A couple of months ago Lowe’s ran a deal offering $15 Lowe’s eGift cards free when buying $200 Visa gift cards. That was a decent deal, but unfortunately for the first couple of days of the deal they were issuing $10 Lowe’s eGift cards rather than $15 cards.
The promotion was run by Blackhawk Network which is the company that owns/runs GiftCardMall, Giftcards.com, gift card racks in many stores, etc. I was therefore hopeful that they’d do the right thing and subsequently send out an additional $5 card to everyone they identified as being affected.
I was mistaken.
Not only did they not do that proactively, they didn’t even do it when people reached out to ask for the correct amount. I first contacted them on December 3, 2021 and all they did was resend the $10 gift card. I replied saying the amount was supposed to be $15. Rather than sending me an additional $5 card, they sent me that same $10 card again.
I therefore replied once again stating that they were supposed to issue a $15 card, not a $10 card. The rep finally seemed to understand the problem; he replied that he’d reported the missing $5 and to allow 72 hours for a resolution.
I’d heard nothing five days later so I followed up, only to be asked to allow more time for an update. I gave them another 1.5 weeks and followed up again and they asked for more time to get an update. More than a month after initially reporting the issue I followed up again and was told I had to wait longer. Almost two months later I followed up again and was simply told I needed to wait longer.
Although it was only $5 at issue, that was an unacceptable reply. It shouldn’t take a large company like Blackhawk Network two months to issue $5 when they’ve made an error like this.
Finally – A Resolution
Frustrated at their non-helpful responses each time, I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau (BBB). I wasn’t sure how helpful this would be, but hoped that getting the BBB involved would light a fire (or at least a miniature spark) under them.
Surprisingly, it worked. I filed that complaint on January 28 and heard back from someone at Blackhawk Network today (January 31). She’s now sent me a $5 Lowe’s eGift card, so the issue is finally resolved.
How To File A Better Business Bureau Complaint
If you had similar issues from this deal, you can file a complaint with the BBB here. As mentioned earlier, although this was an in-store offer at Lowe’s, the promotion was run by Blackhawk Network. You’ll therefore need to enter Blackhawk Network as the business name. They have several offices in the US, so I just selected the first one listed in Pleasanton, CA.
I think the BBB advised that it could take 1-2 weeks to hear anything regarding the complaint, but hopefully you get a resolution faster than that like I did.
it’s also worth noting that their website was giving a 404 for the last few days of the offer. I’ve got a card that didn’t even get the $10 because I was unable to access their website during the period where you could claim it.
Although the promotion is administered by Blackhawk, the terms on the redemption site link back to the Lowes.com terms. I was getting set to send Lowe’s a letter to initiate “informal dispute resolution” and still may go that route and try to get the difference as a check, since I don’t want a bunch of $5 rebate cards, and I highly doubt they will want to pay arbitration costs on this.
I filed disputes for the missing amount on all of my credit card transactions.
Credit where credit is due. This post prompted me to rake Blackhawk over the coals. I pushed and pushed and finally got them to send me the extra $5 they owed me on the cards I bought. I believe that my arguing got them to re-issue EVERYONE’S as I heard reports that my friends got emails with the missing $5 without even asking the same day my lot arrived. Glad we won this one, guys!
Thank you for this post. I’m having a different issue with Blackhawk regarding some never activated VGCs bought through a Staples online deal and issued by giftcarmall. Believe it or not, the dog chewed up the activation PIN letter…ha! Similar run-around with customer support, though $400 rather than $5. I thought to file a BBB complaint prior to researching, but this gives me hope for an actual resolution! Thanks again.
Good luck!