How do you use Swagbucks gift cards to pay in-store at Walmart?

[Zombie]

I was trying to buy several storage shelves today at Walmart. I've cashed out multiple Walmart gift cards from both Swagbucks and Fetch (specifically intended for this purchase). But I was having all sorts of issues trying to use the gift cards to pay. The person ringing me up kept trying and trying but nothing seemed to work. He managed to get one $50 gift card to go through, but I still have $100 worth of gift cards left (2x $25 and 1x $50).

I finally gave up and said that I'd just pay for them now, and either call customer service or come back to the store another day to try to figure things out (because my father was helping me transport them with his truck, and he was growing impatient).

1. How do you use a Swagbucks gift card to pay in-store at Walmart? Is there an easier way than what the cashier was trying to do (he kept having to have another co-worker authorize/override something on the register every time he tried to do it manually)?

2. Any suggestions on the best way to get the gift cards applied to my purchase? Do I need to bring the items back and return everything and re-purchase? Or is there a simpler option? If I called customer service, would they be able to change the form of payment?

[Icequeen813]

@Zombie  Is there a 16 digit number & a pin, if so, the cashier  may have to manually enter code& then pin. I’ve only used Target in store or on line.

[Icequeen813]

 

[mmoore01]

Unfortunately, many Walmart associates don't know how to take an egift card.  I had one tell me to go to the self checkout.

It is easy to use at a self checkout.  When it is time to pay, select Walmart gift card or simply use the hand held scanner to scan the bar code.  If it asks you how much you want, you must first be in payment mode.

For the cashiers, they need to press shopping card on the register.  If they don't know how to take a gift card, ask for someone else to help.

As with many other businesses, Walmart had been left shorthanded and many associates are new.

Just be patient as they are learning, too.

[Saipan]

WMPay 

[Dean]

I don’t believe that you can get the gift cards applied after purchase. A sale is a sale and retailers are not that accommodating.

I’ve had similar problems at Walmart and I think it’s due to equipment issues. The scanners just are not working properly. Printed and mobile gift cards have both had problems.

My suggestion would be to try ordering online for pickup. You might even have enough for free delivery but you might prefer getting them sooner so pickup might be the better option. Ordering online would let you enter the gift card number and pin, assuming those are available.

But don’t return the ones you have just yet. If you order the same type, and get a pickup order, you can choose which ones you want to keep and return the leftovers. If you’re happy with the originals and they’re identical to the pickup order, return the pickup ones on your original receipt.

[Zombie]

@Icequeen813 thank you for that screenshot. It gave me an idea. I went to a closer Walmart today to see if I could transfer my e-gift card balance onto a physical gift card. The employee knew exactly what to do and processed the transaction very quickly.

[Zombie]

@Dean I really really really WISH it was that easy... I have done exactly what you suggested in other similar situations. HOWEVER I was checking out at the service desk due to several compounding issues:

1. My WM app reported the incorrect number of days (by the 28th = 7 days) to pick up curbside order so my order got cancelled the very day I went to pick it up (the 26th). Apparently you only get 4 days; maybe it's because my app is out of date.

2. On the EXACT same day as my order was cancelled, the Walmart app increased the cost of the storage shelves by $20 each. (I know the price change happened on the same day because I had actually checked and saw that the item showed no more inventory before I went to sleep.)

3. Additionally, even though I went to the store and an associate found my order in their curbside department, the WM app reported no inventory available for that location (even though I had 4x shelves in my cart).

4. The department lead said that I'd need to call the home office CS if I wanted to get the shelves for the original price.

5. I unsuccessfully attempted to contact CS over the phone to re-place (or retrieve) my cancelled order.

6. After over an hour of dealing with phone CS bs, I asked the department lead if there was a store manager or assistant manager available for me to speak to. The manager agreed to honor the price I had originally paid on my cancelled order.

7. He tells the department lead to honor the price. During checkout, I tell the department lead/cashier that I have  e-gift cards that I want to use. He types in the 16 digit code and the 4 digit PIN. First gift card pays for $25. He spent 15-30 minutes trying over and over to get the 2nd gift card ($50) to apply to my transaction. Register keeps rejecting.

8. I ask whether the registers allow more than one e-gift card to be manually keyed in a single transaction. He seems to think that aligns with the error message he keeps getting every time he tried to use my 2nd gift card. He voids the transaction.

9. He rings up 1x shelf with my $50 gift card. I pay the remainder. Rings up another. He cannot get my 1st $25 gift card to process. Another cashier also tries to get it to work. Both are unsuccessful. After several more unsuccessful attempts, the new cashier calls the department lead back and says "It keeps saying that the balance is zero?" "But it worked fine earlier before we voided the transaction..."

10. After about 30 minutes of this (with an increasingly impatient family member waiting with their truck to help me transport the shelves), I finally decide that I just need to purchase the shelves before I lose my means of transportation.

11. I explain to the department lead that, my ride is getting pretty impatient and since we can't figure out how to make my gift card work today, I think I'll just purchase the shelves and come back another day after I call customer service figure out what's wrong with my gift cards. The department lead agrees that seems like the best course of action.

12. I found out today (when I stopped at a closer Walmart to try the idea I got from reading @Icequeen813 's post) that my 1st $25 gift card currently has a $0 balance because after a transaction is voided, it takes some time for the funds to return to the e-gift card. Hopefully this won't end up being yet another issue...

This explanation turned out to be significantly longer than I thought it was going to be lol

TL;DR Buying online/curbside is not an option because my purchase required manual price adjustments and my app does not show the correct inventory (manager said that he saw 14x listed in stock).

[Zombie]

@mmoore01 Have you been able to use multiple e-gift cards at self checkout?

And I'm always patient. I work in retail. I'm in customer service mode even when I'm the customer lol. After 8+ years, it's automatic. At one point while he was in the middle of helping me, I let him know that if he needed to go take care of a growing situation over in self checkout (which seemed to be part of his jurisdiction), that I was perfectly fine waiting until things calmed down.

A retail employee would have to have done something pretty serious for me to ever be unkind.

I felt so bad for the employees at this location (I don't normally drive that far and it's not a nice part of town) because the customers there were TERRIBLE to the employees. I was shocked; they treated them like they were dirt. And I didn't see a single one of the employees (within my hearing distance) be anything less than kind and accommodating to any of the entitled customers.

Plus there were countless other things going wrong while I was there and the poor department lead was being pulled in 10 different directions at once. I'm almost surprised the store didn't spontaneously combust while I was standing there.

When I left, I apologized that my purchase had so many problems, and he sighed and said that I was actually the nicest customer he'd had to deal with with all day.

[Saipan]

WMPay 

Plus, with the giftcard in your wallet, you can see the transaction history of each card.