Short story: Bought a instacart gift card and tried to use it but it stated on the instacart website it was already redeemed. Customer service did not give me a refund or honor their 45 day guarantee.

Long Story: I have used cardcash to buy roughly 10-13 gift cards and haven't had an issue until recently. As stated above, I bought a instacart gift card to immediately use on a purchase I planned ahead of time. I tried multiple different attempts including making another account to see if maybe I redeemed too many gift cards with instacart. So I contacted customer service and in summary I did everything they asked to still get a sorry the gift card is new and we are not giving you a refund. Here's a complete copy and paste transcript of our email conversation:

-Beginning-
March 29th 2024
Me: Hi, I just bought this instacart gift card and tried to use it immediately but it stated it was already redeemed.(This initial comment was made in the live chat)
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Mar 30,2024
Cardcash:
Hi,

Thank you for contacting CardCash support. I'm really sorry you're having trouble with your gift card. I know it must be frustrating. If you purchased the card less than 45 days ago, you are protected by our 100% money back guarantee and have nothing to worry about. I have forwarded your email to the Claims Team, and you will receive an email advising you of the status of your claim within the next 2-4 business days.

We very much value your business and look forward to seeing you again soon.
If you have any further questions please feel free to contact us.

Regards,
Arlene
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Apr 2,2024, 1:56 PM EDT
CardCash:
Good day,

Could you please provide a screenshot displaying the error message that appears when you try to use the gift card?
Best Regards,

Sunshine
Card Cash Claims
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Apr 2,2024, 7:28 PM EST
Me:
Hi thanks for getting back to me. Here's a picture. ( I attached to pic showing the error message or the prompt that pops up when you are redeeming a giftcard.)
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Apr 3,2024, 8:04 AM EDT
CardCash:
Good morning,

Please be advised that this gift card is a brand-new gift card.

Please double check.

Thank you
Best Regards,

Sunshine
Card Cash Claims

Your request has been solved. To reopen this request, reply to this email.
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Apr 4,2024, 2:48 AM EST
Me:
Hi Sunshine,

I understand that this is a brand new gift card. What is the point of asking me for a picture which clearly shows the supposedly brand new gift card code showing "it has already been redeemed"? Secondly, I have tried more than twice, I have copied and paste it a multitude of times and I typed it out as well. Nothing works. I have bought many gift cards and haven't complained once. But I am beginning to lose my patience at the quality of customer service I am getting for being a loyal customer. If something is not done within 24 hours, I will do a chargeback to my card and I will make this situation known on every public forum, with the pictures and our customer service messages to support my claim.

-END-

As you can guess, nothing was done and I didn't receive a response. Now I'm making sure everyone know what they can potentially deal with when giving your money to this company.

They didn't deliver the eGift cards and didn't reply to my emails!

Very unhappy with the service!

No Bueno...

This company supposedly verifies the giftcards that they sell, but the one I received was never activated. It was a BevMo gift card, but when I tried to use it, they said it had a zero balance (it was supposed to be $100). When I called the BevMo customer service, they said that the card was never even activated - meaning it was never legitimately sold in the first place. So somewhere along the supply chain, the card was taken without consent and sold through cardcash.com. Cardcash.com supposedly verifies all their giftcards, but if that were true, they either knowingly sold a giftcard that was never activated, or they are lying and did not verify it. Either way, it is proof they are not honest and buyers should be aware of doing business with them. When I tried to contact their customer service, they just ignored me and stopped responding.

Looking at the BBB reviews on this company, it seems they have a lot of negative reviews and don't give a crap about one more bad review.

For anyone that's been duped by this company, these are the steps that I'm taking to try to get my money back. Hopefully it might help others from getting scammed, or apply sufficient pressure on the company to resolve these issues. If not, hopefully they will go out of business and will stop scamming people out of their hard earned money.

- DOCUMENT all communications with this company - don't take them at their word on anything they tell you over the phone.
- Make an effort to reach out and resolve the issue - who knows, you might get lucky.
- If they ignore you or stop responding, file a complain with the BBB, and other scam-watch websites, like the ripoffreport.com
- File a complaint with the FTC (Federal Trade Commission).
- File a complaint with your local District Attorney
- File a complaint with the Windsor, NJ District Attorney
- If the transaction involved shipment of stolen goods shipped through the US Postal Service (as was the case in my situation), it's possible there may have been federal mail fraud statutes that were violated. Credit card fraud across interstate commerce may also be a federal crime as well. I believe the FBI would be the correct agency to contact in such cases.
- Write to your local Congressional representative to let them know about what's going on, and ask them to follow up and intervene on your behalf. One of the little-known duties of Congressional representatives are to REPRESENT their constituents on various matters of government. For cases such as this, where their constituents are getting swindled by shady out-of-state characters, their office can send letters to the DA, FTC, FBI, and/or other organizations and ask them to look into the matter. A letter from members of Congress will NOT go unheeded by these governmental organizations. And they WILL take action and report back. Especially if they are receiving multiple requests from different Congressional members about the same scammer, they will probably start a special task force to make sure they do a thorough job of investigation.
- File for damages in local small claims court, and if possible, look for an attorney that may be willing to take the case as a class action lawsuit. Considering the number of reported complaints, I think there will be PLENTY of people that will sign up.

