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Greendot? More Like Scamdot.

by tuxedojericho on November 4, 2007 at 12:29 pm · Comments
Categorized by General / Related Information

I recently purchased a rechargeable gift card at a local CVS from a company called “Greendot”. I mean, with this card, you can recharge it when you are out, and use it like a credit card. Good idea, on paper.

First, it is almost a ten dollar free to get the card, as opposed to a five dollar one for a regular credit card gift card. That’s Ok, I can see that. However, when you activate the card, you must wait for the company to send the actual plastic card to you before you can use it on paypal. To use a card, you must have the card verification number. Nowhere was this given to me on the online information. I even went as far to call their support number to see if I could get it. The woman who I spoke to, of course she could not speak very good english, told me that my card verification number showed up on the screen when I activated, but went away after a minute. Now, that is complete garbage. The card verification number was not there, nor could she give me the information. With her attitude toward me on the phone, tend to make me get the same attitude back toward her. I told her, “Thank you. I am so glad I spent nearly one hundred dollars for something that I can’t use right now when I needed to.” She started to say something else, but I just closed the cell phone, and then decided to blog about the crap. I swear, I’d rather put up with the crappy support from Comcast over this company’s “support and help” system.

So yeah, if you have the choice in paying more higher priced credit gift card, or get a rechargeable “greendot” credit card, get the gift card. That is, unless you dont need to use it right away.

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What do you think?

Carl Ray - November 8, 2007 @ 1:41 am

That’s what I like about getting the American Express Gift Cards at
one of the big-box discount stores.

Carressa - November 18, 2007 @ 7:00 am

I purchased one of these green dot cards at rite aid. I activated it online, got my card numbers, expiration date, and cvv number. I immediately used it on paypal. In about a week and a half I got the card. The lady was right, the information is on the computer screen and it tells you that the page will expire in a minute. I don’t get how that was hard for you?

tuxedojericho - November 18, 2007 @ 11:50 am

Simple. I didn’t get that information. I’m sorry, but if you get distracted for a moment, from someone saying something, to losing the net connection, to a helicopter pilot getting decapitated by the rotors on his own copter (yes this happened recently at the airport that I work part time) then you are distracted from the screen for that minute. They need to send that information to your email address. That way, you have the information while waiting on the card.

Doug - November 24, 2007 @ 10:00 pm

The verification number is on teh back of the card numb nuts

tuxedojericho - November 25, 2007 @ 3:04 am

Doug, I honstly thought about deleting your rude comment. However, I want users to see how utterly moronic you are.

if you had indeed read the blog, you would have came across this snipet.

“That’s Ok, I can see that. However, when you activate the card, you must wait for the company to send the actual plastic card to you before you can use it on paypal. To use a card, you must have the card verification number.”

Which means that you don’t have the plastic card to use that, till a week later. Doug, when replying to blogs, read the damn thing entirely before you post a comment, numb nuts.

Ryan - December 4, 2007 @ 11:19 pm

I would avoid these cards at all cost. in addition to the initial 10$ fee, there is a 5$ monthly fee, so if you dont use it frequently its not worth it. Also i loaded 70$ onto the card on monday, and even though the money is supposed to be usable in 60 mins, my transaction is still pending, making it 28 hours and counting that i am unable to do anything with it.

tuxedojericho - December 5, 2007 @ 12:31 am

Yes, I agree, I wish I had known about the $5 a month charge as well.

