Gift Card Refund

[Cdeklerk824]

I paid for my cruise almost entirely with a single gift card. I would buy $25 or $50 every time I went grocery shopping, and then when I got $1000 worth, I would transfer it to the primary card and ask my TA to run another $1k on the same gift card number, we did this 5 or 6 times. For reasons, I've decided to cancel my cruise. I know that the refund will go to the original form of payment, but will this one gift card hold more than $6k? Or will Disney send me more useless gift cards that I'm going to have to flog at a loss to get my money back?

 

[Girl of the South]

Forgive me, but WHY did you put all that money on a single Disney gift card to begin with?

 

[starry_solo]

I paid for my cruise almost entirely with a single gift card. I would buy $25 or $50 every time I went grocery shopping, and then when I got $1000 worth, I would transfer it to the primary card and ask my TA to run another $1k on the same gift card number, we did this 5 or 6 times. For reasons, I've decided to cancel my cruise. I know that the refund will go to the original form of payment, but will this one gift card hold more than $6k? Or will Disney send me more useless gift cards that I'm going to have to flog at a loss to get my money back?

Tell your travel agent to let Disney know that you no longer have the original form of payment (that gift card). Disney will send you six (or more, depending on how much your cruise was) gift cards of $1000 each. It may take a while

 

[Cdeklerk824]

Forgive me, but WHY did you put all that money on a single Disney gift card to begin with?

I don't remember, it was a few years ago. We never did anything disney before. In 2018 a disney cruise was a good idea...then this crap happened and we refuse to be subjected to ridiculous restrictions and reduced experiences at an inflated price.

 

[sethschroeder]

Forgive me, but WHY did you put all that money on a single Disney gift card to begin with?

Its fairly common to consolidate gift cards. Thing is the OP now has to track down all those gift cards because anything over $1000 will be refunded to the original gift card.

I keep a single gift card on our account and when we get additional gift cards they consolidate to the primary. We pay monthly DVC dues and hotel charges off this one physical card we consolidate to. The rest of the cards get filed with the rest of the empty gift cards either physical (or most of the time we buy digital gift cards from Target).

 

[lilkimmyk]

Thing is the OP now has to track down all those gift cards because anything over $1000 will be refunded to the original gift card.

OP correct me if I'm wrong...

But it sounds like the OP may have only actually paid Disney with ONE gift card. The primary card. All of the many other smaller amounts were put onto this one card and then paid Disney from that primary card. Therefore technicially, and as far as Disney would know, there are only payment from this one gift card number. Since gift cards have that $1000 limit, I think OP is wondering just how Disney will give the rest of the refund.

Op's situation sounds exactly like what I did. I bought many GCs over time, moved the balances to one "primary" card, made sure the balance was under $1000, then made payment to DCL. I did this multiple times only paying with the "primary" card. I, too, booked a cruise and had to keep rebooking. Looking for next year but if things don't change I will also be looking for a refund and wondering how I would get the $ back. I have searched many places but can't seem to find the answer either.

 

[starry_solo]

OP correct me if I'm wrong...

But it sounds like the OP may have only actually paid Disney with ONE gift card. The primary card. All of the many other smaller amounts were put onto this one card and then paid Disney from that primary card. Therefore technicially, and as far as Disney would know, there are only payment from this one gift card number. Since gift cards have that $1000 limit, I think OP is wondering just how Disney will give the rest of the refund.

Op's situation sounds exactly like what I did. I bought many GCs over time, moved the balances to one "primary" card, made sure the balance was under $1000, then made payment to DCL. I did this multiple times only paying with the "primary" card. I, too, booked a cruise and had to keep rebooking. Looking for next year but if things don't change I will also be looking for a refund and wondering how I would get the $ back. I have searched many places but can't seem to find the answer either.

You tell Disney that you don't have the original form of payment and they will send you multiple Disney gift cards of $1000 each to get to the amount to refund.

 

[sethschroeder]

Since gift cards have that $1000 limit, I think OP is wondering just how Disney will give the rest of the refund.

Correct sorry if I didn't specify more but Disney will put the excess beyond $1000 on the old cards they came from. Which is why you should never trash a past gift card from Disney.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Correct sorry if I didn't specify more but Disney will put the excess beyond $1000 on the old cards they came from. Which is why you should never trash a past gift card from Disney.

But DCL doesn't know what old cards they came from. OP stated that he loaded the same card with smaller amounts and then had his TA use the (same) one card every time they made a payment.

I would buy $25 or $50 every time I went grocery shopping, and then when I got $1000 worth, I would transfer it to the primary card and ask my TA to run another $1k on the same gift card number, we did this 5 or 6 times.

 

[sethschroeder]

But DCL doesn't know what old cards they came from. OP stated that he loaded the same card with smaller amounts and then had his TA use the (same) one card every time they made a payment.

DCL absolutely knows. They have access to the transaction records via the gift card site to consolidate the cards.

This just happened to me in the last week. I consolidated to all the same card upon payment but when refunded it was put back to the original cards since the consolidated card I use was capped out at $1000.

For me I always keep my historical card information and knew approximately which cards had been consolidated to the main card I use.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

DCL absolutely knows. They have access to the transaction records via the gift card site to consolidate the cards.

This just happened to me in the last week. I consolidated to all the same card upon payment but when refunded it was put back to the original cards since the consolidated card I use was capped out at $1000.

For me I always keep my historical card information and knew approximately which cards had been consolidated to the main card I use.

Well, then, the answer remains - OP should let DCL know they no longer have the cards (except for the one) and DCL will issue new cards for the overage.

 

[TheBigErn]

Forgive me, but WHY did you put all that money on a single Disney gift card to begin with?

Probably so the agent didn’t have to run dozens of cards

 

[Intr3pid]

DCL absolutely knows. They have access to the transaction records via the gift card site to consolidate the cards.

This just happened to me in the last week. I consolidated to all the same card upon payment but when refunded it was put back to the original cards since the consolidated card I use was capped out at $1000.

For me I always keep my historical card information and knew approximately which cards had been consolidated to the main card I use.

While they do, it can get murky if the consolidated gift card was used to pay for several cruises after consolidation - and in different amounts than how the amounts were consolidated. They can use a FIFO, LIFO, or weighted average assumption, but - in all likelihood - they will find it easier just to send new gift cards worth $1,000 each.

I too keep a spreadsheet of all my cards, their security codes, dates of purchases/transfers/uses, etc. Disney gift card website isn't under my control and can drop the card's history or even existence like they did last year.

 

[sethschroeder]

While they do, it can get murky if the consolidated gift card was used to pay for several cruises after consolidation - and in different amounts than how the amounts were consolidated. They can use a FIFO, LIFO, or weighted average assumption, but - in all likelihood - they will find it easier just to send new gift cards worth $1,000 each.

I too keep a spreadsheet of all my cards, their security codes, dates of purchases/transfers/uses, etc. Disney gift card website isn't under my control and can drop the card's history or even existence like they did last year.

Except they just go down the line returning the amounts. Until the primary card won't be over $1000.

I am telling you from first hand experience this is what they do. They just did this twice in the last week for me. Once for the Fantasy 7 to 4 nights and then again when I cancelled my B2B.

They might have some limit at which they decide to just send you gift cards but if you are in a situation where you don't have all the gift cards used to consolidate then you should be proactively reaching out to them.

 

[Cheburashka]

Another example of how putting thousands of dollars on Disney gift cards is a bad way to pay for your vacation. I learned this the hard way, too.

I'm sure you'll get your gift card money back after a lot of hassle, OP. The only problem is that you'll still be stuck with $6,000 Disney dollars, and have to find a satisfying way to spend it in our pandemic-addled world of travel.

 

[Intr3pid]

Except they just go down the line returning the amounts. Until the primary card won't be over $1000.

I am telling you from first hand experience this is what they do. They just did this twice in the last week for me. Once for the Fantasy 7 to 4 nights and then again when I cancelled my B2B.

They might have some limit at which they decide to just send you gift cards but if you are in a situation where you don't have all the gift cards used to consolidate then you should be proactively reaching out to them.

Yes, that's first-in-first-out, or FIFO as I noted.

Not doubting you at all, but the murky situation would be when you don't cancel everything - that is, some payments still have to stay. They have to make an assumption (like FIFO) as you don't have a direct trail of which payment came out of which consolidation.

Another example of how putting thousands of dollars on Disney gift cards is a bad way to pay for your vacation. I learned this the hard way, too.

I'm sure you'll get your gift card money back after a lot of hassle, OP. The only problem is that you'll still be stuck with $6,000 Disney dollars, and have to find a satisfying way to spend it in our pandemic-addled world of travel.

If you are never going to spend any more money on Disney - or you have a cash flow issue in the interim - yes. Otherwise, if purchased correctly, the discount and the points you pick up can pay for a flight or two.