Missing Funds on AARP Gift Card

[groundloop]

I bought several e-gift cards through AARP last November, and today one of them is showing no balance.  I keep meticulous records of my gift card purchases, amount charged to them, etc., and also check the balances as soon as I receive them to verify they're correct, so I'm pretty sure it's not an error on my part.

 

If anyone has ever had a similar problem were you able to get it straightened out?  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 16 by groundloop

[CruisinArn]

Look on the AARP community boards there are other people talking about empty gift cards as well.

Gift Cards are becoming a great way for people to steal from others. The numbers are known and when money is added to them they can just take it. Lots of news stories on this lately, but mainly with physical cards purchased at a store.

 

 

[Roscoe13]

1 hour ago, groundloop said:

I bought several e-gift cards through AARP last November, and today one of them is showing no balance.  I keep meticulous records of my gift card purchases, amount charged to them, etc., and also check the balances as soon as I receive them to verify they're correct, so I'm pretty sure it's not an error on my part.

 

If anyone has ever had a similar problem were you able to get it straightened out?  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Had something similar. Bought several in advance through AARP and when I was on the phone with my TA to use them to pay off my cruise one showed no balance. I put my TA on hold and called the AARP rewards cs line and in 30 seconds she was able to restore the monetary value and in another 60 seconds I was able to relay them to my TA for final payment. 

[JJK2008]

We use them and have never had a problem. Doesn't mean it can't happen. Like you we are meticulous with our records. I'd contact AARP and discuss it. Good Luck. 

[Frank12]

I'm leary of e-gift cards. I do buy them from AARP, but always use them immediately. (For cruise balance due payment, etc.)

[Old Fart Cruisers]

2 hours ago, groundloop said:

I bought several e-gift cards through AARP last November, and today one of them is showing no balance.  I keep meticulous records of my gift card purchases, amount charged to them, etc., and also check the balances as soon as I receive them to verify they're correct, so I'm pretty sure it's not an error on my part.

 

If anyone has ever had a similar problem were you able to get it straightened out?  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There should be a phone number to call about this.  It might just be a computer error, but if the funds are actually gone they will be able to see where when and how it was used, and who's cruise the funds were applied to.  Hopefully they will be able to restore the credit to your gift card.

 

Good luck.

[amcankid]

I have a little system to keep track of my AARP gift cards. Soon as I purchase one I open the email and open the card, screen shot it and put the picture into my AARP album, add the card to my iPhone wallet, write the numbers and amount to a hard copy list and then move the email to the archives folder so I don’t accidentally delete it. 
I know. I’m anal. But I usually have between 5 and 8 thousand dollars worth of the cards at any given time and I always worry that one of them will get lost or the balance will have a technical issue. 
if not for the 10 percent savings I wouldn’t subject myself to the stress or headaches. Lol

[crooooze]

7 hours ago, groundloop said:

I bought several e-gift cards through AARP last November, and today one of them is showing no balance.  I keep meticulous records of my gift card purchases, amount charged to them, etc., and also check the balances as soon as I receive them to verify they're correct, so I'm pretty sure it's not an error on my part.

 

If anyone has ever had a similar problem were you able to get it straightened out?  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Call the gift card customer service number 866-270-1064. They can tell you what transactions are on the card.

[groundloop]

SO..... I called AARP rewards customer service, she told me she couldn't do anything since they were just a "middleman" for Carnival and gave me the Carnival customer service number.  Carnival customer service told me they couldn't do anything because AARP sold me the gift card.  

 

I called the gift card customer service number which CROOOZE mentioned and they were at least able to tell me the card was used on December 16th (which happens to be when I was on board Carnival Spirit and I know for a fact that I didn't make any e-gift card related purchases).

 

So apparently I was ripped off and there's nothing I can do about it.  That e-gift card number was one of several I'd emailed to my travel agent for final payment on a cruise, but it turns out I couldn't use Carnival gift cards for Australian cruises.  I'll contact the travel agent and let them know what happened, but at this point I'm out $450.

 

I'm totally done with purchasing discounted gift cards.  I had a previous issue with one that was finally rectified after much jumping through hoops, between that and this loss it's just not worth saving a few bucks.

 

 

[mz-s]

Sorry to hear about this, that is a lot of money to be out.

 

I likewise don't buy discounted gift cards unless I use them immediately. Doing it that way works for me.

[bjkTX]

Last fall I paid for a cruise using the AARP gift Cards and had checked them all the morning before I gave the info to my TA to submit.  I got a notice saying one of them showed no balance.  It took several days between my TA, AARP and Princess to get it resolved - but it was.  I think it was the Princess folks that finally got it resolved.

[Elaine5715]

10 hours ago, groundloop said:

SO..... I called AARP rewards customer service, she told me she couldn't do anything since they were just a "middleman" for Carnival and gave me the Carnival customer service number.  Carnival customer service told me they couldn't do anything because AARP sold me the gift card.  

 

I called the gift card customer service number which CROOOZE mentioned and they were at least able to tell me the card was used on December 16th (which happens to be when I was on board Carnival Spirit and I know for a fact that I didn't make any e-gift card related purchases).

 

So apparently I was ripped off and there's nothing I can do about it.  That e-gift card number was one of several I'd emailed to my travel agent for final payment on a cruise, but it turns out I couldn't use Carnival gift cards for Australian cruises.  I'll contact the travel agent and let them know what happened, but at this point I'm out $450.

 

I'm totally done with purchasing discounted gift cards.  I had a previous issue with one that was finally rectified after much jumping through hoops, between that and this loss it's just not worth saving a few bucks.

 

 

So it is possible someone intercepted those emails

[nwcruiselover]

On 7/16/2024 at 2:39 PM, Frank12 said:

I'm leary of e-gift cards. I do buy them from AARP, but always use them immediately. (For cruise balance due payment, etc.)

I too have been hesitant to use the AARP gift cards and just tried using them for the first time, to make final payment on an upcoming cruise.  I purchased the gift cards, printed them out as a record, and immediately applied them to the balance owing on my cruise.  I wouldn’t feel comfortable buying them and saving them for later, or emailing them to a travel agent.  

[moviegal]

This actually happened to me, so I called them (1-888-687-2277). The AARP person told me that if you wait TOO LONG to use the gift card, it will sometimes read as invalid.

 

I bought a $500 Carnival gift card through AARP last fall, and went to use it a couple of months ago. It said no balance. I called, and they sent me a new one. It's a fairly common thing that happens, apparently. So be aware if you give one as a gift to somebody!

 

Hope this helps, but don't worry. Like I said, the exact same thing happened to me where my card said it had a $0 balance but it really had $500.

 

 

[shuang6]

What is a reliable website to check the balance of your gift card purchased from AARP?

[n6uqqq]

34 minutes ago, shuang6 said:

What is a reliable website to check the balance of your gift card purchased from AARP?

official site for Carnival.

 

https://carnival.ourgiftcards.com/checkbalance