Companies like this almost certainly are counting on the fact that most people will not go through the hassle of following up on all these steps. But even if a few people do so, it can really make a big difference. They know that people who buy discounted giftcards are looking for a deal, and sometimes may not have the means to pay full price. They are counting on the fact that they are tired from working 2-3 jobs to make ends meet and put food on the table for their families. They are COUNTING on the fact that most people will choose to just eat the loss, rather than take the steps necessary to stop despicable characters like these. They need to be STOPPED, and if appropriate, LOCKED UP BEHIND BARS so they can't continue to defraud the public. If you feel that you've been taken advantage of by these people, PLEASE do everything you can to try to get your money back and STOP them from hurting others.

You have been selling me INVALID CARD NUMBERS... not 'expired' - INVALID. FRAUD!... NOT HAPPY!...

MY BALLANCE BECAME 0 WITHOUT ME USING THE CARD. I KEPT HE CARD WITH ME FOR A SOME TIME BECAYSE I DID NOT SOP AT ROSS

Sammed me out of $90. DO NOT USE. Wish I saw this site before I purchased. TOTAL SCAM!

Yesterday on 7/23/17 I used the online website cardcash.com to sell a Home Depot gift Card. Their site was recommended online for people with gift cards who cannot use them, which was my situation. I entered my gift card information along with my credit card info which they claim is for security purposes. The transaction went threw with a status of "in review" prior to this I made sure to check my balance on home depot's site and my card was at a 250.00 balance. Today I recieved an email from Card Cash saying my transaction was cancelled, so I wisely went to check the balance on my gift card which is now at 3.19 cents. In the span of only twenty four hours my gift card lost all of its value after using this site. I have called their customer service and have spoken first to a regular custpomer service representative who tried to say it was because of the balance they cancelled the transaction. When I explained the situation and asked to speak to a supervisor I was placed on hold then Adele C answered. I asked her to give me her name and last intital of her last name if she was uncomfortable giving her full last name. The fact that she did not offer her full name already was a sign to me something was a miss. She then proceeded to ask me if I bothered to check to see where the money was spent, before putting me on hold after I told her the first thing I did was call them after seeing my gift card balance drained. I was then given a number to a Home depot in Lakewood NJ I live in Durham NC. I called said Home Depot and their manager told me that they do not give out transaction information to anyone regarding gift cards. Adele claimed she verified that she "called" this Home Depot and was told that 243 dollars was spent there. I called them back and Adele rudely changed her story and said it was used online then said she never said the amount and other double talk about how she talked to a book keeper for home depot and found out the gift card was use. This company is a straight up theft ring and I want this to be known. I am scared that this company not only has my information but has potentially done this to others. 200 plus dollars is not a lot to some people, but as a single mother looking to buy back to school items for my child I am heartbroken at this. I would have never used this site had I thought they would pull something like this and while I may never recoupe my personal loss I wish to see that they are investigated so that no one is the victim of such practices again. I have filed complaints with both the FTC and my state Attorney General's office.

Im living in Tampa, FL and I purchased 1.3% discounted walmart electronic gift card ($98.42) on 9/7/2016 from CardCash. I used $22.98 for me on 1/7/2017, but someone else used up $75.44 on 5/23/2017. I realized it on 5/28/2017 and called walmart customer center, she told me items sent out CA, TN etc.

Its eGift card and I have all transactions with me. The card purchased from TN and it's easy to investigate where items sent and who ordered them on that day after tracking IP address. The gift card purchased from Rockwood, TN.

I'd been to police department and policeman told me they need Forgery Affidavit from CardCash to investigate this on 6/7/2017. I emailed CardCash more than 7 times and called more than 4 times.
However, they kept ignoring and denying to provide original cardholder information and Forgery Affidavit without any reason.
Original cardholder and CardCash staffs only knew this information.

They kept saying they have only 45 day money back quarantee.
However, I'm not asking REFUND but asking FORGERY AFFIDAVIT to report policeman.

I'd been to police department again on 6/23/2017 and one kind policeman called CardCash for me at 9am using my cellphone. I have a voice file for that.
After that, finally they emailed me "At this time we will not be providing that information." That's all. No sorry for innocent customer and no reasons why they WILL not provide it. That's how they responded to me and policeman.

After filed up Better Business Bureau, they responded me that "Unfortunately, we cannot release that information as per our customer protection and privacy policy unless we receive an official subpoena from a law enforcement agency, we would then be happy to comply."

Am I not a customer? What kind of protection they provides to buyers, even if policeman decides to look into?

No one goes to police department just for FUN. If policeman investigates, it reveals everything who is guilty.

I guarantee it will happen again and again if no one controls like CardCash.
Ordinary people dont go to the court because its small gift card compared to lawyer fee. Thats why those similar companies take advantages of customers for years and years. This kind of business is now growing very rapidly and many customers losing their hard money because of FORGERY.

They should make an emphasis on original cardholder and their staffs on their website that "Forgery is illegal and felony. You have lifelong legal responsibility, if you attempt FORGERY after selling your gift card. We are willingly providing FORGERY AFFIDAVIT if customers want to report policeman" I think it protects both sides.

If anyone knows how to get subpoena from a law enforcement agency, please let me know. I want to warn others to avoid any risk.
Please, be aware and spread this to your friends, if you can.

Thank you!

My order was always canceled. Bad experience!,

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