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Visa (etc...) Gift Cards and Refunds

John A. Moskal II
$organization

Hello All,

(Just FYI, we are not currently on TMS, though will be making our way there in the next 3 - 6 months.)

So, we just had a situation where we needed to cancel some performances and refund all tickets.  Not the most fun, but well within the bounds of normal operation.  Anyway, like most people, we typically refund to the payment method that was used to pay in the first place.  Problem being, one of the orders was paid for using a Visa Gift Card.  And, surprisingly, despite it supposedly being a non-reloadable card, it refunded successfully.  So now we are trying to figure out A) what happened to that money and B) what we can do for that patron.

But this leads me to do my real questions for this group:

  • Is this usual?  I cannot recall this happening before for us, and it would seem weird to me that the refund would actually process successfully.  But what do I know?
  • Is there instead some way of identifying such orders before doing a mass series of refunds?  I admit, I would have no idea how to begin such a search beyond maybe looking through the credit card table for the name on the card to say "Visa Gift Card", and that only if the patron actually bothered to enter that there.
  • Does anyone actually have any experience tracking down funds in this situation?
  • Is our future switch to TMS likely to alleviate/compound/do nothing/advance/enhance/simplify such situations?

I cannot imagine that this will be the last time we see a Visa (etc...) Gift Card being used to place an order that later needs to be refund.  And I cannot imagine that the solution is to have messaging on our website that says "Please try to avoid using [such an option]".

Thanks for your thoughts!

John A. Moskal II

  • $organization

    Is there any flag stored with that account that would clue you in to it being a gift card?  I'm guessing no.  If not, it's pretty much in the hands for the payment card provider, so I'm guessing there's nothing we can do.  Here's a story: when we did our mass refunds for COVID we had multiple instances where a customer had paid with a card in the intervening period they had cancelled that account (not changed the number, not gotten a different card with the same bank, but completely shut down their account).  The provider, however, left the card active so that it could accept the refunds, presumably to capture money from situations like this in a such a way as to make it almost impossible for the customer to claw it back from them.

  • $organization

    Hi John, Based on what I could find online Visa Gift Cards do allow for refunds. I pulled these two FAQs from their website: 

    Making a Purchase with your Visa Gift card

    What if I change my mind and want to cancel a purchase?
    If a merchant cancels a purchase transaction for you, it may take three to seven business days for the cancellation to show up on your Visa Gift card record and for the funds to be credited to your card and available for use. Check the balance on your card, either online or by phone, to see when your cancelled purchase transaction has been processed. Refer to the back of your card for the web site address/phone number of the financial institution that issued your card.
    How do I return items bought with my Visa Gift card?
    In case you need to return any items purchased with your Visa Gift card, be sure to save your Visa Gift card even after the balance is depleted. You will be asked to present this card when returning items purchased with the card. If the merchant's return policy allows for refunds, the value of the returned goods will be credited back to the card within three to seven business days of the return. If your Visa Gift card has expired, the merchant's return policy will determine how the return will be handled.
    www.visa.ca/.../gift-cards.html
    It would be the responsibility of the customer to keep those Gift Cards in case something happens to the product/s they purchase or the event is cancelled. If they no longer have the Gift Card/s, they would be able to receive a reissued Gift Card from Visa if they could provide the card number. 
    Hope this helps. 
  • $organization in reply to Gawain Lavers

    Yeah, no flag whatsoever in this case.  The only reason we know of this one is because the customer happened to remember that that is how he purchased.  According to him, he already talked to the company, and they do not have the money.  If he is a customer capable of actually remembering that he paid with a Visa Gift Card a month after the fact, then I believe he is also the sort of person who would call and ask the issuing company, so I believe him.

    My experience (and your story above) makes me less willing to believe the issuing company.  But, as you suggest, what can be done?

    Seeing as we are moving to TMS in the nearish future, is there any staff member watching this thread who might be able to indicate whether or not there is some way of indicating whether or not something might be a gift card at the time of transaction?  Even if it is just some checkbox somewhere, it would seem that there would have to be some knowledge somewhere that this is happening, and, if the likelihood of being able to successfully re-interact with such cards is going to be essentially nil, even that flag would be nice to have.

  • $organization in reply to Kristen Mihalko

    Thank you very much Kristen for this information, it is helpful to not have to find this for myself!

    But yeah.  Much as it would be nice to flash up a giant warning on our website to be careful about what type of payment they use, my guess is that patrons will read that just as thoroughly as they read every other bit of informational text on our website (that is, not at all), and then still expect us to fix the situation in the end anyway.  So my question in response to Gawain still stands.

    But again, I appreciate the resources above.  I will forward that on to our Finance department (where I am sure their excitement here will mirror my own).

  • $organization in reply to John A. Moskal II

    We are live with TMS, and there are Risk rules that you can set to not allow gift cards online.  We are setup this way.  What is nice to know, is that patrons can still call in and you can process the transaction. So at least there is some type of communication about fact they are using a GC.

  • $organization in reply to Robert Schmidlapp

    Just for clarification, I assume here that you are talking in fact about a Visa (etc...) Gift Card and NOT a Gift Card (Gift Certificate) issued by your own organization, correct?  Because we do not have any issues with the issuing/redemption of our OWN Gift Certificates online.

    Assuming I am reading that correctly, that IS good to know.

  • $organization in reply to John A. Moskal II

    Correct. Not talking about Gift cert that we issue, but Visa, MC, and other prepaid gift card. 

  • $organization in reply to Robert Schmidlapp

    Beautiful.  I will definitely make note of that.  I suppose ideally there would be a way to allow and still note the types for later remediation, but I will definitely take this and advise something of that nature for us.  Of course, that will require our staff to actually NOTE that it was a Visa (etc...) Gift Card in the order somewhere for when it comes time for refunds, etc... and they likely will forget to do so.  But that is a different issue.

    Thanks again!