Other Customer Service Support

[snozberries]

Long story short, someone used my gift card in a city almost two hours away. I’ve had the card in my possession the entire time. Guy on phone was no help, went to local store and had to file a police report. Any help? This is a joke. Card had over $1600.

[hockeycanuckjc Community Veteran]

Store credit is treated as the same as gift cards, they are cash and if lost or stolen they can only be replaced with the current balance on that. So if your balance is gone your only recourse as you did, is to file a poilice report for the missing balance. Best Buy will co-operate with law enforcement on this matter in your report. Sorry but nothing else can be done at this point.

[snozberries]

Lol. What a joke.

[drumn_bass]

@snozberries 

Have you used the card at all, for any purchases? You need to also try to figure out how exactly can someone get a number that only you were in possession of, right? If you made an online purchase with it, it's possible that your computer is infected by some kind of malware or key logging software, and that's how the scammers got the number. You know why they told you to contact police? It's because a gift card is treated the same as cash. Just because it happened to be from Best Buy, doesn't mean Best Buy has to replace it. If you had a refund from Best Buy in cash, and someone stole it, you wouldn't be asking Best Buy to replace it. Or if you knew your cash was spent at Best Buy, you also can't ask them to return it to you. It's the same with the Gift Card.

Another question is, can Best Buy find out who used the card? Was the purchase attached to an account? Probably, although it would like be stolen or fake anyway, but they won't act on it themselves, they're not the police. If the police comes to them with those questions, I'm sure they will be happy to answer. And no, they can't give you that information either because they have an obligation to protect their customers' personal information.

[snozberries]

I didn’t use the card at all. I got home and discovered the balance was dropping. The support guy on the phone said it was used at a Best Buy almost two hours away. The police started an investigation, but they won’t be the ones to return the funds.

[Deysha-BBY Social Media Specialist]

Hello, snozberries,

Welcome to the forums!

I appreciate you taking the time to join and write us about your gift card situation. This is a horrible experience! Although, as hockeycanuckjc and drumn_bass previously mentioned, Best Buy is unable to reinstate stolen gift cards beyond any remaining card balance, as stated in our Gift Card Terms & Conditions, I’m here to help where I can.

In order for me to better assist you, please send me a private message with your gift card number (do not send the PIN), full name, phone number, and e-mail address . To send it, click on the “Private Message” button next to my signature.

I look forward to hearing from you!

[Exhoosier24]

I'm sorry, but this is totally unacceptable. The gift card has NOT been out of our possession so someone is obviously using a random number genrator or other device. In my case I can prove we got the gift card due a damaged refrigerator we got from Best Buy open box. The card balance was used online 2 months ago by someone else. WHYU can't Best Buy track WHAT is was used for when the have date and time stamp of the online purchase???

[jdogg836]

A random number generator *might* find a card number, but there's no way it would generate the secure pin needed to redeem it.  Much like credit cards, this is the secret key that prevents their usage even when the card number is guessed.  Since the card has not been out of your possession, are the numbers still covered on the back of the card or was that portion scratched off and now visible?

[snozberries]

The numbers were still covered until I checked the balance. Immediately called them. I took everything I had to the police and they basically said it was up to Best Buy. They filed a report but ultimately many cops don’t pursue anything these days. Best Buy told me to kick rocks. All in all? Absolute joke. I lost $1000+ with absolutely 0 help from Best Buy. Why they knew where it was being used but didn’t want to cancel the orders being placed? Who knows. Laziness or complete incompetence.

[Sarah-BBY Social Media Specialist]

Hello again, snozberries. 

Thank you for providing an update. I’m sorry to hear your local authorities may not have been willing to further investigate this for you. I understand this gift card contained quite a bit of funds, and it would be upsetting to have the gift card used without your consent. Gift card transactions are similar to cash transactions, which makes it near impossible to determine if the party placing the order has permission to use the gift card. This would typically prevent those orders from being cancelled. 

As Deysha-BBY previously mentioned, Best Buy is unable to reinstate stolen gift cards, beyond any remaining card balance. I’d be more than happy to check the balance on the gift card, as well as formally document your experience. You’re welcomed to send a Private Message. 

Best,