Vanilla Prepaid Cards Reviews

This is an evil company that robs you of your money. Don't trust them and certainly do not give them your money. They will put a hold on your card and continue to not allow you to spend your gift card money.

Don't ever buy this cards. They are stealing from people. I just bought a card on Saturday 12/20 and tried to activate it the day after and it didn't go through so I called customer service and in order for them to help me they had to open a case to investigate but I was going to have to send them a copy of the receipt and proof of address and a lot of things that didn't make sense to me. I just figured they didn't want to give me my money back.

I purchased 3 Vanilla Visa gift cards, a total of $300. I sent them to a friend who tried to use them at a restaurant. Apparently, 2 out of the 3 were not working even though they showed activation at the location where I purchased them, CVS drug store. The person that received them had activated them over the phone as required but when they tried to use them, they were declined and deferred to using their personal bank debit card. They contacted me and sent them back. I issued them a personal check (would have been easier) for $300. I then contacted InComm to resolve. They determined that one card was fine, I then used it with no problem.

I feel like Vanilla prepaid and its issuing company - People’s Trust - are scamming people. Their customer care number is a joke. It’s hard to talk to any customer care company who basically just can’t help you, nor can they put you through to someone that can. If for any reason there’s something wrong with your card the card will become invalid. Their third party customer care will screw you around and be almost incapable of taking down the information you are giving to them. If you want a refund for their abhorrent non reloadable credit card service - you’re double screwed. These people shouldn’t be able to screw people out of money for months because they have a flawed and shit service. But mostly - even IF - I do get my money back. The whole process of getting it was a nightmare. You’re far better off to punch yourself right in the face.

Do not buy Vanilla Gift cards!!!! Avoid yourself the headache that will come when you need to reach out to customer service. I tried activating a card but the option was never available on the phone number provided. I tried activating it online via laptop and cell phone but an error message came up that my VPN was not allowing them access. I wasn't on VPN. After multiple calls and the run around I requested a refund. Now I need to wait for three weeks to get a CHECK! Do better Vanilla Gift.

Negative Review – Vanilla Gift Card / CVS Pharmacy. Case Number: **. Amount: $199.99. Location: CVS Pharmacy – 4800 Biscayne Blvd, Miami, FL. I purchased a Vanilla Gift Card for $199.99 at CVS Pharmacy (4800 Biscayne Blvd, Miami). The card was never activated properly, and four card numbers are missing. Despite contacting both CVS and Vanilla Gift Card support, neither company is willing to take responsibility. Each keeps shifting blame to the other, leaving me with no resolution and no refund. This feels like fraud and a coordinated lack of accountability between CVS and Vanilla. As a customer, I expected transparency and support, but instead I’ve been left with a useless card and lost money. I strongly advise others to avoid purchasing Vanilla Gift Cards, especially from CVS, until they fix these serious issues.

All I can say is scam scam scam. This company needs to be out of business. I have gotten and bought many visa cards. Never have I every experience anything like Vanilla visa gift card. My husband and I received one from our wedding as a gift. Me thinking I activated it went to the store to pick up a lil grocery just to find out the card wouldn't work so I called the card. The money was still on there so I had to call customer service, talk with them. They were no help saying I need my receipt just to activate the card. I told her it was a gift. I didn't have the receipt so she not caring what I'm saying. I'm holding up a line with my grocery. Now I have to put everything to the side.

Vanilla prepaid cards are an absolute scam dressed up as a financial product. They are wildly unreliable, riddled with hidden fees, and designed in a way that practically guarantees you’ll run into problems the moment you actually try to use your own money. Transactions randomly fail, cards get frozen for no clear reason, and customer support is so painfully useless that it feels intentional. You can load your money, but good luck accessing it when something goes wrong — you’re basically trapped in a system that has no real fixes and no real accountability.

Would give a 0 star review if possible. I purchased a $500 gift card. When opened the last 4 digits were scratched off so the card could not be used. After starting a claim with them and sending photos of the receipt, front and back of card and providing the serial number, they closed the claim saying there was nothing they could do. I called customer service to get information as to what type of investigation they did and to provide me with the transactions that were done with the card so I can dispute that and prove that it is fraudulent. The customer service supervisor said they could not search the transactions with just the serial number of the card. So when I responded saying, then you must have not followed through with a complete investigation to be able to close the claim and not provide a new loaded card, I got a completely different response.

Multiple attempts to use Vanilla card at Walmart and Main Event but unsuccessful and card declined. Used Vanilla contact number and automated message stated to use another merchant. No live person support.

