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Sam’s Club doesn’t properly “load” gift cards with money, but the retailer refuses to refund the credited amount, according to a class action lawsuit.
Plaintiff Steven Lockwood says that on two occasions in 2017 he attempted to purchase gift cards from the discount chain.
The first time, Lockwood alleges that he purchased two Disney gift cards for $144.98 each and an additional American Express gift card for $500.
The amounts were never loaded on these cards, but Lockwood says he was eventually paid back.
The Sam’s Club class action lawsuit states that the problem arose when Lockwood attempted to purchase gift cards a second time.
According to the Sam’s Club class action lawsuit, the plaintiff purchased the gift cards again, but this time he left the store without the gift cards in his possession despite having paid more than $700 for them.
According to the plaintiff, he went back to Sam’s Club and reviewed store tapes with a manager to establish that he had purchased the gift cards but didn’t receive them.
The manager indicated he would have to call the corporate office, however. Lockwood says that when he attempted to get a refund, Sam’s Club corporate office refused.
“Defendant represents that it will sell Class Products to Plaintiff and other consumers through prominent placement of the Class Products in its stores,” alleges the Sam’s Club class action lawsuit.
“Plaintiff and consumers rely on these representations in deciding to purchase the Class Products from Defendant. Such sales tactics employed on Defendant rely on falsities and have a tendency to mislead and deceive a reasonable consumer.”
Lockwood alleges that he is out $794.44 for the gift cards he purchased at Sam’s Club and that other consumers have faced the same problem.
“Such representations were part of a common scheme to mislead consumers and incentivize them to purchase Class Products from Defendant under the false belief that Defendant would properly load the Class Products with value instead of keeping the money without providing any value,” asserts the Sam’s Club class action lawsuit.
The Sam’s Club class action lawsuit seeks to represent Californians who purchased gift cards at the discount warehouse, but did not receive the proper credit on those gift cards and were not refunded for the improper loading of the cards.
The plaintiff is seeking damages as well as a court order requiring Sam’s Club to conduct a corrective advertising campaign informing consumers of its allegedly deceptive practices surrounding gift cards.
“In reasonable reliance on Defendant’s false advertisements, Plaintiff and other Class Members purchased Class Products from Defendant based on these representations,” the Sam’s Club class action lawsuit states. “In reality, Defendant did not put value onto the Class Products and instead took Plaintiff’s money for nothing.”
The plaintiff and proposed Class are represented by Todd M. Friedman of the Law Offices of Todd M. Friedman PC.
The Sam’s Club Gift Cards Class Action Lawsuit is Lockwood v. Sam’s West Inc., Case No. 5:19-cv-00464, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
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89 thoughts onSam’s Club Class Action Says Gift Cards Aren’t Properly Loaded
Purchased 8 Panda Express $15 gift cards last month to give out to my employees. Every single one of them told me that none of the Panda Express gift cards worked at any location they went to.
We called Panda Express customer service for the gift card and were told that the cards we purchased had stopped being accepted now for more than two years!
Unacceptable, never expected fraud from Sam’s Club.
I purchased a red lobster gift card for $100 dollars and 10 $15 dollar Buffalo wild wings gift cards. In 2017 for Christmas gifts from my local Sam’s club. Speed ahead to 2018 Christmas found out that none of the card I gave as gifts were not activated. How embarrassing. They went all to family members and we’re to hy to approach me about it.
It’s sad that there so many fraudulent people in this world not sharing the whole story or jumping on to something like this because of the deep pockets of Walmart Inc. Please get the whole story. Sam’s Club is a reputable business who cares about their honest Members and will do anything for them… Question your motives
They should also have a class action for those members that are supposed to get back 2% of their purchases at the end of the year with the plus membership. Several times I have contacted them about not receiving my samsclub check. I call their customer service number, They advise they will investigate and send out money earned, nothing ever comes of it.
I have worked at Sams Club for years as a cashier. The “check” you refer to is tied to the Sams Club Mastercard , not your plus membership. Your plus membership earns cash rewards, $ 10.00 for every $500.00 you spend. This is tied to your membership card and is available for you to spend on any purchase or receive the actual cash, your choice, approx 60 days before your renewal date. You receive your rewards yearly. If you have both the Mastercard and the plus membership your entitled to the rewards tied to each. Hope this helps clarify the ways you get rewarded for being one of our valued members…
I had issues too. For signing up for their plus membership one time. They gave out gift cards with 15 dollars applied, when I went to use mine with the promised amount. There was nothing on it, they would not honor it either. A 2nd time I had a return they gave me a gift card. Luckily, I used it at the store that day. The gift card amount was supposed to be around 120.00, again no money applied to the card. I had to show them the return receipt for what happened, and after 30 minutes, they finally gave me cash and said it was a card loading error. It makes me worried about all the gift cards I bought from them for Xmas gifts.
I’m so happy something is being done about this problem. I brought a friend a gift card for Christmas and they gave him the run around when he went to the store to get his own account, he was upset because he had to come out of his own pocket to pay for his membership because they said it wasn’t anything on the card that I purchased.. when I called customer service they said the card needed to be activated…which when I paid for it I thought it should of already been activated, long story short they wouldn’t refund my money back but instead gave me a gift card code to use in the store. I was ok with that but they really shouldn’t take people money from them like that and not give it back to them.
Lots of various complaints @ Consumer Affairs site for Sams.
I purchased a membership through groupon web site and was to get a $10 gift card, free pizza and a dessert but was told since I purchased thru a 3rd party they will not honor it.
I too bought the premium membership through Groupon and had lots of issues with the rewards. The people and manager at the customer service desk were amazing with their help. They did give me the gift card and all the free food as well but they had no idea that Groupon had this promo going!
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