A few months ago there was a brief glitch at OfficeMax in which people could buy $200 Visa gift cards with no fee even though the packaging showed a $6.95 fee. Now, it seems that the same glitch has appeared in a different office supply store.
No, not Staples.
So far, I’ve only received one report of this from a person who shopped in Maryland. Anyone else experience this? It could be a big win if you pay with a credit card that earns 5X at office supply stores!
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Is no fee working in other parts of the country? Won’t be able to verify for another 6 hours.
Not sure if it’s a holiday promotion, but just purchased 1k in Vanilla Visas at an OD in MD and was not charged the 6.95 fee per $200 card
Awesome!
I’m glad that Denrick made his comment. I was wondering if that was what anyone else would do if it came up with a fee. They shouldn’t make that a glitch. There should be cards available for less than that. Seems to me sometimes that paying high fees is almost regular now for cards that used to be a lot more affordable.
Thanks for sharing this. Hope it makes Visa rethink some of the high charges and even offer a special for a week.
For what it’s worth, I kept quiet on this when it happened to me last week. It was Wednesday, 8/14 and I was not charged the fee on a purchase of 5 $200 cards. I am also in MD, so it’s very possible that I had visited the same store as the reader who emailed.
Glad to hear that the fee free thing worked for at least one other person! Have you tried going back to that store since then?
@FM
Post a suspect (fake) story to push your Chase Ink affiliate links. Way to go. This must be a new low for you. Bravo.
That’s an insulting accusation. I’ve never published a post for the purpose of pushing affiliate links and I never will. The reader in question sent me a very convincing photo of his receipt. Combine that with the fact that this happened before at OfficeMax and I believed it was worthy of a QuickDeal (which I partly titled: “unconfirmed”).
@FM, any luck paying the activation fee with a office supply gift card and the rest with an ink card?
that’d be brilliant. wonder what the cashiers would think of that
Interesting idea. I’ve never tried.
No go at 2 San Diego area ODs at about 3:50pm local time – this may be urban myth.
Tried 3 stores in ABQ, NM. fee charged at all. Bummer.
Replying to myself.
Tried 3 OD stores, specifically.
All silver bow cards, exp 7/21. No go.
@8:28PM
the list has proven accurate in the past. if your visa card is a chase ink then yes. i did not wish to imply ‘any’ ol visa would earn 5x. now that would be huge.
Are you saying any of the stores on that list would charge to Visa as office supply and therefore earn the 5X?
@c2d
http://visa.via.infonow.net/locator/usa/supplier/ListLoadAction.do
put in your zip code, select Office Supplies.
Thanks! Nothing surprising turned up now, but I’ll keep this link in mind for future use.
No go in the Denver area.
Wonder what could be the office supply store if it is not OM,OD, or S? Any hints anyone? I’m in MD and can test this and report back.
I’m pretty sure FM was talking about OD. Apparently it was only at one location or only for a very brief time (or maybe just a one-time computer glitch).
Thanks. I’ll check tomorrow morning at nearby ODs and see if the glitch gods are still smiling.
I just tried at OM in FL. The $200 Visa cards rang up with the fee.
I’m just curious, can you buy it in $200 increments using an Ink Bold (at any office supply store), and Chase won’t take back the points and charge a cash advance fee?
Yes you can. Chase does not take the points back nor do they charge a cash advance fee for buying gift cards. In fact, you can buy visa gift cards online directly from Chase and earn points for it.