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Walmart apparently hacked!!!

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deadlyapp

Diamond Member
Apr 25, 2004
6,671
744
126
I've been laughing following this thread as you expect to be compensated for GC fraud which you attribute to their website being hacked.

Your threats of small claims court over less than $200 were icing.

I'm not surprised to see their response and I think just about every company ever would respond in the same way.
 
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killster1

Banned
Mar 15, 2007
6,205
475
126
I've been laughing following this thread as you expect to be compensated for GC fraud which you attribute to their website being hacked.

Your threats of small claims court over less than $200 were icing.

I'm not surprised to see their response and I think just about every company ever would respond in the same way.


ya it sounds pretty silly, my favorite part was that it was 1000 to 1 that he was the hacked one and that it had to be from walmart store skimming mag strip? IDK never had any issues i used to buy and sell thousands of $$$$$$$ in starbucks giftcards all the time and never had a issue. (i did it to be nice to coworkers who always spend so much)

pretty sure i was forced to take a giftcard from walmart sporting goods return with no receipt? But it spent fine. What i dont understand is not spending the giftcard right away i just dropped 140$ at Walmart last night all in groceries. of course we bought some fun food but mostly chicken/ beef / veggies. I guess if you grow your own and raise your own cows/chickens you could avoid this but ;) :) its good prices at walmart only store that is better is costco or fruit stand on the side of the road (lots better for some things)
 

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
40,875
10,222
136
No offense, but I think you're reaching, a bit, to expect a company allegedly rife with GC fraud, to compensate you for stolen GC funds, when they can't even seem to employ most people full-time; give benefits, or pay a "living wage" in some parts of the country.
Dude, they're the largest retailer in the world. They can afford to honor my GC funds, goddammit!
 

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
40,875
10,222
136
I've been laughing following this thread as you expect to be compensated for GC fraud which you attribute to their website being hacked.

Your threats of small claims court over less than $200 were icing.

I'm not surprised to see their response and I think just about every company ever would respond in the same way.
Why? You think it's funny, that's it?

I didn't say their website was hacked. It could have been an inside job. If someone internally grabbed my data that was an internal hack. Nobody but reputable people should have access to that info. If it was accessed by unscrupulous person, that was a hack... internal or external.
 

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
40,875
10,222
136
I figure I have two avenues of recourse at this point. I can contact Chase and see if they will intervene or compensate me. Most credit cards offer customers some assurance of service. I can also contact Walmart in another manner. I can call them again, if nothing else.

I have never filed in small claims court, but it seems to me that could conceivably work too.

I got an email from Walmart an hour or two after they sent me their abrupt and peremptory excuseless dismissal. It asked me "how did we do?" I filled out the website answers excoriating them for atrocious service and explained why. Have no idea if it could possibly help, but I did it.

Go ahead, laugh, you shit-heads.
 

WilliamM2

Platinum Member
Jun 14, 2012
2,975
876
136
I figure I have two avenues of recourse at this point. I can contact Chase and see if they will intervene or compensate me. Most credit cards offer customers some assurance of service. I can also contact Walmart in another manner. I can call them again, if nothing else.

You should have called the CC company the minute they refused to give you a full refund, you should have never accepted a gift card in the first place. I wouldn't.

It may be a bit late now, since Walmart can show that they already refunded your money.

Another option would have been to open the box for the TV and see if it was actually damaged in the first place. It was probably fine.
 

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
40,875
10,222
136
You should have called the CC company the minute they refused to give you a full refund, you should have never accepted a gift card in the first place. I wouldn't.
It may be a bit late now, since Walmart can show that they already refunded your money. Another option would have been to open the box for the TV and see if it was actually damaged in the first place. It was probably fine.
Yes, it was probably "fine," i.e. working but my concern what that it's long term viability may have been impacted. It was my first purchase of a TV since 1989, that one being a 20" CRT. I'm not exactly versed in the ins and outs. I was nervous.

I'm going to call my CC company right now!
 

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
40,875
10,222
136
What does your CC company have to do with a gift card?
Well, Walmart Returns told me that my payment method (Chase Pay) was the reason they wouldn't refund me and would only give me a GC.

Chase is telling me it's been over 60 days so they can't help me with a dispute and I should try contacting Walmart to get more info on the charges.

I'm on hold with Walmart right now... She comes back and says there were several charges at physical stores. She's dubious about them reversing that stuff, has me on hold again seeing if she can get more info about something I can do...

