[Originally posted 9/4/16. Reposting on 10/11/16 with a bit more detail since the issue affected many people and is ongoing for some.]
Many people report their e-gift cards purchased last month from Paypal Digital Gifts are showing with balances zeroed out.
The problem seems to be primarily focused on iTunes cards, although there is mention of a problem with Southwest gift cards and with TGI gift cards and Best Buy gift cards, likely among others.
This is apparently why the entire PPDG store was down for a week at the end of August as they were working on the security issue.
We haven’t heard of any issues with gift cards purchased since PPDG came back online on August 30, and we’ll assume the problem is fixed going forward unless we hear reports indicating otherwise.
If you had your balances drained…
Being that this is a widespread problem, you can get a refund by contacting PPDG support. They aren’t re-issuing the gift cards, instead preferring to refund the payment.
If it was purchased on eBay, it’s easy to open a case through the eBay system. Hopefully, this will result in a phone-free resolution.
[Note, for eBay purchases, there’s a good chance that they’ll refund the credit card and not a Paypal-balance refund. Regardless, the refund might result in a negative eBay Bucks balance.]
If you bought from PPDG directly, you’ll have to go through some phone hoops to find the right agent to process the refund.
Got a bunch of physical gift cards from gift card mall that has been zeroed out. Called gift card mall and no help. I purchased them through ebay and paid with paypal. Anyone else have this issue? Any resolution?
Maybe a credit card dispute or Paypal dispute.
Paypal not budging this was 2014. This is insane…
Another data point. Followed Chris D detailed instruction, I was able to get $200 back for ebay gift card purchased in 2016. 🙂 Talked to a rep on 12/3 and received the credit on 12/21.
My $200 Southwest gift card from 12/2016 is “invalid” and Paypal supervisors have said that it was “fully claimed” despite the fact that we NEVER used it (I triple-checked all records). I have spoken to at least ten Paypal reps via email, phone and chat — only one said he could & would fix it but I never got the email he promised. I’m about to file an FTC complaint and dispute with Discover. I’m not hopeful about getting my money back.
Another successful refund request here, over 2 years after purchase. Bought a $100 Southwest gift card for $80 back in March 2016 but didn’t attempt to redeem it til yesterday (they don’t expire) and found it was already cleared out.
Here’s what worked for me:
– Don’t call 877-569-1148, the number listed on http://www.paypal-gifts.com. It immediately puts you into a hold queue where I spent 3 hours on hold before getting disconnected. Was pretty discouraged at that point.
– Then I logged in to PayPal, went to Help, and picked “dispute a charge” (eBay in my case). Chose the Call Us option and they show a 6-digit code that I presume lets the phone rep jump right to your account.
– Then I called 888-221-1161 which prompted me for the code
– I said “gift cards” when asked why I was calling by the automated system
– A human rep picked up within a few minutes but said he would need to transfer me to the gift cards department. The transfer was only a minute or two.
– A human rep from the gift cards department finally picked up, listened to my situation and seemed familiar with the scenario
– Rep at first couldn’t find the transaction when searching their system, but I had the PayPal transaction ID from the 2016 email receipt to provide
– Then the rep couldn’t pull up the gift card details (related to how I can no longer click the “View My Code” link from the 2016 email, maybe) and had to put me on hold to speak with a manager
– Finally the rep said the transaction was too old to refund back to the original payment method, but instead issued a $100 PayPal balance. I expected a refund of only the $80 amount paid, so at least there’s some small compensation for the headache.
Super annoying but satisfactory resolution in the end.
Thanks for this! I will try it!
I followed the exact same steps and the gift card department rep said that this transaction was too old and he did not have any way to verify that the gift card was in fact stolen. I asked to be transferred to a supervisor who then said that he was going to open a case and I should hear back in about 24 hours.
P.S.: He said that there is no way the codes could have been stolen because they are just sent to me and not stored anywhere but then he also offered to send me the same code again!
Finally got a $25 refund 🙂
Chris D
Even though I specifically told them that I had spent $20.
Thanks for your detailed post
I purchased Staples digital gift cards in July 2017 and went to use them yesterday. The message is “card…cannot be found”.
I just found out yesterday that $75 worth of ebay gift cards I bought from PPDG in March 2016 were zeroed out. I emailed paypal about the issue, linking this page and giving them the paypal transaction IDs, order #, item # etc, and they refunded me today. Looks like two years later they are still giving refunds!
How did you email them? I emailed them on [email protected] but there has been no response.
I also sent a secure message to Paypal but they just ask me to open a dispute through the transaction details which I believe I can’t do coz it has been such a long time.
I just noticed 2 x $100 Lowes gift cards that I purchase through Paypal Digital Gifts in August 2016 were drained. Called Paypal and they refunded, no issues. That purchase was over a year ago — if you are experiencing issues with this (even a year later) give Paypal a call. They seem to be making customers whole!
It’s been a long time but any chance you remember what number you called and what did you say?
Bunch of eBay cards that I bought back in June were zero’d out, but I did purchase with a credit card so hopefully I’ll be refunded. I’ve contacted PPDG and waiting for a response now.
Do you mean June of 2016 or 2017?
Bought 5 Lowes 100 for 80 from the Father’s day special on 6/10. All drained smh.. Fuck that. From now on, I’m only buying gift cards if I plan on using them immediately.
You mean last month? I thought they had fixed that issue.
Just called PDG to check status. CSR said they don’t handle these cases and that I would have to contact Lowes directly. This is CRAZY! Most likely I will have to submit a claim with Chase to get my money back.
You just got a moron on the phone then. Lowes has nothing to do with it. PPDG is the one that has to deal with it and they have refunded me in the past. I would call again to get someone who knows what they’re talking about. If they give you the same shit then talk to Chase, but I think the charge needs to be quite recent for them to be able to help you.
The refunds are MINUS any coupons/promos/discounts. So essentially ebay/paypal get to report a revenue boost, then hold GC customers’ money interest-free, for as long as the stolen GC balances remain undetected by the customers, and then get to get out of without makig the customers whole (such as by re-issuing the gift cards at the full value the customers purchased) upon notice by customers. What a business.
What I got out of the call with ebay/paypal today is that Paypal Digital Gifts was supposedly not affiliated with either eBay or Paypal, and supposedly has not had any GC breaches since getting acquired by Paypal. I don’t buy it, since I really doubt eBay/Paypal would tolerate a third-party selling eBay gift cards under the “Paypal Digital Gifts” name on its very own eBay platform.