Consumer complaint received 2022-11-30
Product: Credit card or prepaid card — General-purpose prepaid card
Issue: Trouble using the card — Trouble getting information about the card
Company: Incomm Holdings Inc. (CA)

Last year, my husband and I received a Visa Vanilla gift card from a family member. The family member does not have the receipt or recall the specific details, but the gift card probably was purchased in XXXX at a store in Ohio. It is a prepaid card, and the family member who purchased the gift card indicated it had been loaded with {$200.00}. It has an expiration date of XX/XX/XXXX. Since the time it was received last year, the card has been keep in its sealed cardboard container at our home in a secure location to which no one has access other than my husband and myself. Neither the card number nor the PIN were visible while the card was in the sealed cardboard container. I opened this container and removed the card on XX/XX/XXXX. On that same day, before using the card, I tried several times to confirm the balance via the webpage at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  and got a message to the effect that the information was not available and that I should try again later. I then called the number printed on the back of the card : XXXX. After providing the requested information to an automated system, I got an automated message that there was an issue with the card. I then spoke with a customer service representative who told me that ( XXXX ) the available balance was {$55.00}, ( XXXX ) that the initial amount of the gift card had been {$200.00}, and ( XXXX ) she could find no history of any transactions using the card. As I attempted to get an explanation of how this could have happened, the customer service rep indicated that she could no longer hear me and then stopped speaking. I stayed on the line, and after a time the rep began speaking again and now was able to hear me. Since the rep was not able to provide any further information, I asked to speak to a supervisor and was told I'd be put on hold to wait for the next available supervisor. I waited on hold for a time, then the call was ended and not by me. On the next day, XX/XX/XXXX, I once again called XXXX. Initially the rep was able to provide only the same information that I'd been given the day before, but when I asked for an explanation, the rep said he was also curious and put me on hold so he could get further info. The rep then came back on the line and told me it appeared that the card had been used to make a series of charges on XXXX XXXX that came to a total of {$140.00}. The rep indicated these charges were fairly recent -- I think he said within the past month, but I am not completely sure about that. The rep said that XXXX could dispute the charges with XXXX XXXX and asked if that was OK. I explained that the card had been kept in its sealed container and stored at our home in a secure location for over a year. Given that, the charges on XXXX XXXX appeared to be due to a security breach that was not due to any behavior on the part of the gift card purchaser or the gift card recipient ( i.e. my husband and myself ). Since the security breach had occurred somewhere in the system totally outside of consumer control, I expected XXXX to take responsibility and make me whole -- and it was thus up to XXXX to decide how to proceed with XXXX XXXX. At this point, the rep indicated repeatedly that he could not hear me. He then said something which I think was that XXXX would file a dispute with XXXX XXXX. The call was then ended and not by me.