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:
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
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.
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.