Jim M.

Raise's customer service is as good as it gets. Yesterday I purchased at $100 Starbucks card from Raise, after having previously purchased a $25 card without an issue. After purchasing the $100 card I applied it to my existing Starbucks card, and today I discovered that Starbucks cancelled my card and "liberated" my remaining balance including $17 I had prior to the $100 transfer. After contacting Starbucks customer support, they say they didn't receive the funds from the gift card and that my purchasing it via Raise violates their terms and conditions, so their security team shut down my card.

I contacted Raise customer support via email, explaining the situation and requesting a refund of the $93.18 I spent on the gift card, which should be no problem with Raise's buyer protection guarantee. Within a few hours someone from customer support named Blair responded, explaining that Starbucks has apparently started flagging cards as fraudulent when purchased through third parties like Raise, when merging the balance with an existing card, and that they would refund my purchase.

I was pretty irritated this morning with how Starbucks handled this, but Raise's response to my dilemma was excellent. The response with quick, they understood the situation clearly, and they immediately moved to resolve the issue and refund me without any hassle whatsoever.

I'm willing to chalk the $17 loss up to a learning experience, but the $93 would have been more difficult to swallow. Thanks to Raise's customer service, I won't spend the rest of the day in a bad mood!

Word of warning, if you buy a Starbucks gift card, don't transfer the balance! I did this once successfully, but clearly Starbucks doesn't care if you've been a loyal customer for a decade. No worries though... I'll just have to get my $17 back in expensive reward drinks!

Thanks Raise customer service!