Card won't work. Useless customer service tells to use it different merchants which I already did. Can't add card to Apple Pay too. How can multiple merchants have same issue? At first CSR said no transactions found. Upon further insistence, I see the transactions getting declined but don't know why. What a clueless bunch.

I wish I could put negative stars 'cause they don’t even deserve zero. I have had a list of annoying calls to many customer service line and these guys are the absolute WORST customer service I’ve ever dealt with. Don’t really understand English (and before I get hate English isn’t my first language either but if I still had difficulties understanding English THEN I WOULDN'T TAKE A DAMN CALL JOB). Truly none of them are American at all. My mom got me a 200$ card. Couldn’t use it all damn day 'cause everything was declined. Next day was able to make a purchase at Target and DQ. Went to pay my hotel room and nope. Except after the hotel NOTHING worked anymore. Tried calling back and for some very interesting reason the automated system said something about my phone number could no longer reach them. Called on my room phone and a friend's and WORKED PERFECTLY FINE. So they will block your number!

Purchased a $500 card in the morning from Walmart- funds were fraudulently stolen by that night. My claim with customer service was rejected. Absolute SHAMEFUL for Walmart to sell a defective product with no recourse for stolen funds. It takes one click to see the review and comments if they wanted to. Disgusting!

Not sure where to use it. Every single place I’ve tried, it’s been declined. I was able to get it to work when I used it for parking at a garage. I’ve tried Walmart, Amazon, Old Navy and a few little gas stations and every time it’s declined. Never again.

I've had my gift card declined at Wal-Mart, Amazon and Denny's. Can't seem to find a place that will accept this gift card. What a waste. Tried calling their customer service number, to see if I could find out why or if they had any recommendations on what if anything I am doing wrong, and I couldn't understand the representative to save my life. Wish next time someone gives me a Visa gift card, it's not from this company.

I bought the card. It was delivered by FedEx. There is no way to activate it by phone or online...just error messages. I called Vanilla Customer support and the guy said just try and call back in 3 hours to try and activate it. He said there is no way he could activate the card. So, Vanilla Gift Card made $100.00 and Walmart $5.46 and I got ripped off.

The card is absolute garbage and you are held hostage to where and what you can do with it. I would love to see this company SHUT DOWN. Warning... buy some other card unless you plan to buy groceries or gas only!

You will not be able to use the card online as they do not let you register your address with your card. Customer service is nonchalant when finally reached and is initially a prerecorded message. It is a waste of money because you will pay more cash for the card than you will have on the card to spend, and as mentioned before you don't even have the option of spending it online. Even if you intend to send the card as a gift, you are better off sending the person cash because the only difference between the gift card and the same amount in cash is form. In other words, you are spending 106 dollars to get 100 dollars to then spend in the same store where you could have spent your cash without the extra fee. With an Amazon gift card, you can buy something online that isn't available in stores. Same with Walmart gift cards. There is literally no practical purpose for Vanilla gift cards.

Absolutely BS. Bought this as a gift and they decided to keep $300 on hold, as supposedly info was compromised. Scam. Had to waste an hour to request refund, and they wouldn't even provide tracking number for a replaced card.

I am unable to activate. It appears the card and its packaging may have been altered. I received it as a gift. The website denies me any access, and the telephone number is useless. I couldn't connect to anyone. After reading other reviews, it appears that this company may be a scam and is allegedly stealing money from consumers. Shut them down!!

There's no mention on the outside of the card folder when you purchase the card that you can't upload it to Google Pay, Walmart Pay. I did that and my card was compromised because you're not allowed to do that. They had to send me a new one. Now I've called in multiple times because of issues. And I complained and have stated I will not purchase this kind of card again. Now when I try to call in my # has been blocked. It says my # can not be serviced at this time but I can call from a different phone. That's how I know I'm blocked. Terrible card and multiple problems. 😡

I bought a virtual gift card. It said add to wallet. It declined and would not let me add it. They proceeded to lock the card as fraud. I did what they said! Now two months later they still have not unlocked it and will only mail me a check and it will take 30 days!!!!

I received this gift card as a baby shower present, and it has been a frustrating experience. The card would not activate and customer service could not tell me why. I opened a case and sent every piece of documentation they requested. I also explained repeatedly, by phone and email, that the card was a gift, so I did not know who purchased it or where.

HORRIBLE - I received a gift card for $100 years ago and I can’t use it. It ALWAYS declines. I’ve called customer service at least 10x over the last few years and the rep who barely speaks English can never help me. They can’t replace the card- they give all kinds of nonsense excuses but they will NOT HELP. They need to be shut down! FRAUD is clearly happening based on all the reviews I’ve read and no one is doing anything about it.