So far, they've only given me info concerning one of those charges, for $1.01 in Florida. This is pretty fucked up. Maybe I should pursue the angle that they were never entitled to insist on giving me a GC instead of a refund, assuming it really isn't legal for them to have foisted that on me.

Edit: She comes back and asks for the exact amounts of those 3 charges I saw. Funny they can't see that. Anyway, I have them in memory at this point and I explain the amounts. $100.00, $34.37, $1.01. That still doesn't total the $187.09 (that was supposed to be on the card). She's got me on hold again and she's trying to see if they can fix this for me...
 
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Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
40,875
10,222
136
Well, she comes back one final time and says they'll do something they don't normally do and make restitution by issuing me a new GC, which will come by USPS in 7-10 business days. It will include a PIN and instructions for how to activate and use it! I hope it doesn't get compromised!!!

They never told me more about those mysterious purchases. *Shrug*

Man, you need patience in this world.

It was at the end of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas when Hunter S. Thompson offered the post inscription: "Persistence and Determination are invincible." IIRC. Can't find that quote googling, but damn it, I remember!
 
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WilliamM2

Platinum Member
Jun 14, 2012
2,975
876
136
60 days? My Chase Visa card will allow a chargeback up to 6 months, so do my other cards. Is this a credit or debit card?
 

BUTCH1

Lifer
Jul 15, 2000
20,433
1,769
126
Yeah, when you use a Walmart gift card online, it gets tied to your online account, and used automatically for future purchased by default.

So, what I've heard is, that these online "stored gift cards", get drained all the time, either by hackers, or inside jobs, or whatever.
From what I've read people steal blank cars and grab the info then return to the store and put them back, then they constantly monitor the card (s) at Walmrt's website and when one has been activated and funded they immediately use it.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,587
10,225
126
From what I've read people steal blank cars and grab the info then return to the store and put them back, then they constantly monitor the card (s) at Walmrt's website and when one has been activated and funded they immediately use it.
Couldn't, when you purchase a gift card, ask the customer to enter a 4-5 digit PIN code into the physical register pad (if at store) or into a box (if using web site), such that the pre-programmed PIN code under the scratch-off panel on the card wouldn't be used? That way, there's no direct way to get the funds stolen, even if the attacker gets the GC#, unless they can also get the customer's PIN code. (Rather than a pre-set PIN for that GC.)

Seems like a simple solution to me.
 

ch33zw1z

Lifer
Nov 4, 2004
39,756
20,329
146
I'll just stick with my overall boycott of walmart. Very rare I pick up anything there, fuck them.
 

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
40,875
10,222
136
60 days? My Chase Visa card will allow a chargeback up to 6 months, so do my other cards. Is this a credit or debit card?
It's a Chase credit card. Maybe I was shunted off with bogus excuse. Not knowing better, I acquiesced. I think I will avoid using "Chase Pay" again. "Too much monkey business for me to be involved in."
 
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Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
40,875
10,222
136
I'll just stick with my overall boycott of walmart. Very rare I pick up anything there, fuck them.
Like I said, I figure I'm lucky they are out of the way. However, they have AFAIK the best deal on nonfat dry milk powder. I used to get that at Costco for years but they stopped stocking it. Bought some from them online in 5 gallon bucket (Thrive! brand), but it's not regularly offered. Last couple times I checked, it wasn't available.

Mostly I'm not crazy about Walmart. The place kind of creeps me out, and seems like half the time my online orders have some crazy outcome. They work with me in resolutions but how can you calculate the value of not having to deal with the hassles?

Yesterday I was told I'd get a physical gift card in replacement for the one that was basically stolen from me in the USPS mail in 7-10 business days but last night they emailed me the new card number and PIN. So, don't know if that physical card is coming. Presumably I can use the card number and PIN right now. Of course, I'm worried that it too will be tapped and deflated to ZERO.
 

ch33zw1z

Lifer
Nov 4, 2004
39,756
20,329
146
Like I said, I figure I'm lucky they are out of the way. However, they have AFAIK the best deal on nonfat dry milk powder. I used to get that at Costco for years but they stopped stocking it. Bought some from them online in 5 gallon bucket (Thrive! brand), but it's not regularly offered. Last couple times I checked, it wasn't available.

