REDcard “REDbird” Target Prepaid Card
I have wanted to get the REDcard Target prepaid card, AKA REDbird for a long time. Here is a very short post about my first dreadful experience with this wonderful product.
Since I live in NYC, where this bird doesn’t fly, I had to look for outside help.
One of my FB secret group members hooked me up with it, and I became a proud owner of three REDcard Target cards. It is extremely easy to buy this card for someone else and register too, so I registered it for my wife first. I’m operating three accounts right now: BB, Serve, and now REDcard. Decided to give it a testdrive with my wife’s account first and see how it plays out.
Here is what happened today at Target in Brooklyn. I got there around 6-6:30PM.
1. Went to the CSR register. They called the manager immediately as soon as I whipped out my REDbird.
2. The manager came over and demanded to see my wife and her ID. Luckily, we were together, so it wasn’t a problem. So, for this store, at least–forget loading several cards at a time. Each cardholder must be present.
3. First $1K got denied by my wife’s CC–fraud alert. My fault, as we hadn’t called ahead. Wife hates making these calls.
4. Called Chase and cleared up the fraud alert. Swiped, went fine, got a receipt.
5. Swiped again for another thou. Went fine, got a receipt.
6. Swiped for another $500. System unavailable. The register froze.
7. Went to another register and swiped again. Same story.
8. Called REDcarto check the balance. $1 with all the pending transactions (the way it was before entering the store)!
9. WTF???
10. Had my wife call the REDcard. Got a lecture from an overseas CSR that I shouldn’t have used a credit card, since it’s not allowed: cash/debit only. Listened in obedient silence.
11. Eventually was told that they would take care of the, and they did. The funds are in wife’s REDcard account right now, although I did end up with loading $2K instead of $2.5K.
12. There are only three Target stores in Brooklyn. One (Atlantic Terminal) does not accept credit cards altogether. That leaves two others. And at least the one I’ve been to today requires the cardholder to actually BE THERE!
13. Yes, I know I’ve said it already.
14. Checked the FT REDcard thread, and it seems there were similar issues reported at approximately the same time. Maybe I just got extraordinarily unlucky. Or lucky that the load went through eventually.
15. I am not converting my other two accounts (BB and Serve) until or unless I find other Targets that are going to work for me, and until we know it was just a glitch and not the drastic change of policy.
16. WTF!!! Again!
Sorry for a long rant. Any similar experiences? Comments, please.
