I regret ever having posted here as I am not a negative person and would not attack as a couple of you have. I am not secretive. I have said it just like it happened. Found out about ebates before ever buying a gift card and like using them. Great way to save money. Then I found on this site how to get a deal on discounted DGC. I was burned by one of the sites recommended the first time I tried it. Cards were not valid. Didn't know about getting 5% off using a target card until I saw it here. Shopped at Target a lot but never for GC's. So, we discussed it and decided if it would save us money on this huge trip to try it. Used cardcash and raise like I said. Then used those target cards like recommended to get my DGC at a discount with my red card. ok. So, discussed it again, and decided that it was a great deal to save 10-18-20 % on DGC so, I read more. Just kept buying here and there, and then I read about the deal on I think ebay was selling Target cards. The limit for purchasing on ebay is $5000 per account. So we used $10000 to buy cards to save money. Nothing illegal. As I said, we were given a very nice inheritence. We are OLD, in our mid 60's and know that our time on this earth is limited. I retired from my RN hospice job and was just collecting SS and my retirement. My husband still works. I have seen death come to so many people younger than we are. We decided that we wanted to go all out. You see we were childhood sweethearts, neighbors, best friends from 2nd grade to 8th grade when I moved. We re met after almost 50 years of not seeing each otherthrough my father in law. Married at 63, and now we are living out the life we always wanted. So, like I said, I suggested we take my BIL and SIL with us on this wonderful trip, as he has prostate cancer, terminal, non operable, non treatable that had spread. He has had it for 2 years now. Saw on this board that you could open a DVA and leave the money in there and get a gift card for every $1000 you use towards Disney. Discussed that and decided what do we have to lose. So I began taking the gift cards and making them into $1000 cards and putting them into the account along with a monthly deposit from our bank account. Saw on here that Target usually has discounted target gift cards black Friday, but I didn't see that happen, then I think near Christmas it did happen. And I did what anyone else would have done. Bought on line, and then we went through the target check out once and got those cards, and used them on target.com to buy disney gc's. Late December we got another chunk of money in our inheritence and it was time to add to the DVA as final payment was soon due on the cruise and
ABD. So I saw that you could get an ebate from target if you added something else to your purchase of gc's. I had not ever bought anything along with my gc's from Target. Bought lots of stuff from Target, but didn't buy them together. Of course my daughter who are adults were saying, are you sure this is legal? This doesn't sound right. I said well, it isn't illegal that I am aware of, and other do it. so I did too. And I did add a rule to my cart several times when i remembered to do it, as getting older I often forget, and saw that I was getting a rebate. Humm, didn't know that it was such a good idea, but I did it. So, I had all of my money in my DVA and paid in full just OUR trip which was $18,000 owed on ours, but in my BIL got sick. I didn't pay theirs in full because he was near death. He survived sepsis, a burst gall bladder, and developed back pain, perhaps metastases. But we waited it out until the last minute and before final payment was due, I cancelled our reservations and rescheduled a one bedroom concierge on a 3 day cruise for just us, the vow renewal, 2 nights at Grand Floridian concierge, the Disney Fairytale Wedding Photography shoot at MK and AK, and 2 more days at the Boardwalk upon return. This gave me a $14000 credit due back to me in original form of payment, which I assumed was DVA. I also used DVA to schedule an ABD in Scotland. This is my husband's ancestory. So, I am waiting for my refund from cancelling on 2.2. Saw I was getting an ebates of $300 on 2/15, pretty amazing, but I had bought all new wardrobes as I have been on a weight loss program since June. The problem with DVA is that I had to call numerous times to ask when I would see a refund. Finally a very nice man named Kevin from the
DCL said he saw that it was coming back in 6 payments to these different accounts and all he had was the last 4 numbers. One was our Disney Visa, two were to my DVA, and the others I had to search back through my gift cards to find out that I had $1000 on two cards. Had I not called and asked, I never would have known that these cards were reinstated. That is my biggest complaint with DVA. So since 2/2 there is $7 grand missing from my refund that was supposed to go into my DVA. Called and called and now 2 different accounting departments don't know why it won't go back to my DVA, so they might send me a check. I am to find out today. Also a few weeks ago I asked to withdraw $4000 from my DVA. I wanted to give gift cards to my grands and daughters. They responded immediately and asked if I had the cards, yes I did, and they said let us know the numbers on the cards and how you want it back. I asked for 1000 on one card and 250 on others and double typed in the card numbers so I wouldn't make a mistake. I got an email back saying that would take too long, and here are 4 $1000 cards, to go to the DGC website and arrange them however I want. That was a false statement, you can't do that. You can only transfer full amounts. It made me angry because a lot of my cards I put in were in $100 and $50 denominations as I got tired of using the DGC site to combine cards. Ok, so this Sat I was ordering Crest white strips and a tv streamer for my iphone on Target.com and all of my orders were immediately cancelled. I called and was told the items were not available. Next day I tried again, and my orders were immediately cancelled. Couldn't understand why. I did misplace my red card and had to get another one. I had also overpaid my red card by $150 or $250 by accidentally paying it on line twice. See, like I said, I am old and forgetful and screw things up. So I called red card and they said no the orders are fine and my card is fine and they put me through to orders. That person researched and said he had to get someone else, and then someone else, and finally like I said, I was told I can no longer shop on target.com, I am welcome to shop in the store and my redcard is fine, but no more on line. I asked why and was told they didn't know. I said did I do something wrong, and was told yes, but he didn't know what. Told me to go to the rules/regs page. I was in shock about it, and feel like I am a criminal or whatever, but if I am I want to repay whatever it is they want. Nope, can't. Googled being banned from target.com and gift cards and found others were too, and also the article i mentioned about people waiting in line and getting in fights over buying designer children's clothing and reselling it. So I am assuming they think I am making a living by reselling cards. No, just looking for a way to be frugal and save money. Would I do it again? No. I am retired so I have time to research and find things, and it is time consuming. Ikept records of all I ordered and what I paid to keep track and I kept all the cards, fortunately. So here I am, this is my story, I am banned from walmart.com and still waiting for my $7,000 refund to pay for our Scotland trip. I hope we live long enough to have this fairytale adventure. Am I extravagant? You bet I am. Never was a day in my life until I found my prince. He was a bachelor for 29 years and I had a 30 year unhappy marriage that I was recovering from. My father knew my husband all his life and before my dad died, he said he could finally go to his grave knowing that I was with the man God had chosen for me, and that I would be well cared for and loved. My husband is frugal and had never even been to Disney until I came into his life. We were married on the Magic in the Mediterranean. I had never been out of the country prior to this. I am not a bad person, just someone who values life, has seen a lot, held a lot of dying people in my arms, and want to live my fairytale before I die. My children are so happy for us, and my life is wonderful. I was only trying to warn others not to do what I did. I loved shopping on walmart.com. So, that's my story, it's my truth and you can go back and check anything I said previously. It's all there.