This company is a scam, I had 124$ stolen from my card in over 44 different charges all in under a minute by the same name, I filed a dispute, Waited months on months for a response to be told that the investigation concluded that there were no fraudulent charges and that I would not be reimbursed with the money that was stolen from me. I'm convinced Vanilla prepaid cards are the ones stealing our money, the customer service is terrible and ignorant, it was obvious that it was fraud and they told me there was no evidence supporting these claims even though over 44 charges were made in small amounts all within 1 minute which would be humanly impossible to do.

These cards are a complete scam.. They say it's just like cash but 9 times out of 10 this card can't be used. It can't be used for Spotify, Adobe, ebay, ticket master, etc.. Pretty much every place I try to use the card the transaction NEVER goes through.. I put $350 on one to buy concert tickets.. Of course it didn't go through, and of course you can't get a refund. Not to mention it costed an extra $8 to even buy the card. Tried again today for a simple adobe transaction. And another $40 wasted.. I suggest you save your money when dealing with this trash company.

Was given an 100 dollar mastercard from work as a prize and it is actually useless to me, more of an inconvenience than anything else. It cannot be used at any of the online stores I would usually shop with and if you aren't going to use the full 100 dollar amount then you have to keep track of the value or it will decline. This is possibly the most inconvenient way to give someone money. It is less effective than cash and less convenient.

It isn’t easy to use these cards. I received as a gift. When trying to use them I received a decline at the gas station but it still held the funds. I found that out from customer service after going to the website and was unable to resolve my issue. According to customer service I have to wait for two weeks for the funds to go back on the card. If it doesn’t go back I have to contact the merchant which is out of town, so only use locally. I hope I don’t forget that I have them. If you are researching for purchase, just give the cash!

I was given this card as a gift and it keeps denying purchases. When I check online, it shows the declined amount was deducted from the card. You can't fix this junk online and it makes getting a human VERY difficult. When you get a human, they say there is nothing they can do to help. You'll have trouble finding it so the phone number I got is 1-833-322-6760. Save yourself the trouble and start by NEVER buying these cards. IT'S TANTAMOUNT TO ROBBERY!

DO NOT EVER TRUST THE VANILLA E-GIFT CARD!!!! It's your money and their disgusting system declines online purchases automatically, and then when you call for customer service the scums say there's nothing they can do about it!!! So basically you are on your own.

Do not buy these cards! I got one for my birthday. They are garbage! I’ve gotten them in the past as gifts and they have always been a hassle. This time, at 2 different stores, in person, the card was declined or an error was reported and payment couldn’t be processed. I tried several times at Ross (which didn’t even register on the card’s history). It was declined at Walmart. You can’t use it to transfer the money into your bank (declined). You can’t register a zip code for bank or online purchases. You have to ask for split pay if your order is over the amount of the card balance instead of it just deducting what’s on your card. It’s suggested to use in person (ya right..!) instead of online.

This card is awful. Made a purchase which was declined for some odd reason. However still took the money showing pending status for more than 10 days. 100.00 down the drain. I normally buy several gift cards a year for the holidays from this company. NOT ANYMORE. Never got the money back and the company is awful, you can’t even get any help from anyone. Keeps referring me to go online. Do not buy this card.

Nothing but trouble getting service from Vanilla VISA Prepaid. Smaller amount ($25) seem to work fine to use as you please. But if you are gifted $100 good luck! Nothing but a circular non-existent customer service. How convenient! I am disappointed and reluctant to accept the "gift" from the giver because these cards are about worthless to use!

Does anyone else feel ripped off every time they try to use a Vanilla Gift.com Visa card? My family will get these on a regular basis and, don’t get me wrong, we appreciate the gift, but because of the way vanilla gift card sets the card up, you can never use the full amount. I literally have like 10 cards with a balance of $5, $6.43, $4.12, etc. How is this even legal?!?!

Received a $ 50 gift card and NONE of the retailers I've tried can process, it keeps getting denied. Customer Service tells me to "try" going to a store in person. I do all of my purchasing on-line and if Amazon, Apple, Giant Eagle, Verizon cannot accept it, why would I bother trying to find a physical store where this works.. Not happy at all with this brand of gift card.

I received a card today, so I decided to activate it and use it. The entire credit card number was not visible under the sticker as if it had rubbed off. So I called the number hoping that they would just give me the remaining 3 digits that I could not see after I verified. Instead, She informs me that she just locked the card and they will investigate and it may take up to 15 days before I get a replacement card, keep in mind. She was very rude and short as if she was angry with me for asking questions.