Mostly I'm not crazy about Walmart. The place kind of creeps me out, and seems like half the time my online orders have some crazy outcome. They work with me in resolutions but how can you calculate the value of not having to deal with the hassles?

I was told I'd get a physical card in the USPS mail in 7-10 business days but last night they emailed me the new card number and PIN. So, don't know if that physical card is coming. Presumably I can use the card number and PIN right now. Of course, I'm worried that it too will be tapped and deflated to ZERO.

drain the funds of the card asap, and don't get a GC again?
 

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
40,875
10,222
136
drain the funds of the card asap, and don't get a GC again?
Any suggestions? Just wander in the store and fill my cart? Wander online and find stuff I figure I can use? Honestly, I am not comfortable just having a GC from them. I also have an Amazon GC, with a LOT of money on it! It's as of 2 months ago, my brokerage issued it to me. Is Amazon trustworthy for that? I'd be hell of pissed if that gets drained!
 

ch33zw1z

Lifer
Nov 4, 2004
39,756
20,329
146
Any suggestions? Just wander in the store and fill my cart? Wander online and find stuff I figure I can use? Honestly, I am not comfortable just having a GC from them. I also have an Amazon GC, with a LOT of money on it! It's as of 2 months ago, my brokerage issued it to me. Is Amazon trustworthy for that? I'd be hell of pissed if that gets drained!

as much milk powder as you can get :p . Really though, it's up to you. You know you'll always need other non-perishable food items, or paper towels / TP

I wouldn't worry too much about Amazon. No corporation is impervious to cyber attacks. But at least Amazon doesn't have store fronts to compromise. They're also heavily into cloud services with AWS, and my perception is they take security quite a bit more seriously than a vendor like walmart.

The best thing you can do is ensure you have a tough password and don't let your browser save it.
 

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
40,875
10,222
136
The best thing you can do is ensure you have a tough password and don't let your browser save it.
as much milk powder as you can get :p . Really though, it's up to you. You know you'll always need other non-perishable food items, or paper towels / TP

I wouldn't worry too much about Amazon. No corporation is impervious to cyber attacks. But at least Amazon doesn't have store fronts to compromise. They're also heavily into cloud services with AWS, and my perception is they take security quite a bit more seriously than a vendor like walmart.
The first thing they did last night when I got Walmart on the phone was get me to change my password. It's pretty tough now and as many characters as they will allow (12).

I think I'll change my Amazon PW too. I will try to keep an eye on anything like a GC, anywhere I have "credit." I keep an eye on my CC statements too, have them sent via USPS, also my checking account.
 

ch33zw1z

Lifer
Nov 4, 2004
39,756
20,329
146
The first thing they did last night when I got Walmart on the phone was get me to change my password. It's pretty tough now and as many characters as they will allow (12).

I think I'll change my Amazon PW too. I will try to keep an eye on anything like a GC, anywhere I have "credit." I keep an eye on my CC statements too, have them sent via USPS, also my checking account.

a bit off topic, but along the same lines, I strongly recommend a password manager. I use Safe-in-Cloud, but there's other ones out there you may like. Lastpass, Keepass, 1password...etc...
 

nakedfrog

No Lifer
Apr 3, 2001
62,822
19,028
136
The first thing they did last night when I got Walmart on the phone was get me to change my password. It's pretty tough now and as many characters as they will allow (12).

I think I'll change my Amazon PW too. I will try to keep an eye on anything like a GC, anywhere I have "credit." I keep an eye on my CC statements too, have them sent via USPS, also my checking account.
It irritates me when password lengths are limited to something that short. It's a terrible flaw.
 
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ch33zw1z

Lifer
Nov 4, 2004
39,756
20,329
146
Going to be 36 years old this year. Never shopped at a Walmart, and I never will. Somehow I've survived.

Yea, I think a lot of it depends on where you live. For instance, I traveled to ATL quite a bit for a couple years, Walmart Super Centers were EVERYwhere, but up in my area of New England, there weren't any at the time. Some areas, it's where you go *shrug*. Boycotting it could be pretty difficult.
 
Mar 11, 2004
23,444
5,852
146
Going to be 36 years old this year. Never shopped at a Walmart, and I never will. Somehow I've survived.

You remind me of the people that go out of their way to exclaim "I don't watch TV, I don't even own a TV and never will. Blah blah blah, blah blah." Do you want a medal? It just astounds me that people seem to act like that deserves special commendation or something. No one cares. Its a corporate retail chain.
 
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