Wyndham gift card issue

[Freyja]

My husband and I recieved a Amex gift card for attending an owner update. We held on to the card for a future use. We aren't exactly sure which location we got it at, but I belive it was Williamsburg. We were just in New Orleans and intended to use it for a nice dinner. Unfortunately, Amex states there is an issue wiith the card and it wasn't activated. We went to the Wyndham sales department at Avenue Plaza to inquire how to fix this. We were told the card has $200 dollars on it but they can't fix the card because they do not use Amex. Does anyone know who we should contact to see if we can fix it?

 

[jphilcici]

I was under the impression you can call the Amex number that is on the back of the card and they will fix your problem.

 

[Freyja]

Thank you. We tried that. Amex was able to identify the date of issue only. But that was enough for us to figure out which Wyndham Location it was issued from. We will call them after the holiday weekend.

 

[HitchHiker71]

There's also a website address typically on the back of the card that you can use to check the balance and status of the card. Might be worth registering an online account so that you can see what the online system says about the balance and card status. The systems don't misinterpret things - but people often do. I tend to trust the what the online systems tell me more than anyone I speak with over the phone with this in mind. This may or may not be of any help - but it's something to consider.

 

[dioxide45]

Did your nice dinner cost more than $200 or even more than $167? These types of cards are notoriously bad for how the charges to them work. They have the $200 limit and if you charge something higher than that to the card, it will simply decline. They don't work like store issued gift cards where it just reduces your bill by the amount of the gift card then allowing you to use another payment method or cash for the remaining balance. At restaurants, card issuers will also try to authorize the card for the amount of your check plus anticipated gratuity. So if your bill was over $167, the additional 20% could put the authorization over $200 causing the card to decline.

I find the best use of these types of cards is to use them to buy other gift cards at major retailers (not at the restaurant). Lowes, Walmart, Target, etc all sell gift cards. We usually take these gift cards issued with the Vista, MC or Amex logo on them and buy gift cards for retailers or restaurants. Then those gift cards are much easier to use without the problems I indicated above.

You can use these Visa, Amex or MC gift cards for amounts below the balance on them in stores or at restaurants, but then you have a balance that isn't an even dollar amount and is hard to use. With some retailers if you know the balance on the card you can tell them to charge that exact amount and run the card resulting in a $0 balance. Another option, as long as the balance is over $5, is to just convert the card to Amazon credit. This works well when you have a card with an uneven dollar amount like $5.23. You can buy $5.23 of Amazon credit and not have to deal with having a retailer charge the card for exactly $5.23.

 

[paxsarah]

I find the best use of these types of cards is to use them to buy other gift cards at major retailers (not at the restaurant). Lowes, Walmart, Target, etc all sell gift cards. We usually take these gift cards issued with the Vista, MC or Amex logo on them and buy gift cards for retailers or restaurants. Then those gift cards are much easier to use without the problems I indicated above.

If you use Amazon regularly (I know some people avoid it), that's my go-to. It's super easy to use those sorts of cards to add to your gift card balance there, and then just use it to pay for anything you purchase. At the very least, I have subscribe and save products I buy monthly and it will get used.

 

[fatlard]

Use these at Walmart. I had this problem as well... I could not use at Amazon.com or any place online... Just swipe at physical store and the funds can be used.

 

[HitchHiker71]

If you use Amazon regularly (I know some people avoid it), that's my go-to. It's super easy to use those sorts of cards to add to your gift card balance there, and then just use it to pay for anything you purchase. At the very least, I have subscribe and save products I buy monthly and it will get used.

That's a great idea - thanks for sharing!

 

[clifffaith]

We always use timeshare gift cards at the grocery store and never have any issue. And when they get down to lower balances they easily use that balance up allowing me to pay for the rest of my purchase with a regular credit card.