I was given two give cards for Chirstmas presents and they have been a complete nightmare. One was locked with over half the balance left on it (around 150.00) adn the new one that was suppose to come in the mail never arrived. My mistake, I didn't save the locked card, so they would not honor the card that was lost in the mail. The other card was declined multiple times in stores and online. When I called customer service, I was told it was part of their security measures, and I should try to use the card elsewhere. I used the card at Safeway and on Google - I would not consider those as unsafe places but who knows. If anyone is considering buying these giftcards, please don't.

I was gifted $750 card. Activated card set up pin and verified balance on 3 occasions I have tried to make a purchase and card was declined so I had to pay out of pocket. Only thing I can do is check balance and verify card is active but still cant use this piece of junk. Call and they say it will be recorded and that's a joke. All you get is automated service that hangs up on you when it runs out of options that do not help you just a waste of my life. Tried to report it online and keeps trying to direct me to options to purchase another card when I can't get mine to work. I did not purchase it so I don't have an account. My advice, find someone you don't like and get them a card because they will end up being furious. Terrible service. Never had these issues with other gift cards.

Worst experience ever. Tried to use it at Lowe's and it was declined. Clerk called over a manager and we went to a different register and it was yet again declined. So I ended up paying cash that I didn't want to spend to avoid being even more embarrassed. Called customer service and they sent me a new card. I just tried to use it on Amazon and it was again declined. I was at least able to cancel the order. These cards are just plain awful.

Literally have $200 on the card, and literal pennies in my checking. I was laid off and I stupidly decided I'd put it on one of those Visa prepaid cards, so it was all in one place and protected. Little background about me...l never make a rash decision and always research prior to signing ANYTHING. Oh and also, my bank, Wells Fargo informed me yesterday that my entire account has been compromised and I have to start from scratch.

I bought a Vanilla card by mistake and tried to get a refund before leaving the store and told no. Requested refund from company after waiting 2 weeks called to check where my refund was and I was told they were waiting for documents. They never told me about and now the waiting period starts over again. Staff is not well trained, gives bad information. Card is not even accepted everywhere!

Terrible customer service. Got one as a gift over the holidays in a family gift exchange. It doesn't work and I called in, but was told there was an activation issue. The only way they could help me is if we have a physical receipt from the store we bought it from.... We got it almost a year ago from a family exchange, what are the odds of tracking down that receipt. Absolutely ridiculous. Cannot state this enough, do not buy these as they will not support you if anything goes wrong.

I purchased 4 Vanilla prepaid cards for my clients as I am a real estate agent. 2 $100 cards and 2 $200 cards. 1 of the $200 cards did not have any money on it so I called customer service asking if they can help me…. They asked me for the receipt + the # on the front of the card that had no funds. I simply provided them a picture of the card and the receipt as they requested. They sent me an email back asking me for the 4 digits on the front of the card that did have the $200 on it so that they didn’t deactivate the wrong card… I did that as well. Then they sent me the same email 5 times over asking me for the 4 digits on the front of the $200 card that I already sent them now 6 times after already sending it AGAIN today.

I just activated my Vanilla gift card for $100 and it shows my balance is $2.00 with a pending charge from Fanduel Racing of $98.00!! The card was bought on 8/27/25 and the fanduel racing charge was on 8/28/25.. No way of getting help with this issue.. Please don’t use this outfit for anything. They are big scammers.

I purchased two cards to use for moving. They were declined the first time I tried to use them. Customer Service is a call center in India. They just keep lying to you like you did something wrong. I'm seeking a class action lawsuit against InComm Financial Services, that's the real name behind the cards. Whoever wants in contact me at **.

They can randomly take money from your card & when you try to ask them to correct it they simply say no & are not helpful. It’s crazy that they have not been sued yet when they are blatantly stealing from you. They try to play off a purchase as you made it & will sometimes just double an existing payment to make it look like you made it. This company is just a bunch of scammers and we will be looking into bringing them to court in the very near future.

I was gifted a $100 Visa Vanilla Gift Card in June for my birthday. I have yet to be able to use it because each time I attempt to activate it the automated phone system keeps telling me the number is no good. I call the 1-833 number on the back of the card for assistance and not one person will help me. I explain to the customer service people on the phone that they are refusing to help me activate my card and essentially what they are doing by refusing to do that is theft. They are stealing someone's $100 by not helping me activate my card to use it and keeping the $100. They did not disagree. Ya know when people live paycheck to paycheck and get a $100 gift card and get excited to be able to buy groceries and billion dollar companies like this keep stealing from people it's just disgusting.

