M H.

As a first time user, I purchased $740.00 worth of electronic REI gift cards for $685.00 (8% discount plus a $5 first time user promo). I wondered if the cards would be legitimate, if they would have their full value, and if they would be accepted at REI.

I purchased the cards at 7:55 PM ET on a Friday (4:55 PM PT).

The site said that, as a new user, I may need to wait one "business" day before my order was processed. It wasn't clear to me if Saturday was considered a business day or not, so on Saturday I sent support an email.

Cardpool support responded within an hour and stated "business hours [are] from 9:00 AM-5:30 PM Monday - Friday PST." They also asked that I "bear in mind that all orders that our processing agents are not able to get to by the end of business hour or submitted after business hours or over the weekend are not process until the next business day."

Surprisingly, a that same Saturday, I received an email with links to my electronic gift cards. The links took an extraordinarily long time to open but each seemed to generate a card number and PIN.

I took the card numbers straight to the REI website and submitted an order. All the cards worked so I am a happy customer.

The only suggestion I would have is that cardpool clarify the turnaround time. In today's world of immediate satisfaction, I would have expected to get the electronic cards quickly. If they cannot do that, then clearer expectations should be set with business hours posted on the website.

Having been through the process once, I wouldn't hesitate to use them again.