Coles gift card offers

[FlyingFiona]

Yes - bought a couple of the TCN cards in the current promo with the Coles MC.

You beauty! Thank you!

 

[sevenfourtyseven]

Bonus points posted just now as well. Must be a Day 1 thing in relation to the delay.

 

[sydneyboi]

Can conform my points have just posted now!

 

[MooTime]

Points safely landed in my account after minor early turbulence.

 

[jkbaus]

I purchased 5x$250 on Wednesday.
Finally got my points today.

But there is a problem with one of the cards.
Checked balance before using.
Tried to use it for Deft but declined.
Tried to use it for City of Sydney council rates but declined.
When I went to check balance site it showed both transactions actions declined but balance was $250 available.

Went to check balance today but kept getting an error.
Checking other cards the site worked fine.

Phoned the number shown on the card.
Explained what has happened and provided card details.
He confirmed that the balance was still $250.

Operator asked for my full name to commence investigation. Which I provided.
He then asked for my date of birth and told me I would also need to provide 2 forms of id.
I stated that I felt that was not appropriate as the problem was obviously at their end and I hadn’t needed to provide that information at time of purchase.

He kept insisting they could do nothing if I didn’t provide the information.
I asked for his supervisor several times and he finally transferred the call.

The supervisor told me that I did not need to supply the date of birth or id.
He said they would investigate and a replacement card could be mailed to me after investigation. I
I provided my address. He had problems with Australian address. Didn’t know what to do with apartment number and street number. Didn’t want suburb. Asked for “zip code” but said my code was too short. I explained it was Australian postcode.
Didn’t understand that NSW was part of the address.

I got a case number for reference.
Investigation could take up to 30 days.

Heaven knows if I will get a replacement card or if I have lost the money.

 

[Lost Redditor]

I purchased 5x$250 on Wednesday.
Finally got my points today.

But there is a problem with one of the cards.
Checked balance before using.
Tried to use it for Deft but declined.
Tried to use it for City of Sydney council rates but declined.
When I went to check balance site it showed both transactions actions declined but balance was $250 available.

Went to check balance today but kept getting an error.
Checking other cards the site worked fine.

Phoned the number shown on the card.
Explained what has happened and provided card details.
He confirmed that the balance was still $250.

Operator asked for my full name to commence investigation. Which I provided.
He then asked for my date of birth and told me I would also need to provide 2 forms of id.
I stated that I felt that was not appropriate as the problem was obviously at their end and I hadn’t needed to provide that information at time of purchase.

He kept insisting they could do nothing if I didn’t provide the information.
I asked for his supervisor several times and he finally transferred the call.

The supervisor told me that I did not need to supply the date of birth or id.
He said they would investigate and a replacement card could be mailed to me after investigation. I
I provided my address. He had problems with Australian address. Didn’t know what to do with apartment number and street number. Didn’t want suburb. Asked for “zip code” but said my code was too short. I explained it was Australian postcode.
Didn’t understand that NSW was part of the address.

I got a case number for reference.
Investigation could take up to 30 days.

Heaven knows if I will get a replacement card or if I have lost the money.

Man that makes me rethink the whole purpose of it.

Also, why 5x $250? The $100 cards provided the same bonus

 

[MooTime]

Man that makes me rethink the whole purpose of it.

Also, why 5x $250? The $100 cards provided the same bonus

You can only buy 5 cards per account and if have a largish purchase them I see the reason ING, or reason why not maybe.

Of course also if you don't have access to multiple acc's.

 

[jkbaus]

Man that makes me rethink the whole purpose of it.

Also, why 5x $250? The $100 cards provided the same bonus

No $100 cards at 2 different stores that morning.

 

[andye]

Man that makes me rethink the whole purpose of it.

Also, why 5x $250? The $100 cards provided the same bonus

For me, medium-size quarterly bill from online store that has higher surcharges and doesn't accrue points if paid directly with credit card

 

[Chicken]

I purchased 5x$250 on Wednesday.
Finally got my points today.

But there is a problem with one of the cards.
Checked balance before using.
Tried to use it for Deft but declined.
Tried to use it for City of Sydney council rates but declined.
When I went to check balance site it showed both transactions actions declined but balance was $250 available.