$300 for online purchases I can't use, almost nobody excepts Vanilla Visa. No refunds, no customer service, pure crap! This useless, fraudulent company shouldn't be allowed to get away with this... but they keep em on the rack anyway. 👍

This company says sorry but don't mean it & you use your money you put on their card and can't use it to buy from all places and they can't or won't do anything about it to fix issue. So why use card when you can't even use it and it's a easy hacked in card to. ** everyone, stop using my Vanilla card ASAP. Let's end this crab company with their crappy, evil workers.

I was given a $500 prepaid Vanilla Mastercard as a retirement gift which arrived via registered mail. Two days later I checked the balance and $500 was there. The next day I tried to make a purchase and the balance was $14. I reported the fraud immediately and they froze the account and said an investigation would take between 45 and 90 days. 88 days later I contacted them. On the 89th day they got back to me and my claim was denied. 88 days and they had no questions for me? I was told the balance of $14 would be sent to me on a new card. 60 days went by and no card, so I contacted them and was told no balance will be returned and the account has been closed. How can this be legal?

This company is a scam, I received two $500 gift cards from my boss and neither of them worked. They were super unhelpful on the phone, they have a report button on the website but it says you have to be logged in to report and then it logs you out every time you log in and go to that option. Just all around a complete fraud, I don't understand how they are able to be sold in retail stores!

I received a Visa Vanilla Gift Card as a present, and when I tried to use it, the balance was already zero. I contacted customer service, and they told me they would investigate — but the process would take 40 days. After waiting all that time, I received a negative response and never got my money back. This is unacceptable! I essentially received an empty piece of plastic instead of a gift. Terrible experience, zero trust in this company. I will never use or recommend Visa Vanilla Gift Cards to anyone. One star is a lot for them. :((

The card wouldn't work anywhere online and I just logged on the check balance website to see someone stole the money at 8 am despite the card never leaving my house. I have no idea how they even got ahold of the card's info.

Do not purchase these gift cards. I have one ($100) and used it once ($34.95). After that is is blocked for every purchase I have tried. I contacted Vanilla Visa only to get hung up on. These cards are a scam without a doubt. I cannot contact them and cannot get a resolution. Therefore, I can only assume it is a total scam.

My son got a Vanilla Visa gift card as a graduation gift. It had 50$ on it. He was able to check the amount on the card. So he must have registered it himself, however, things got complicated when he tried to use it on Amazon. It got locked. He wasn’t that eager to use it at the time anyway and saved it for later. A month later he found that it was still locked. So, he called customer service and found that the card was registered under a different name than his. And he couldn’t remember the nickname he supposedly assigned the card. He didn’t know who gave it to him either because a lot of people gave him a gift card. The customer rep took down his information, including address, to potentially mail him a new one after the company did some sort of investigation, like it was a bank robbery or something. We haven’t heard anything since and it’s been 2 1/2 weeks.

I purchased a Vanilla Visa for $35. I didn't even open it and it was already fraudulently used within 2 hours of purchasing for online sites such as Google. Now I have to wait up to 90 days to maybe get my money back. I'll never recommend to family or friends. I'll choose a different company going forward.

My card's balance was depleted via unauthorized transactions within 2 days of activation. Customer service would not cancel card and issue a new one when I called after noticing the first fraudulent charge and 50% of balance was still remaining on card.

Horrible. Don’t even think about trying to order online as a e-gift for a friend. They will decline your order and block your card saying the order was flagged and keep pending charges on your credit card for up to 10 days. Absolute nightmare trying to place my order for a $25 gift card. Insane!

This is by far the most useless card I've had the misfortune of being gifted. We were given two cards as housewarming gifts. The first attempt to use them at a store generated a declined error. Then the nightmare of dealing with the customer service representatives began. They could not explain why the cards were denied. The standard response was "We'll mail a new one to you expeditiously." One card was replaced. The other card became another series of phone call after phone call with yet another standard response. You guessed it. We'll mail another card to you. If this is not a scam aimed at frustrating customers, I don't know.

OMG. I will never purchase a card again. First, money was already taken out of the card when I activated it. I spent an hour on the phone to ask for a new one. I had to complete countless documents. Nothing happened. I had to call again. They said they made a mistake and will reopen my file. Month later nothing. I call again. They said my file was had not been reopened and to call back in a month. I ask, if I had to call back again or if I could expect a new card to be shipped.. They said I had to call back again. What a waste of time and money. PLEASE DO NOT SUPPORT THIS COMPANY. I am disgusted!

I am not happy with this card. Have it and can't use it to pay my major bills, rent, or con Ed. You never speak with someone at all. They give you a lot of prompts but never speak with a actually person. This card is TRASH.

