Hi FW community, This is my first thread, so please nice with me. I lost my wallet last week and at first I thought I just left it somewhere because when I checked all my accounts online, there was no strange activities at all. Then I remembered that I have a $500 Whole Foods gift card in there. The balance of the card at that time was around $340. At the end of last week, I called Whole Foods (I know I should call them earlier) to ask about the gift card. Good news is they were able to find the gift card number. However, they found out that someone has used my gift card the next day I lost my wallet. He(She) spent around $280. The Whole Foods staff said that they can only retrieve the remaining balance of the card.
I know I don't have much hope for the lost money but I know there are a lot of experienced people in FW. Is there any way that I can get back the money I lost? TIA,
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kn9ght
Member
posted: Aug. 2, 2012 @ 11:17a
Why is this thread moved to "Deal Discussion"?
nicknametaken
Senior Member - 1K
posted: Aug. 2, 2012 @ 1:14p
OP,glad to see the company was able to "freeze" the remaining $60. Do you have the proof of purchase from when you initially bought the GC? I lost a GC and was able to get a new one. I provided the info from when I bought it (although in the end no one ever wanted to see that CRT) and it was replaced. Turns out I never lost it (as in fell out on floor/parking lot) but somehow it got kept at the pharmacy counter when I made a purchase there. Of course, when I called the pharmacy no one had a clue but then it turned up a few weeks later in their dept.!
Of course, you already know that a GC is like cash, so, you may not ever get back the amount the "finder" had used up. You would have to have proof of exactly who it was that used it, the store would need to pull up video of the person(s) and hope to have some way of IDing them etc. etc. But even then, is that considered "stolen?" The person finding it should have turned it in. I would have. bit I'll leave that debate to unroll here...
Good luck!
ETA: I think the company should at least flag that lost card so when it is attempted to be redeemed again someone should be alerted.
kn9ght
Member
posted: Aug. 2, 2012 @ 2:52p
Thank you for your respond. I didn't keep the receipt for that purchase but they was able to pull up that transaction and receipt by several information I provided. I also told them to alert me if someone tried to use the old gift card again. However, the staff told me that it might not be possible to them since they don't know if the machine will record a denied transaction or not (since the card was frozen, it will get denied at check-out). I heard someone told me about the credit card purchase security. Is there anyway I can get around with that?
Zuke76
Senior Member - 1K
posted: Aug. 2, 2012 @ 10:01p
$280 at whole foods... so they bought 2lbs of apples and a gallon of milk...
scoutconnor
Nerdy Member
posted: Aug. 4, 2012 @ 12:47p
kn9ght said: I heard someone told me about the credit card purchase security. Is there anyway I can get around with that? No. It wasn't a credit card, it was a gift card.
BitemeIamtoxic
Non-toxic
posted: Aug. 7, 2012 @ 1:11p
Keep working your ESL lessons, you're getting better.
kn9ght
Member
posted: Aug. 7, 2012 @ 3:31p
Zuke76 said: $280 at whole foods... so they bought 2lbs of apples and a gallon of milk... Apparently he(she) bought 5 bottles of wine scoutconnor said: No. It wasn't a credit card, it was a gift card. I meant if I bought the gift card by a credit card with purchase protection; can I get the money back in case someone stole the gift card? Anyway, I know that my chance of getting the money back is slim, but I just hope that some experienced people here in FW might have different opinions. BitemeIamtoxic said: Keep working your ESL lessons, you're getting better. Yeah, English is not my first language. So what?
kn9ght said: Anyway, I know that my chance of getting the money back is slim, but I just hope that some experienced people here in FW might have different opinions.
Yes, move on.
alamo11
Senior Member - 1K
posted: Aug. 8, 2012 @ 7:50a
kn9ght said: Zuke76 said: $280 at whole foods... so they bought 2lbs of apples and a gallon of milk... Apparently he(she) bought 5 bottles of wine scoutconnor said: No. It wasn't a credit card, it was a gift card. I meant if I bought the gift card by a credit card with purchase protection; can I get the money back in case someone stole the gift card? Anyway, I know that my chance of getting the money back is slim, but I just hope that some experienced people here in FW might have different opinions. BitemeIamtoxic said: Keep working your ESL lessons, you're getting better. Yeah, English is not my first language. So what?
Marlin1975 said: Did you call the police yet? Its basic theft.
Now why would anyone do a silly think like that before posting on a deal-finding website ?
squinky86
Ancient Member
posted: Aug. 8, 2012 @ 10:39a
respdoc said: Marlin1975 said: Did you call the police yet? Its basic theft.
Now why would anyone do a silly think like that before posting on a deal-finding website ?Rule #1 - never call!
In all seriousness, though, the store will have the date+time the transaction occurred, and the police can request the video records from the store. Stores likely will not do this without law enforcement requesting it. Good luck!
technolich
Senior Member
posted: Aug. 8, 2012 @ 10:41a
kn9ght said: I meant if I bought the gift card by a credit card with purchase protection; can I get the money back in case someone stole the gift card? Anyway, I know that my chance of getting the money back is slim, but I just hope that some experienced people here in FW might have different opinions.
Nope, you wouldn't be able to chargeback a camera you bought that someone then stole from you because it's not the merchants fault it got stolen.
This is no different, you bought a gift card, put a load of money on it, then you lost the gift card/wallet.
Why the heck are you walking around with a $500 gift card to whole foods?
Let this be a lesson learned, You're lucky wholefoods is willing to give you the balance.
riznick
Acrobatic
posted: Aug. 8, 2012 @ 3:18p
I think the Op is asking about credit card protection of a purchased good that is lost or stolen, would the insurance cover it?
"I meant if I bought the gift card by a credit card with purchase protection; "
I think the answer would be "no" for this type of product.
OP, be very glad and grateful that you got the $60. I'm amazed you were able to get that far.
kn9ght
Member
posted: Aug. 8, 2012 @ 11:06p
Thank you all for your advice. The only reason i bought a $500 whole foods GC is to meet the $1500 bonus limit for my Chase Freedom cards last quarter and I do go to Whole Foods quite often. Currently I have given up all hope on getting the lost money back and from now on I won't carry a lot of cash/GC in my wallet anymore. I learned it the hard way. Thank you guys again for your help.
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