Folks, it’s cheaper and easier to use the debit card than this crap. I am only using it for PayPal and one of my online game accounts untill it expires in 09. After that, it does away.

steve dartnell - December 11, 2007 @ 1:22 am

Its all I can do to start this with out useing f words where in the hell did these aholes come up with this no and I mean no service company .Absolutely out to lunch pricks .I have given them the benefit of doubt on every deal and not once have they came through . Here is just one of the many delightfull experiences i have to share . I bought five 500 dollar reload cards for a ebay purchace from Walgreens, just to find out that I can only load 500 dollarsper 24 hour period . Well need less to say I have a p*ssed off ebay seller And try to get my money back is a farce. This is my final dealing with these clowns . Please don’t buy any thing or do business with Columbus bank the green dot daddy peace out

Worthog - December 17, 2007 @ 9:29 pm

Greendot really is a scam. I mistakenly bought this at a local grocery store thinking it was a gift card. 4.95 a month, 2.50 ATM, 4.00 cash advance, .50 Just to check if you have any money on the stupid thing! And get this 10.00 to get rid of it after you paid 9.95 just to purchase it.
And yea, talking to “Michael” who spoke less english than Jackie Chan was a real treat. I guess I should consider myself lucky I only put 20 bucks on it.

Cassie - December 19, 2007 @ 1:07 am

That’s really weird, because I recently bought one of those cards a couple months ago to pay bills because my boyfriend and i were in a tight spot with our banks. Anyway, we bought it and activated it, went home and then i called the number. i talked to a guy who couldn’t speak english clearly, but he gave me my card number, my card expiration date and my card’s security code right then and there. of course, after this he only got the second part of my name “sandra” but that’s right, my boyfriend and use it anyways. the only thing that sucks is that you have to pay the stupid five dollar fee when you want to reload it. :( the monthly payment to keep it though is strange because this month we didn’t use it and they obviously had nothing to take from it during this month. I just think it’s weird and I just am hoping that we don’t have to keep using it because it can really get to be a pain.

Lucas - December 26, 2007 @ 12:34 pm

These guys are seriously crooks. On top of the $10 they charge you initially, they bill you $5 every month, starting immediately.
The thing is, they dont start deducting the $5 after a month, they do it automatically on the 5th of every month, regardless of when you bought the card. So if you bought a card on the 4th for $25(+9.99 fee), when you woke up on the 5th you’d have $20 on the card….

The other thing is, if you buy a money pack to replenish a card, they deduct from the moneypack on the 5th AND the card. The moneypack doesnt even have to have been activated. So if you buy a moneypack on the 4th for $25(+ the 4.99 fee) and have $5 on your card, on the 5th if you go to activate your moneypack, you’ll have 0 on the card and $20 on your moneypack… before you even activated it.

I really dont know how they get away with it… but it seems like a scam to me. In general I’d say you’re much better off buying the single use amex or visa giftcards… at least the fees are upfront.

dez - December 26, 2007 @ 3:18 pm

i used greendot and the CVV number was on the screen when i registered. for security measures, that stuff disappears after 5 minutes. and i used my card immediately after even though it hasn’t arrived in the mail yet.

you should have printed that page for your records.

tuxedojericho - December 27, 2007 @ 11:33 am

Dez, that would have been nice, but i wasn’t near a printer at the time. I was on a college wireless network, which I don’t have the ability to print on.

Nev - December 29, 2007 @ 10:00 pm

Wow, thanks for the info, man! I was considering one…now I’m not.

tuxedojericho - December 30, 2007 @ 6:56 pm

Honestly, if you have a bank acoc*nt, getting a debit/ATM card from them is the best bet.Most places allow you to use that as a credit card online.

Jeff - January 10, 2008 @ 2:41 pm

Go to a family express gas station and get a mio card. no monthly fees!!!!! and u get a STAR debit card instantly for PIN purchases and they send u a Visa in the mail. I have to have a prepaid debit card because i cant get a checking account because my ex girlfriend used my debit card at an ATM and abused the generous Overdraft Honors program my bank had…. over drew my account into -$1000. I refused to pay it and now ChexSystems says I can’t get another checking account for 5 years. Sure there are banks that dont use ChexSystems, but most of them are local only banks and their online system does NOT show pending transactions like the big banks do. My mio card does show pending transactions immediately so i know where i used my card. But yeah… prepaid debit cards are the price you sometimes have to pay when u cant get a checking account.