I received one of these a few years ago and forgot all about it until I ran across it in an old email. The card was compromised and used to $0 by someone other than myself, Vanilla itself flagged it as problematic and locked it. I called customer service and was told to call back in 48 hours as my claim had been submitted to the main office. I called back and a rather rude young man told me he had no record of the claim and only the purchaser can get the card reimbursed. Well, there goes $500 -- Vanilla KNEW it was compromised, and I can't go calling some old boss asking to deal with this crummy company for me.

This is the biggest not scam because they don’t outright try to steal but it’s so poorly run with zero customer service/support and accountability it may as well be. It’s a product that no one takes responsibility for but has the tightest anti fraud systems in place for the smallest amount of money that I wonder if it not set up just to squeeze the numbers in the credit card company’s favour in regards to total security and customer finance safety making it look more safe as a company in whole because they can claim these cards with actual customer and business cards together and tweak the numbers in their favour.

Do not do business with this company. Customers who attempt to activate via phone are told they must participate in a medical device purchase scheme. Those who attempt to use the website wind up in an unresolvable loop. Absolutely fraudulent.

Was at the store - used my $25 Vanilla Gift Card (swiped as credit) I had towards my $60 purchase and it paid for the entire amount! I definitely wasn’t gonna question it.. So I when I left the store I called the 1-800 number and it said my remaining balance was still $25.

This is a useless card. No customer service when a problem arises. We had a dispute on a purchase card locked and their website said they sent a document request via email but none sent. I'm thinking scam at this point and warning ⚠️ Others stay away from this card.

Looks like a scam, sounds like a scam, smells like a scam... Must be a scam..! Card will not activate... Called many times, no service, run in circles... Tried many times online, run in circles..! We need a world corporation oversight committee..!

I purchased a Vanilla Visa card, placed the money on the card, went to the store to use. It was declined, was declined for two days straight, checked the balance, balance was all there, all the money was there. Called the company, called and talked to a customer service representative, who is extremely rude, belittled lane and talk down to me because I was a woman. I asked them why if the card has money and it says right on it accepted where all these accepted, I went into the store and I can’t get them to see the purchase.

Had my gift card scammed off their website while checking the balance. That's all I did was that. Go to use it and there was 172 transactions for 1.42 on an app that shut down in 2019 and they legit said that I wasn't being reimbursed. It's physically impossible for a person to make those transactions. Visa is a joke. I will never buy these cards again. They are crooks!

These prepaid gift cards can be accessed by scammers since they are displayed on the sales floor. The scammers are able to scan the cards, and therefore get notified as soon as a CVS employee activates it for you when you purchase it as a gift. The scammer spends it before your recipient even receives it from you. I was told by both a corporate customer service employee & a store employee that "this happens all the time". We were denied a replacement card. This is poor corporate responsibility.

A scam. Dad was given a gift card for $25 and the backing was tampered with so you can’t see what the number is to activate the card. Their call time is just a runaround because they expect you to get frustrated and hang up when they don’t have anybody as a representative for their phone number. Cashier unable to bypass pin for use and overall worst experience with a prepaid card.

Purchased $3K worth of these cards from Sam's for 8 kids for a trip and was assured-by Sam's- they could be used in Canada, WRONG. When my daughter attempted to use her $500 one the first time balance showed $3.00 with no explanation. Totally ripped off for $3k, plus fees.

Absolutely ridiculous. I was given this gift card from my job and it worked one time, made a purchase of less than 3 dollars and could never use again..Called, complained. It got reset and went back to the store and it was denied again!!! Asked for a refund and they said 6 weeks. Got it more than like 12 weeks instead. Then just to deposit and use the funds and come back as unpaid check.. Very upset and annoyed. People wouldn't even talk to me about it and when asked for a supervisor would hang up after being on hold for 30 min to an hr.. Still can't get a refund and no one to talk to because I didn't have the order number.

This is the worst product I have ever tried to use. The customer service was terrible. The cards barely even work at registers. And you can’t get CASH. Isn't that the purpose of a debit card to be able to get cash out. Wow!! What a piece of poop. DON'T GIVE THESE TO ANYONE!!!

A bunch of scammers. I got a 200 card in March. The next day a scammer used it at target at 221 am. I open a case in March. On June 26 I rec email stating case was closed and they did nothing so either someone in their co used card or a scammer used it. I wouldn't recommend this co. I provided all the info I reported ftcc.

Went to use my gift card while I was on vacation out of state. Was red-flagged for fraudulent activity due to the transaction being more than the amount on the card. You should be able to run a transaction for any amount and the amount of the gift card should be taken off. Their solution: "We can just send you another card in the mail." I am on VACATION! I would Like a replacement NOW. Not in 5 business days!!!

