Consumer complaint received 2015-05-07
Company: Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc.
State: SC
Product: Prepaid card
Sub-product: Mobile wallet
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
I used the services of Reloadit.com which is a funds loading service for certain brands of prepaid debit cards. I have used the service successfully in the past. 

About two months ago I attempted to load funds to a prepaid debit card but I was unable to do so. I received an error message after every attempt, so I contacted Reloadit customer service. They forwarded my request for assistance to the IT department, who contacted me several days later after. 

Reloadit sells scratch off cards containing XXXX digit pin numbers at various retail stores across the country. The pin numbers can be redeemed at www.reloadit.com and turned into digital funds that can be loaded onto prepaid debit cards. Reloadit.com provides users with their own online account which serves as a go-between, or a " safe '' in which users can store their pin codes until they want to load them onto a prepaid debit card. There is a waiting period of XXXX hours after the time of purchase before users can add any funds to their prepaid debit cards. During this time however, users can keep the funds in their reloadit.com safe. 

This is where my issue begins. I left XXXX pin codes in my safe worth {$500.00} each prior to attempting to load them to a prepaid debit card. I received an error message when attempting to add my funds to the prepaid cards. This is when I contacted customer service about my issue. 

Overall, customer service and the IT department proved to be very unhelpful. The IT rep named XXXX told me that I needed to email photos of the Reloadit scratch offs and their receipts. I did so promptly. I was then told that my pictures were not good enough and I needed to resend them. I did so promptly. Then I was told that I needed to take pictures on different backgrounds. I told XXXX this was not possible since I no longer had the physical receipts and scratch offs. The pictures I sent him had been taken prior to me contacting customer service, as I took pictures of the receipts and scratch offs just in case I did misplace them. He then instructs me that I should travel XXXX hours away back to the store at which I bought the Reloadit scratch offs and request that the store dig through their system to find another copy of my receipt. I informed XXXX that I would not be doing that and he needed to offer me an alternative to getting my money back. He then told me that he could not help me unless I could retrieve the original receipts and take pictures of them on the different backgrounds. 

I feel that XXXX was very unhelpful and ultimately would keep finding excuses as to why he and his company would not refund me my money. At this point I was very upset and disheartened with the whole situation. What baffles me more than anything is that no one has explained to my why my funds are being held. The reason could be completely erroneous and an ultimate attempt to discourage users from asking for their money back. I have cooperated with Reloadit and XXXX to a reasonable extent but we are past the point of reason. Their requests are becoming ridiculous considering that all I am asking for is my own money, not a gift or a handout.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation