Discussing My Visa Gift Card Problem

I recently got a Visa Gift Card as a gift the other day and I have to say that they are useless. You have to jump through a number of hoops before you can use the card. Even if you get it working it isn't actually a gift card - it's a credit card with a very low limit. That means once you spend the time to get the Visa Gift Card working the problem has only just began.

My Visa Gift Card Problem began in just trying to register the card - which you have to do in order to use it. Unlike an actual gift card, you can't activate it and use it right away. No, no, no! With a Visa Gift Card the person you give the card to has to go online and register the card. That means that they have to give their name, address, phone number, and e-mail address before they can use their "Visa Gift Card".

For me this posed an even bigger problem because the Visa Gift Card was purchased in the US and I am in Canada. To register the ever so much fun Visa Gift Card I had to lie and say I was in the US. That meant I had to track down a US postal code to use. Thankfully the person who game me the Visa Gift Card lives in the US and I just used their postal code. I didn't use their address or anything - I used my own Canadian address expect I used their state and postal code.

Even after getting the Visa Gift Card activated and ready to use, there is yet another problem you get to deal with. You can only use the Visa Gift Card up to the amount on the card. That's what you would expect, however, if you go over by even 1 cent then the card is denied. Unlike an actual gift card you have to know the value remaining on the card before you can use it (and make sure you don't go over that amount). That means if you want to pay for something that costs more than the value of the Visa Gift Card you get additional hoops to jump through. To use the Visa Gift Card in that situation you have to first pay down the balance via some other method and then use the Visa Gift Card.

That is as complicated as it sounds. If you have a $25 Visa Gift Card and want to buy something for $33.87 you have to figure out how to pay the other $8.87 first. If you're buying something in person that may not be a huge deal - at least if you know the actual balance. Most stores are able to have you pay through more than one method (cash, debit, credit card, etc.) However, how many places have you ever seen online that will let you use multiple payment methods - let alone specify the amounts used for each of those methods? That means if you try and buy anything that costs more than the actual Visa Gift Card's balance you can't use the Visa Gift Card.

So not only do you have to jump through many, many hoops just to use the Visa Gift Card - you also can't use it for as many things as you might think. Yet, to make it even more complicated - the person who bought the Visa Gift Card has to pay EXTRA to buy the card. For a $25 Visa Gift Card, the buyer actually gets to pay about $29 (based on my own $25 card). So not only does Visa get paid around $4 for someone to just buy their card, they make it very, very hard for anyone to actually use it. You can't even do a cash advance or otherwise convert the Visa Gift Card into cash. I don't know about you, but that make me think that Visa wants to sell these "Gift Cards" but not actually have anyone use them. After all, if you wait too long to use the "Gift Card" all the money on the card goes to them anyway.

To me this seems like a very, very big Visa Gift Card Problem. One in which everyone should tell everyone else they know not to buy the Visa Gift Cards.

PS: If you do end up with a Visa Gift Card, use it to buy another gift card from some reputable store in the exact same amount. That's what I did - ordered an online gift card from a company I dealt with already. That way you at least get full value out of the Visa Gift Card and don't give Visa more money for nothing.