Should be 0 stars but that isn't an option. Fortunately my grandson only lost a small amount of money through an unauthorized charge, but it was the balance of a birthday gift. Customer service will do nothing, they are gatekeepers to hopefully make you go away, constantly placing you on "short" holds. The only way to dispute a charge is via email. The process takes so long that by the time they deal with it they "are unable to retrieve the funds" so disputes are denied. They claim to value customers but it takes months to get any email response. My claim was denied in April, for a charge from early January. I have emailed, called, and emailed again and again. It is now the end of June, still no response. One of the supervisors I talked to also claimed to have emailed gift disputes, claiming I would receive a response the next day. Nothing!

Buying a Visa Gift Card from Vanillagift.com is a scam. You can never use the entire amount, they only approval a part of the amount at a time. It appears they are always trying to keep a balance for themselves. It is very embarrassing when the card is consistently being rejected. I would never purchase another Vanilla Gift card and will never recommended to anyone.

Got one card for $250 canadian from Walmart. First of all the activation fee of $8.95. Then it declined on Walmart and Amazon. Went to Walmart to return, sent back and advised to call Vanilla card customer service. Called vanilla card customer service, got case number to file it online. Sent receipt, ID and card details. Took ten days to solve the problem. What an inconvenience. If you don’t know how to file complaint online or by fax, you are stuck. So buy carefully. Can not be returned to merchant if it doesn’t work. Have to go through vanilla customer service.

Horrible company. Loaded 500$ on one. Used 1/4 of it then they froze it, no explanation and it's going to take 90 days to solve the problem. UNACCEPTABLE. It's my money, who can afford to be out that kind of money?

I do not usually do something like this, but I am very upset and annoyed at the idea of a card company being able to know that you have searched on ”customer service” or how to register your card and they are able to put it on hold. When buying a card like that, they need to understand. The people are not going to take the time to read all of the directions that they have on the back of the card. Yes, this was my issue and my fault except, my own bank would not have done this to me! Because I searched what was previously stated they decided that it would be OK for them to put the card on hold, and then when I called customer service, they informed me that they had to deactivate the card and send me a new one? This would not have been a bad thing, except I was going to use this money for absolute needs such as dog food, gas, and food for the next couple of weeks. Very, very poor. Do not use.

Nothing but trouble trying to use these cards. Trying to get them to work is a truly infuriating process! Hopefully my brother can get a refund. They were supposed to be a birthday present not a Pain!

Not accepted anywhere in the USA. Impossible to get your money back even though I have the receipts from when I purchased the gift card. Customer service is useless. They can see how many times it was declined. Getting your funds back will take 6 months if you can even understand the 3rd world rep they farm their customer service out to. Wish I had been warned!

We purchased and distributed $1,250 USD in Vanilla Visa Gift Cards as part of a customer appreciation event. All gift cards were successfully delivered to our customers; however, when recipients attempted to add the cards to their mobile wallets, they were unable to do so. I contacted customer service to request that replacement cards be issued, given that the current ones could not be used as intended. The representative apologized repeatedly and acknowledged the situation as “unfortunate,” but ultimately offered only a printed copy of the cards as a workaround. This was neither practical nor acceptable for our use case.

JUST DON'T DO IT. It's that simple. I don't know if you're like me and like to indulge in a little online gambling every now and then, but I don't like to use my bank card for online deposits and whatnot. So I usually resort to a prepaid gift card. That being said, I typically use PAYPOWER prepaid MasterCards which I have never had a problem with. But this time around, the "GAMING" advertising and the misleading "ONLINE GAMBLING" in big bold letters on the front of this particular Vanilla prepaid card, caught my eye and made me reconsider as the other ones I was using. I had to deposit into an e-wallet first and then on to my usual gaming site. I but this just seemed like I would cut out the middleman and maybe avoid some fees.

TEMU apparently rejects credit card payment when the ship to address and the address provided by the credit card (VISA) do not match. I called VanillaGift.com at 1-833-322-6760, and was told that they do not provided a way to add the cardholder's address to the card record. VanillaGift did confirm that the card is registered, active, and has a more than adequate balance to cover the charge. A search of the internet indicates that TEMU is not alone in rejecting payments when the cardholder's address does not match the ship to address. Have not tried the card at other vendors.

This deserves a 0 not a 1. What a pain using this card. You can't use it ANYWHERE. I try using it on doordash. Didn't work. Amazon wouldn't take it and before you assume I didn't activate the card - I DID!

AVOID AVOID AVOID. PURE SCAMMMM. I purchased 2 gift card for 250 each for my husband for his birthday a Vanilla visa and a vanilla mastercard. Got home and one had 20 cents left the mastercard had 2 cents left according to customer care the one nothing can be done. It had been approved so lost 249.80 on that card. The other card with 2 cents left again supposedly compromised is stuck In a investigation for 90 days. I know I will never get it back. Either stores should be made aware of what they're selling.

