Simon Mall has sent an email to some customers who’ve purchased Visa gift cards online advising that their accounts are temporarily suspended until they make a gift card purchase in-mall.
Here’s the full text of the email:
Simon Bulk Buyer Account Holders:
Due to Regulatory Compliance stipulations with large online financial product purchases, all online Bulk Buyers will now be required to make a minimum of one live in-person purchase transaction at a Simon Center. The in-person purchase transaction is required for live ID verification and a completed/signed Consumer Order Form as part of the federal Anti Money Laundering (AML) program.
For Account Holders that have not made a live on-mall transaction in the past 12 months, your account will be temporarily suspended until you have had the opportunity to do so. A Simon Giftcard Business Manager will be assigned to assist you with questions and the required purchase, and will be in contact this week. Below are the instructions to facilitate the purchase:
Live In-Person Purchase Transaction:
- Locate a Simon center near you from simon.com
- Select a date and time most convenient for you.
- Call the Mall Office to ensure your appointment can be accommodated, and that the selling center will be open to avoid an unnecessary trip. Phone numbers are listed with the mall addresses.
- Make a minimum purchase of $3K, maximum of $25K – higher limits available on-mall.
- Notify your Simon Giftcard Business Manager once you have made the transaction to reopen your online account.
For some people this won’t be a big issue, but it’ll prove to be problematic for others. I’m sure there are many people still avoiding malls due to COVID-19, so they won’t be keen on having to head to the mall to make a gift card purchase.
This could be even more problematic for other people whose Simon Mall is no longer selling Visa gift cards. For example, Gulfport Premium Outlets in Mississippi and Carolina Premium Outlets in North Carolina recently contacted previous customers to advise that they’ll no longer be selling Visa gift cards in-mall. Gulfport Premium Outlets is the only Simon Mall in Mississippi, so anyone wanting to MS in MS will have to drive two hours or more to Pensacola to the closest Simon Mall in order to make themselves eligible for online orders.
h/t Miles to Memories Facebook group
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I got an email from my Simon Volume CSR giving me details on the malls somewhat near me which was good because calling the malls was mostly an exercise in frustration. I am not particularly close to any Simon Mall so I’ll have to make a several hour round trip road trip. Unfortunately the malls “nearest” (relative term) to me are either not selling or only selling for limited hours during the work week. Not worth taking off time from my day job so until I have some other reason to be a near a mall I won’t be getting verified.
When was this email sent? I didn’t get one. Perhaps they were able to match my in-mall purchases before the pandemic to my online account?
Yep, they’ve presumably matched up in-mall purchases with the details people have given when ordering online.
Carolina Prem outlets informed me they’re permanently shutting down in mall purchases which you outlined in the article. Pretty unfortunate.
Simon Mall in Pensacola is not currently selling in-mall gift cards due to the pandemic.