Same thing happened to me; but this card operation is very dodgy, so I wouldn't worry about it.

I had a card, which I used to pay Sniip, successful. There was remaining balance. Tried again 3 months later, it was declined. Used it at another merchant, it worked. Pay Sniip again, and it worked again.

Went to check balance today but kept getting an error.
Checking other cards the site worked fine.
Phoned the number shown on the card.
Explained what has happened and provided card details.
He confirmed that the balance was still $250.

Situation normal.

This web site would give you error all the time. It has been like this since day one, for years. Same with their automated phone self service. I just call them, tell them that their web site is down again, and I would specifically ask the operator to log a ticket, then check again after a week and it would be fixed.

I provided my address. He had problems with Australian address. Didn’t know what to do with apartment number and street number. Didn’t want suburb. Asked for “zip code” but said my code was too short. I explained it was Australian postcode.
Didn’t understand that NSW was part of the address.

Yes, this is expected. They are running this whole show from the US, and they are so lazy that the My Balance Now web site says they are a member of FDIC!

FYI, I have also bought the vanilla gift cards back in June from Woolworths, and it's also run from this web site. Imagine my reaction when I got home with these cards, thinking I should be going to vanilla web site, but having to see this Coles red color web site LOL

Man that makes me rethink the whole purpose of it.

Don't worry about this. This particular operation has been dodgy for years. They are a PITA when their computer system plays up, which happens all the time. But this is the price I am willing to pay when I think about my business class tickets in my inbox.

Also, why 5x $250? The $100 cards provided the same bonus

$100 is useless when your quarterly strata fee is in the thousands ......

Can these Mastercards be used to buy TCN cards from Woolies?

Why would you do that? Wouldn't you be wasting your Coles Mastercards?

Shouldn't you be buying TCN cards from Woolies using like AmEx Edge?

 

[FlyingFiona]

Why would you do that? Wouldn't you be wasting your Coles Mastercards?

Shouldn't you be buying TCN cards from Woolies using like AmEx Edge?

Not everyone's situation is the same and one size does not fit all. Besides, as you know, these things are a PIA so the quicker I can get rid the better for my inner calm. As always, YMMV!

 

[Chicken]

Besides, as you know, these things are a PIA so the quicker I can get rid the better for my inner calm.

Is there something I am missing? I actually can't see any value from buying these if you are not laundering these for strata / ATO / government bodies, because it costs $7 to buy these on average, and you get 2000 Flybuys points, which gives you $10 off at Coles, so there is basically no benefit other than earning $2? And like you said, this particular system is a PITA, so all the PITA for $2?
I just want to see if I have missed a use case for these.

 

[FlyingFiona]

Is there something I am missing? I actually can't see any value from buying these if you are not laundering these for strata / ATO / government bodies, because it costs $7 to buy these on average, and you get 2000 Flybuys points, which gives you $10 off at Coles, so there is basically no benefit other than earning $2? And like you said, this particular system is a PITA, so all the PITA for $2?
I just want to see if I have missed a use case for these.

They cost $5 per card to activate. I don't redeem them for Coles points, I use them for J class rewards which offers more than $5 worth of value.

7+2=9. Perhaps an arithmetic refresher is what you're missing?

 

[33kft]

I just want to see if I have missed a use case for these.

I realise this is the Coles thread but I often buy the WW alternatives for points to convert to QFF points to qualify for Points Club and for use on award flights, I assume others would use the Coles offer to cheaply "purchase" VFF points via FB for use with VA or partner airlines.

On top of the above, I use them for transactions where I can't use my AMEX, I buy them on the AMEX so I am effectively earning Amex points rate on non qualifying tranactions.

Even when the value is marginal, if your use case is stacked in terms of savings plus adjacent benefits, it can be well worth it.

 

[GrahamBRI]

They cost $5 per card to activate. I don't redeem them for Coles points, I use them for J class rewards which offers more than $5 worth of value.

