous promotion was scammed in June. They investigated and sent me an email in late August informing me that my case was approved and that I should expect the replacement card in 4-5 weeks. This never came and I religiously rang every fortnight to follow up. All of the agents could only "raise a ticket" to ask for the replacement card, until one agent insisted that the card was sent on 24/8/2023 but I said I never received it, so the agent "raised another ticket".

I tried to go back to the Coles store that I bought these 15 cards from, and asked for the possibility of refund. The manager checked the receipts and said all were "approved" so the store cannot do the refund.

I rang customer care this morning to attempt to have some cards unblocked by another(hopefully more competent agent). She managed to unblock 2 cards(and I can check balance on those 2 cards straight away) but then she said there was an error and even though I can now check balance on website, the cards were "compromised" and "locked" so I cannot use them. She wanted to raise a case for replacement cards to which I replied no need and I'll call back when I am home overseas.

I am hoping someone here would give me suggestions as to what I can do next. Should I just keep on waiting(but worry about not able to pick up the replacement cards)? Or should I request a charge back from my credit card company(it was Diners Club which ceases operation in January 2024 though) I used to pay the transaction for?

Suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I think the process(es) you have followed so far are reasonable. This is a consumer matter, so I'd be going to AFCA next.

 

[blacksultan]

Hello all, I would like to ask for some opinion/experiences and sharing my experience regarding the latest promotion of the Coles Mastercard gift cards.

I bought 20 of $100 gift cards(over 4 Flybuys accounts). I found that I could not use any one of them, and also can't check the balance on the website for any of them. All attempts to check balance resulted in "A system error has occurred. Please try again later"). All I have done to the 20 cards were to initially log in to make sure that the cards were "active" and not scammed and changed the PIN for the cards, about 2-3 hours after I have purchased the cards on Wednesday. On the Coles receipts each gift cards had the word "approved" listed.

So I went to call the customer service, by an offshore agent struggling in English. He managed to unblock/activate the first 5 cards for me(and I can now check balance on these 5 cards and able to use one of them). However, on the 6th card that I tried to unblock, there was an error message and after speaking to his suervisor(put me on hold), he came back and said he has to raise a case and I'll receive the 15 replacement cards in 30 business days.

Complicating things are that (i) I'll be overseas early December and not due to be back until February, so can't pick up the registered mail that they use to send me the replacement cards, and the post office said they will return to sender if the registered mail is not picked up within 7 days. Post office said I could organise to keep the mail in the post office for an exorbitant fee which I declined. (ii) one of my cards from the previous promotion was scammed in June. They investigated and sent me an email in late August informing me that my case was approved and that I should expect the replacement card in 4-5 weeks. This never came and I religiously rang every fortnight to follow up. All of the agents could only "raise a ticket" to ask for the replacement card, until one agent insisted that the card was sent on 24/8/2023 but I said I never received it, so the agent "raised another ticket".

I tried to go back to the Coles store that I bought these 15 cards from, and asked for the possibility of refund. The manager checked the receipts and said all were "approved" so the store cannot do the refund.

I rang customer care this morning to attempt to have some cards unblocked by another(hopefully more competent agent). She managed to unblock 2 cards(and I can check balance on those 2 cards straight away) but then she said there was an error and even though I can now check balance on website, the cards were "compromised" and "locked" so I cannot use them. She wanted to raise a case for replacement cards to which I replied no need and I'll call back when I am home overseas.

I am hoping someone here would give me suggestions as to what I can do next. Should I just keep on waiting(but worry about not able to pick up the replacement cards)? Or should I request a charge back from my credit card company(it was Diners Club which ceases operation in January 2024 though) I used to pay the transaction for?

Suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Can you give someone authority letter to collect your mail from post office ?

 

[jokes128]

Thanks @Dr Ralph for your suggestion. For the previous single card scammed in June, I rang and emailed them every fortnight after the email confirming their approval to issue replacement card. No reply to my emails and the phone agents just kept raising tickets and bluffed me off each time until one claimed they have sent the replacement card in late August. So I don't have much faith in them replacing cards.........even replacing one card is so much trouble not to mention replacing 15 cards.........

Thanks @blacksultan , I thought about that before, but the problem with that is I am away during the school holidays as do most of the people who can help me. Even if one is not away the one living closest to me is 15km away, it would be hard to ask people to come and collect mail for me.

 

[burmans]

Thanks @Dr Ralph for your suggestion. For the previous single card scammed in June, I rang and emailed them every fortnight after the email confirming their approval to issue replacement card. No reply to my emails and the phone agents just kept raising tickets and bluffed me off each time until one claimed they have sent the replacement card in late August. So I don't have much faith in them replacing cards.........even replacing one card is so much trouble not to mention replacing 15 cards.........

Thanks @blacksultan , I thought about that before, but the problem with that is I am away during the school holidays as do most of the people who can help me. Even if one is not away the one living closest to me is 15km away, it would be hard to ask people to come and collect mail for me.

I think you may be able to get Aus Post to send to another PO?

 

[FlyingFiona]

All attempts to check balance resulted in "A system error has occurred. Please try again later").

This happens to me a lot. I just leave it a few hours and try again and it works. Drives me nuts though. So I don't take from that message that your cards are compromised.

 

[jokes128]

@burmans I think redirecting mail for more than 2 months has an eyewatering cost too.

@FlyingFiona I did try to check balance again a few hours later but the cards were still locked. I agree with you, I don't think the cards were compromised. But the phone agent had already locked all the 15 cards so I cannot check balance anymore.

I am wondering the chance of success if I request a charge back from my Diners Club card I used to pay for these gift cards at the Coles local store. The risk is that Diners Club is ceasing operation in Australia in January 2024 and the charge back may come to nothing.

 

[burmans]

I was thinking more on a case by case basis. As I get a few deliveries from Aus Post I’ve got the Aus Post app and thought one of the options for each delivery was to get it sent to an alternate address including a PO

 

[Lat34]

... All attempts to check balance resulted in "A system error has occurred. Please try again later"...

Generically, the "system error" message can appear after balance checking several cards in the same session (but not saying it's the case in your situation).

Closing then restarting chrome browser clears the error for me and often generates "I am not a robot" visual challenge to proceed.

 

[JessicaTam]

@burmans I think redirecting mail for more than 2 months has an eyewatering cost too.

@FlyingFiona I did try to check balance again a few hours later but the cards were still locked. I agree with you, I don't think the cards were compromised. But the phone agent had already locked all the 15 cards so I cannot check balance anymore.

I am wondering the chance of success if I request a charge back from my Diners Club card I used to pay for these gift cards at the Coles local store. The risk is that Diners Club is ceasing operation in Australia in January 2024 and the charge back may come to nothing.

Can you ask them to send the cards to a trusted friend's address instead?

 

[jokes128]

@burmans I get few letters from AusPost as well. Maybe I should go and ask for the exact price of redirecting mail but I get the feeling that it will cost 3 figure sum for the duration I'm away.

@Lat34 Thank you for your suggestion. I tried this trick(only check 5 cards and then close and open another chrome browser, and this extended to closing and opening a new chrome browser with every card for the last 10 cards). But unfortunately this trick didn't work for me.

@JessicaTam Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't know if the phone agent would agree to an address change(given that they have my records from my previous single replacement card claim) and they know my address, they may be reluctant to send to a different address. Another problem is, without sounding like a racist, the phone agents(in my experience dealing with them) mostly don't speak good English. The one I spoke to even struggled to put my postcode in(told me initially the postcode is not valid.......maybe they can only type USA postcodes) and then I had to spell out the word "Brisbane"(where I live) alphabet by alphabet to the phone agent and then he mixed up the unit number as the street number. I am really concerned about their ability to handle another Australian address and if they got the address wrong then I'll be in more trouble than now.

 

[blacksultan]

Thanks @Dr Ralph for your suggestion. For the previous single card scammed in June, I rang and emailed them every fortnight after the email confirming their approval to issue replacement card. No reply to my emails and the phone agents just kept raising tickets and bluffed me off each time until one claimed they have sent the replacement card in late August. So I don't have much faith in them replacing cards.........even replacing one card is so much trouble not to mention replacing 15 cards.........

Thanks @blacksultan , I thought about that before, but the problem with that is I am away during the school holidays as do most of the people who can help me. Even if one is not away the one living closest to me is 15km away, it would be hard to ask people to come and collect mail for me.

You can also redirect all your mail .

 

[blacksultan]

@burmans I think redirecting mail for more than 2 months has an eyewatering cost too.

@FlyingFiona I did try to check balance again a few hours later but the cards were still locked. I agree with you, I don't think the cards were compromised. But the phone agent had already locked all the 15 cards so I cannot check balance anymore.

I am wondering the chance of success if I request a charge back from my Diners Club card I used to pay for these gift cards at the Coles local store. The risk is that Diners Club is ceasing operation in Australia in January 2024 and the charge back may come to nothing.

Think you can request redirection online .

 

[Rich]

This all seems a lot of risk/ hassle for 2000 FB points per card. I have been fortunate with no issues in a few 10% off virtual cards I have bought, but I think one incident like jokes128 has experienced would put me off for life.

 

[lovestotravel]

2000FB=1000VA=645SQ=About $20

About the same value as 10% off to me

 

[Rich]

2000FB=1000VA=645SQ=About $20

About the same value as 10% off to me

Each to their own, but I wouldn't value 2000FB at $20, more like $10. And those $100 cards @jokes128 is buying come with a $5.00 activation fee. So to me each is now worth about $5 in bonus points. Even with your value, surely one experience like jokes128 has had would negate any benefit.

My points about my own virtual card purchases are:
1. There seems to be two hassles here - dealing with the call centre and receiving a new physical gift card. At least virtual cards would alleviate the second issue.
2.Anecdotally it appears there are more issues with physical gift cards than virtual.

 

[jokes128]

Yes I work on 5% discount after taking into account the $5 activation fee. So I could afford one card to be scammed for each round of 20 cards(over 4 Flybuys accounts) that I purchase and I'll come out even(or near). If I get all the cards working then I come out in front. I work on this basis of this but just wasn't prepared for what I have to go through.

My last round of discounts(in April as I was overseas during the September round), similar thing(couldn't use the cards and couldn't check balance) happened to me on 6 out of the 20 cards purchased. It was a simple call to customer service and the person just unblocked/activated the 6 cards for me upon taking the card details of those 6 cards. Relatively easy process. But this time they managed to unblock 5 cards for me before running into problem.........

I think I've read somewhere that virtual cards(bought from OzBargain etc) have its own problem too. That's why I stay clear of virtual cards and prefer physical cards.