How CardCash.com stole $600 of bitcoin, potentially ruining a Disney trip for my kids. [UPDATE: SITUATION RESOLVED]
Update — February 10, 2016–10:55am:
I checked my wallet this morning and I have indeed received my refund of $600 worth of bitcoin. I really appreciate all the effort Eric has gone to in order to make this right. I truly believe his intentions are good and he's dedicated to bitcoin, but I still think CardCash as a company may have some work to do with understanding bitcoin, and maybe even customer service in general.
I’ve updated the title to reflect this being resolved, but have left the content of my original post.
Update — February 9, 2016–1:09pm:
I have received an email update email from Eric once posting this story to reddit. He explained he had been out of the office due and told me that a refund will be issued within 24 hours and has also gifted me a $25 credit for future use. Once I have the BTC back into my wallet I will post another update here.
I have decided to publish my story as a warning to other bitcoin users.
Background:
I have been involved with bitcoin since 2013 and I am currently involved in my own bitcoin projects. I am a big fan of crypto and try to incorporate bitcoin payments anywhere I can in my personal life. I am currently planning a Disney world trip for my two kids and am using my bitcoin to fund the trip.
To do this I have two options that I know of at the moment:
- “The Gyft Way” — This method involves buying Target USA gift cards, then ordering Disney Gift cards through Target. They only allow the purchase of 3 Disney gift cards so this process takes forever to complete.
- “The CardCash Way” — CardCash recently announced they take bitcoin. This allowed me to purchase the cards I needed directly for bitcoin.
I chose the CardCash way. Turns out, I chose the wrong way.
Since placing my orders I have been plagued with: the wrong discounts on my order, receiving the wrong cards, being told I would receive a refund only to later be told that I could not be refunded in bitcoin, having support tickets closed with no explanation, having orders stuck in “fulfilment” for weeks only to be later cancelled, being told I would receive replacement cards only to be ignored when asking for a follow-up.
I have tried speaking to multiple customer service people, only to be ignored. I have spoken to their Director of Growth Strategy, Eric Berger, who assured me he would fix the issue only to later also ignore me.
At this point I am beyond frustrated and I do not think I will ever see my $600. $600 can be a lot of money to a lot of different people. It can be a month or two of groceries, it can be a car payment and it could even be rent. To me its the remainder of my kids trip and at the end of the day, it's my money.
I’ve now been waiting over 2 months for a resolution. I will have to find another way to fund this trip and although I’m confident I can figure out a way to pay for it, if I couldn’t than my trip would basically be cancelled due to CardCash holding my bitcoins hostage.
Below is a full history of every interaction and the dates it happened.
December 1, 2015 — I placed an order for a total of $2776.81 in Disney gift cards and paid with bitcoin. I was contacted by Eric Berger immediately telling me that there was an issue and they had not applied a discount properly and that I would be refunded BTC in the total of $55.54. I thought to myself “This is GREAT customer service” and was blown away.
December 2, 2015 — I received my refund of 0.157382 BTC — Awesome!
December 4, 2016 — I receive my initial order, however out of the $2776.81 they had sent $600.64 of the wrong gift cards.
At this point, I’m thinking “oh well, people make mistakes I’m sure they will fix it.”
December 10, 2015 — I was sent a return label and offered a refund.
December 19, 2015 — I update the ticket saying the cards were returned as per the tracking. Slightly surprised as it was a Saturday and I didn’t expect delivery.
December 21, 2015 — CardCash responds that they were closed over the weekend and that I should have a refund within 24–48 hours
December 27, 2015 — I email asking for the status of the Refund, as its now been almost 6 days. I am lenient with the Christmas holidays in-between but I would still like to proceed with placing another order to get the right cards.
December 28, 2015 — CardCash Responds informing me that Bitcoin refunds are a no-go. This is disappointing as it was offered previously, but this is a lack of my research on their bitcoin policies. I send a response asking that I simply have the equivalent amount in gift cards sent to me($600). At the time CardCash stock levels showed this would be a possibility.
January 01, 2016 — CardCash informs me that they are unable to issue replacement cards. Another disappointment in policies as this just seems like such a simple solution, and would result in keeping the sale as opposed to possibly losing it but again I go with it. I am offered a refund via Check. I request a website credit instead so I can purchase the replacement cards again.
January 05, 2016 — CardCash informs me that a website credit will be issued in 24–48 hours. However I am sent a code about an hour later. At this time the cards I wished to purchase were now out of stock, so I figured I would wait for more to become available. Two and a half weeks have passed between receiving my cards, and issuing a credit.
January 06, 2016 — CardCash stock is replenished on the card I wished to purchase, I order $600.19 worth of Gift cards, but my credit only covers $570.38 of the cost. I add another payment of $23.81 made through bitcoin.
January 19, 2016 — My order is still in “Fulfillment Stage”, so I open a ticket to ask the status of this order and when I can expect it to arrive. This is almost 2 weeks after I have place the order with no communication in regards to it.
January 20, 2016 — CardCash informs me that there has been a system glitch and the order I placed is no longer available and that a refund will be available in 1–3 days. At this point I am beyond frustrated. I have made multiple orders and had nothing but problems. A USD cheque refund is a hassle for me as I am a Canadian using the service, and Bitcoin refunds are not available due to their own internal issues. At this point I ask again if there is any way to just receive replacement cards instead of a refund.
January 26, 2016 — I opened the link to the ticket within zendesk to see if there was a response to my request, however I noticed that instead of a response that my issue had simply been closed and my request has been ignored.
January 26, 2016 — I email Eric Berger, explaining the situation hoping a Manager might be able to clear this up as it seems ridiculous to have no refund and no product almost 2 months after purchasing. Eric Responds offering a refund to which I ask if I simply can get the cards I paid for. He tells me he will handle it in the morning and send me the cards needed.
January 27, 2016 — I follow up with him to ask for confirmation my order is placed. I know it's only been 24 hours, but at this point I think persistence is the only way to get my cards.
January 28, 2016 — I am told by Eric Berger the cards will be emailed to me in the morning.
February 3, 2016 — I ask Eric Berger for another follow up, however receive no answer.
February 5, 2016 — Still no response from CardCash or Eric Berger. I’ve had enough at this point and I email asking for a refund. I ask for a refund to the address 33bRLAWfEzpRemWxCLmPCvLZ3FPXvmN8UP and also asked for an email confirmation.
February 9, 2016 — Again, still no response. No Refund. Wrote this article
I am still hopeful but not optimistic. If anyone from CardCash see’s this and would like to make it right, I would still appreciate it. It’s sad that in some situations it takes things like this to get results.