Bingo.....
35,500 velocity points to fly Business from Sydney to Fiji (same for Sydney to Perth)........ the use case for this is:
35,500 velocity points requires you to purchase 35.5 Coles gift cards (at 2,000 bonus flybuys a card)...... so this essentially requires you to spend $5 for 35.5 activations = $177.50..... which gives you a business seat from Sydney to Nadi...... best economy I can see for same flight is $229 with Jetstar...... definitely a use case...... if you don't mind a bunch of effort to get there.

 

[Dr Ralph]

Bingo.....
35,500 velocity points to fly Business from Sydney to Fiji (same for Sydney to Perth)........ the use case for this is:
35,500 velocity points requires you to purchase 35.5 Coles gift cards (at 2,000 bonus flybuys a card)...... so this essentially requires you to spend $5 for 35.5 activations = $177.50..... which gives you a business seat from Sydney to Nadi...... best economy I can see for same flight is $229 with Jetstar...... definitely a use case...... if you don't mind a bunch of effort to get there.

Unfortunately some people (especially blocked members) will never understand this. Or perhaps it's actually fortunate

I gave up trying to explain to people the value of points. Reality:

1) Most people will never understand and always think it's too much work;
2) I've never paid for a flight in the last 15 years and never flown less than J and take multiple international flights every year.

 

[Chicken]

They cost $5 per card to activate. I don't redeem them for Coles points

Right, so you don't actually want the gift card, but you want the 2000 Flybuys and convert to Velocity.

I don't use Velocity (it's useless to me), I credit my VA tickets to VS Flying Club. That's why I didn't connect Flybuys with Velocity in my head, and I was thinking 'Why would someone want Flybuys, it's a dead end'

Now it totally make sense!

I realise this is the Coles thread but I often buy the WW alternatives for points to convert to QFF points to qualify for Points Club and for use on award flights

On top of the above, I use them for transactions where I can't use my AMEX

This is what I'm doing. I buy gift cards with the largest denominations using Edge card, so I earn the max amount of AmEx points, pay the least amount of surcharge (govt entities, strata), then convert from AmEx to VS and SQ. With this promo, Flybuys points is only a cost recovery exercise, what I want is buying them using Edge card, and convert to SQ and VS.

Bingo.....
35,500 velocity points to fly Business from Sydney to Fiji

Yeah nah. Not really interested in Velocity, as VA doesn't have an international network, and all these patchwork of inconsistant agreements is a PITA. I only want to use my points for a large international network (SQ), or very expensive domestic flights which I could use QF for even thou they are evil.

 

[GrahamBRI]

Right, so you don't actually want the gift card, but you want the 2000 Flybuys and convert to Velocity.

And in this case, the gift card is not just a gift card, it is a prepaid "mastercard", so the $100 spend for the card itself can be a mechanism to gain points for a spend on your amex card that can ultimately be used for a mastercard transaction..... which is useful when amex not accepted, amex has high surcharge, or no or low points points earn for the transaction (eg government agencies).

 

[GrahamBRI]

Yeah nah. Not really interested in Velocity, as VA doesn't have an international network, and all these patchwork of inconsistant agreements is a PITA. I only want to use my points for a large international network (SQ), or very expensive domestic flights which I could use QF for even thou they are evil.

VA converts to SQ at cost of 1.55, so above example of a business seat from Sydney to Nadi will still bring you in ahead using SQ points obtained the long way from a flybuys transition (and give you the larger network).

 

[Chicken]

And in this case, the gift card is not just a gift card, it is a prepaid "mastercard", so the $100 spend for the card itself can be a mechanism to gain points for a spend on your amex card that can ultimately be used for a mastercard transaction..... which is useful when amex not accepted, amex has high surcharge, or no or low points points earn for the transaction (eg government agencies).

Yes, exactly, this is why I asked the question, on why would someone want a $50 or $100 card instead of a $250 card, because I thought the reason for this exercise is to wash thru these expenses.

I personally use gift cards for:
- one council which has no surcharge for EFTPOS, but surcharge for Visa MC, and don't take AmEx. So I buy EFTPOS cards using Edge, then pay the council using EFTPOS gift cards
- one council which has no surcharge for Visa MC and don't take AmEx, and we know that most credit cards don't give points for govt
- Strata surcharge heaps for credit card, so I wash them thru Snipp, and Snipp charges the lowest credit card fee with these Coles prepaid cards.