The story calls Jones the CEO of Cardpool. “For anyone who had a bad experience, I want them to know that those customer service issues have been fixed,” Jones told in the story posted last Jan. In a news story early in 2020, he is quoted as saying Cardpool had had some bad reviews the prior year, but the site now has new management. Jones’ own past statements reflect that Cardpool’s issues predated the pandemic. Jones said the loan “provided support for a short period and was not enough to help the company overcome the 90 percent drop in revenue due to COVID.” More than 30 employees have lost their jobs, he said. The loan money is for businesses to pay for workers’ salaries, rent, utilities and other key expenses to stay afloat. Under its Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), Cardpool LLC was approved for a $426,000 loan on April 10, the website says. To unleash federal pandemic relief, the CARES Act became law on March 27, 2020. Jones declined to say how many millions and likewise ignored other follow-up questions from AARP. Fraudsters who “used stolen credit cards to purchase gift cards and then sold those cards to Cardpool.” Once the use of pilfered credit cards was discovered, the card-issuing “companies removed the balance and Cardpool was left holding the bag and it ended up costing Cardpool millions of dollars.”.Customers who “did not understand our business and either sold us a gift card that they then used or sold to another gift card exchange.”.Jones also blamed Cardpool’s challenges on: At the Better Business Bureau, Horton said complaints about Cardpool started spiking in 2018 and haven’t slowed down. Unhappy customers Rimel and Chatman, though, said their unsatisfactory dealings occurred before the coronavirus struck. “I spent a lot of time trying to get in touch and they simply wouldn’t respond.”Īddressing Cardpool’s issues, Jones blamed a variety of external factors including plummeting revenues due to the pandemic. But a few years ago, she paid Cardpool about $93 for a $100 Lowe’s gift card that didn’t work and when she complained to the company, she was stone-walled. “I won’t use them again, and if anybody asks me, I’m going to tell them I didn’t have positive experiences of late,” the retired teacher’s aide told AARP.įor years she and her husband relied on Cardpool to snap up cheaper-than-face-value Home Depot and Lowe’s gift cards - without a hitch. In Virginia, retiree Lou Ann Rimel, 68, is among consumers who reported being burned by Cardpool. “When a gift card is not new, you … run the risk of not receiving what you bargained for,” warns Monica Horton, a Better Business Bureau spokesperson there. The investigation into the Cardpool complaints was spearheaded by the Better Business Bureau Serving North Central Texas, whose region includes Cardpool’s headquarters. The exchange - functioning as a middleman - takes a cut of each transaction. Other people scoop up the unwanted cards that are priced at a discount. Here’s how exchanges work: Consumers sell physical gift cards or electronic gift cards with unredeemed balances and collect less than the cards’ actual value. 15.Ĭardpool is a gift-card exchange that operates alongside the multibillion-dollar gift- and reloadable-card industry. All were being offered for sale on the website .Ĭardpool has bought and sold discounted gift cards for years, but in the last three years the Irving, Texas, company has racked up nearly 2,200 consumer complaints, according to the Better Business Bureau, which gave the firm its lowest rating, an “F.” With complaints arising in every state, the bureau issued a nationwide warning about Cardpool on Dec. A Bed, Bath and Beyond gift card worth $100 could be had for $94, and a GameStop card, $91. En español | Want a $100 gift card on the cheap? This week one for Best Buy was going for $95.

Bed bath and beyond gift card balance