[Update 1]: Coles customer support updated that theit GC team has located the Visa purchase at $250 I've made.
TLDR:I tried to buy Coles Mastercard gift cards in store with my Vanilla Visa gift cards. A failed split payment caused $250 from one Vanilla card being deducted and not refunded back even after my purchase was cancelled, and I'm afraid that I may not get this money back.
I had some $250 and $100 Vanilla Visa gift cards and saw under the Coles Mastercard Gift Card deal where some users managed to buy Coles gift cards using Vanilla gift cards, so yesterday I decided to give it a shot.
At first, I bought a single $250 Coles gift card with a $250 Vanilla gift card at $244 via self-checkout, with no problem, ending up with a $250 Coles gift card and $6 left on the Vanilla gift card. Then, I wondered if I could split payments among multiple Vanilla gift cards, so I went to a manual register (i.e., with a staff member and a conveyor belt) and tried to purchase $750 worth of Coles gift cards using several $250 and $100 Vanilla gift cards. I asked to split the payment, the staff agreed, and I paid the first $250 via another $250 Vanilla gift card, which was approved, but she couldn't process further splits from the machine., so she called a supervisor for help.
The supervisor explained to me that I can't use gift cards to buy gift cards and proceeded to void the gift card items. (Maybe he meant Coles-branded gift cards specifically, but I didn’t insist since I could always try again.)
However, when I tried to use that same Vanilla gift card for another transaction, it was declined. I quickly checked on the Vanilla website and phone line and saw the $250 as a posted (not pending) payment. Even if they don't allow buying gift cards with gift cards, they shouldn't be charging me for nothing. I brought this up with the supervisor, who initially said it would be refunded. But when I clarified it wasn't pending, he went back to the register, retrieved the partial payment and tried (but failed) to void my $250 gift card payment. (I noticed his screen showed the "balance due" as -$250.00, clearly indicating that Coles owed me $250.) I asked for a receipt, but he said he couldn’t print one because it was a partial payment. In the end, he gave me the number for Coles Customer Support and advised me to contact them.
Earlier today, I did exactly that. Customer Care asked for my Vanilla Visa card number and its barcode, saying they'd escalate the issue to their "gift card team" to deactivate my Vanilla gift card within a few business days. I realised that if the store could retrieve the partial payment, I could try to recover my balance by purchasing $250 worth of groceries (e.g., six packs of $43 laundry capsules) under that transaction and immediately returning them. I went back to the store, but the register showed an error message and was closed. The same supervisor told me he couldn’t access it because IT had locked it. Another staff member mentioned the transaction couldn’t be removed, suggesting it might have been escalated, which I think is causing the block. I contacted Customer Care again to ask IT to remove the lock. Their response was essentially, “We’ll try.”
A few hours later, I returned to find the register unlocked. I asked another staff member at the service desk to locate the transaction. She logged in but couldn’t find the partial payment, as only finalised transactions (i.e., fully completed payments) were visible. She speculated that the incomplete payment might have been removed. (I really hoped it wasn't the case as it's too jerky for them to knowingly remove it)
As of now, I’ve provided all the information Coles needs to investigate and have also raised a dispute with Vanilla. It just sucked that they "swallowed" my $250 balance and can’t simply reverse it. Now, I’ll need to wait weeks for an outcome, with no guarantee of recovering my money if Coles Customer Care ultimately says they “couldn’t locate the transaction receipt.”
I’m kinda frustrated and desperate to get that money back. I’d really appreciate any advice or insight from anyone who’s dealt with something similar.
@mapax