I remember a short while back someone had a bad problem with the Green Dot company cards. Well..thought I would post my bad experience with them to date at least...the saga continues at this point.
OK..sooo..my ex sent(amazingly!!) me a Walmart MoneyCard..NOT a WM gift card. BIG mistake! (have to interject my ex's WIFE picked this out so not sure if it was done with malicious thought or just didn't know any better...giving benefit of doubt here to her. He usually just sends a WM gift card which I use all year long to pick up stuff for daughter when I see appropriate things she can use for bday, Christmas etc as she is very hard to buy for being multiply handicapped)This is actually a green dot card. First ..took me about a week to get it verified/activated between going online and on the phone trying to get it done. They kept trying to link it to a bank account of mine and even asked for social security number etc. Ridiculous!
Finally in the end I got a live person..BUT of course they were from India so very hard to understand. Of course, right? After dealing with him, at the end of conversation her proceeds to tell me where I can use this Visa card..not just at Walmart as it's a "Visa"..at restaurants etc but of course there is a 'fee' each place but varies according to place which they deduct every time you use it. Say you can even pull all the cash off of it as well with a fee attached ..of course. Last thing he says is they will take a monthly fee out of it starting Jan 5th, 8th?? I was pretty livid so forget which actual date but realized it was the first week of Jan it was coming out. He said my pin number was recorded and it was 'good to go'. Great..finally. I thought well they are goind to keep taking and taking from this card so I might as well cash it in so I don't keep losing money off of it.
Soo..in town I put it in a ATM and check balance. Says zero balance. What??! Call my ex..explain all this. He says send it back to him and he will see what he can do. Just a FYI, I also went to WM cust. service physically and they said once it's bought and loaded it's out of their hands. I have to deal with Green Dot company service. Ugghh. So, I mail the card with pin to my ex with Del.Confimation on it. Yesterday I receive a envie from Green Dot company with another Visa card inside. Apparently the one (and I was NOT told this that I remember in the phone conversation..of course was hard to just 'understand' what that person was saying with such bad english and thick accent!) that my ex sent to me and activiated can NOT be used to purchase/get cash etc. They send you another one in the mail and THAT has the actual monies on it. What??!! WHY??!
I call my ex yesterday and tell him I got this one in the mail so hold on when you get the other one and let me see if this one works now. Sheesh! Sooo..Monday will go to a ATM and see if this one shows a balance on it. Ohhh...and remember the fee for the month coming out? Of COURSE am sure it will be out of there as they pulled it before it even arrived here!! What a RIP off!!
I will update this post next week and let you all know if the card is loaded or not etc and what fees are gone already from it. Needless to say NEVER get a green dot card! Daughter will not get the full amount sent to her obviously from her father. Ridiculous for sure! 1|1|Wow...that's simply ridiculous! I'm so sorry you had to go through that..and hope you get one with that acutally works|kellysp6637|frugalk76@aol.com|07:44:57|01/07/2012|
I can tell you from the experiences I've read about on here, I will NOT be buying any kind of 'green dot' cards. 2|1|Assuming your new card has the correct balance|oakridge32|hammer_1116@yahoo.com|08:15:45|01/07/2012|
Why not just go to WalMart and purchase a gift card for the entire balance? Now you have what you wanted to begin with, you're done with this stupid card and worse case the fee is deducted only once. 3|2|that's a great idea!|kellysp6637|frugalk76@aol.com|08:31:51|01/07/2012|
:) 6|2|well..the problem with getting a WM gc is..|Skaytes|skaytez@gmail.com|11:47:38|01/07/2012|
my little daughter is sooo hard to buy for..she has limited gross and fine motor movement etc so getting a gift card at a specific place is tough as they might or might not have items throughout the year I can buy there for her. This includes clothing as well as she has a trach so can't have anything with glitter or buttons and has to have a more 'scooped' like neckline to accomodate the trach. Have you noticed most 'all' girls clothes have some type of glitter or stuff on them now?! Pretty but pretty useless for my daughter. Sooo in actuality the visa card was a 'good' thing so I could use it at other stores as well etc but just not doing the 'green dot' thing though as that was a 'bad' idea. :( 4|1|I got one of these for $40 .. bad news..|brighteyes|lailuvstosave@msn.com|09:41:43|01/07/2012|
it took me 2 weeks to get my money back
please everyone.. please don't use these cards
5|2|The green dot cards were in a lot of the Christmas ads|petunia1|sweetpea39@comcast.net|11:35:59|01/07/2012|
so I would say the ex bought it without trying to be a pain. I learned a long time ago not to get any of these. Rite aid was offering $5 off with the green dot purchases and a few other specials. I remember seeing them in their ads.
sorry your putting up with this. I stay away from any of the american express, visas, even discover gift cards that you have to pay to activate and then they deduct monthly fees. most people dont think about this though. best to give cash or a store GC directly
give the girls a Hug ~ 7|1|wow will never get one of those, ty for the info!|cinda68|lacinda68@gmail.com|12:26:26|01/07/2012|
Amex gift cards are nice, got a few from the CVS deals a while back and they worked everywhere, no problem at all. 8|2|I sure hope this get worked out for you --- I am HAPPY he sent you the funds!!!!! What a pain to deal with -- won't ever be getting one of those cards!!|cashcoll|cashcoll@yahoo.com|15:37:56|01/07/2012|
Have a Great Day!
*********************************
GO HOGS GO!!
Woooooooooo, Pig! Sooiee!
9|1|FINAL UPDATE on GREEN DOT NTMARE..|Skaytes|skaytez@gmail.com|08:23:33|01/21/2012|
Well..my green dot nightmare has ended. At least I hope so. Ok..so got the 2nd card in the mail. Had to call the number on it that was on a sticker on it. They said I had to change my pin number..again!..and enter in my birthdate via phone. Did that and said it was activated. I tried to get the money off it. Ended up it would let me take $80 off it so got that in cash. Then I attempted to use the remaining balance at a store just to get rid of the card. After a couple attempts that was successful. Sooo looks like the card has zero balance on it now. It already had something like $11 or maybe it was $16 gone off it in fees before I was able to get it unloaded. Well..lesson learned. NEVER again use Green Dot and made sure my ex knew about it as well. Talk about a BIG ripoff! Geez..money was taken out before I ever even got the useable card in my possesion! Grrrrrrrr! Please, please DO spread the word to everyone you know to NOT buy these cards! Hopefully my nightmare is over. Sure hope so... 10|2|Man, that sure is a total RIP Off ---- there's no reason to ever use it!!|cashcoll|cashcoll@yahoo.com|18:13:16|01/22/2012|
Have a Great Day!
*********************************
GO HOGS GO!!
Woooooooooo, Pig! Sooiee!
11|3|they have been advertising them big time in PA|petunia1|sweetpea39@comcast.net|11:34:55|01/23/2012|
ads in papers, sales papers, and TV. told my mom not to get any. they are a big rip off. Sorry for you and anyone else who has to fight for their money back