If I could rate it ZERO stars I would. A friend bought me 4 gift cards totaling 250.00 USD and when I call the customer service phone number on one of the other cards, I was connected to someone trying to hook me up with a free medical alert device. When I told her that I'm checking my balance, she quickly stated this is medical alert. The number I dialed was correct, and by her irritation I could tell she knew this. When I would try to check balance on their website, I would get an error message stating to try later. It seems like this company might be scamming people out of their money. How they are able to get away with this is beyond me.

I purchased my Vanilla Gift Card on May 17,2025 from CVS. Immediately there was fraudulent activity. I reported this to Vanilla Gift card and they froze the funds until August of 2025 for review. This is unacceptable. I have ask for management and was told they would tell me the same thing. This is a scam. Waiting 3 months for a resolution of a Gift card balance of $42?? Also no option to speak with anyone who speaks English. I could not understand anything I had to log on to there website. DO NOT purchase these gift cards unless you want to lose money.

I don’t know where to even start with this company. There was fraud on a gift card I received ($150), I reported it. Almost 2 YEARS later I randomly received a GC with $1.20 on it. The activation # is trying to give (sell?) a medical device? W. T. F.

Don’t get anything with Vanilla, it doesn’t give me the potion to give it no stars like they deserve. My boyfriend got the Vanilla card to use through his PayPal, and it ended up just not working for some reason. We have been trying for 3 weeks now to get the money back into the original account, and every day we call, they say we will see it at the end of the business day.

Bought a $100. card at Walmart. The day I activated the card I spent almost $20. On Amazon. Checked my balance and it was down to a couple of dollars. $77. Had been spent at another site. Called the call centre and tried to get the illegal purchase stopped. Cannot do it but was assured the money would be back on the card in 7 days. After 6 days called and was told I needed to create a dispute. Was guided through the process and told 45-90 days I would get the answer. No guarantee of money back. Feel like I am victimized twice.

I purchased last week on Tuesday a Vanilla Gift card for my 10 year old who was visiting Legoland (her first school field trip) after being awarded this trip for her passing a major state test. They did require for her to pay for her lunch, so I went to Walgreens down the street and purchased $80 to be added on the card plus $6.95 activation fee (my mistake, I paid cash). I arrived home and activated the card - no issues at all. The next day my daughter calls me crying when purchasing her lunch because it didn’t work. I called immediately - They had blocked the card “supposedly” it was compromised. I called them and begged to open that it was my daughter and she needed to have lunch. Well, that didn’t work. They are not reliable. Aside from that they wanted me to accept another visa card - I for a second thought they were joking, but no. I hung up super upset and with a daughter 4 hours away not having lunch I was stressed.

My son purchased & gave me the $100 Vanilla gift card on May 5, 2025 for my birthday. Today, I went to purchase some items and the card was only worth .09 cents!! After calling the 833# was informed that it was used May 26, 2025 @ 1:05AM to Alibaba!! Whatever Alibaba is, I have No idea and I did Not purchase anything from them. The card never left my house until this AM and I don't order Online! I sent my complaint on this one this afternoon @ 3:30, June 5, 2025 & they claim to get back to me in 45-90 days. Last year, I was given another $25 Vanilla Gift Card and when I tried to use it, there was ONLY .12 cents left!! Appears Your Vanilla Gifts Are Not Valid or working properly.

Purchased a card for $200, I made 1 purchase for $100.00. 15-20 min later, the card was used, leaving about $3 on it. I called customer service and was told to wait 10 days till the purchase goes from pending to posted. Now I can't check the card at all as it's locked on hold. I've read a lot of the reviews from customers and seems that almost ever person has the same issue. This is only my opinion to what I'm about to say, Based on what I've read, I'm concerned that the company or an employee with Vanilla could be responsible for this.

This business needs to be shut down. Customer service is non-existent. They take the purchaser's money and then an unintelligible person in some other country tells the recipient that there is a problem, and offer no solution. They've just made $50 for a worthless piece of plastic. This is a complete and total scam.

I put $290 on a Vanilla gift card, went to use it half hour later and it declined. Tried somewhere else, declined. Called them, apparently, they had put the card on hold because of suspicious activity. ** What using the card is suspicious!!!!! I now have to wait 14-21 days to receive my replacement card via Canada post during a postal strike…. So whenever the strike is over…. Or longer…. I asked for a virtual replacement card, they said, “We do not replace physical cards with virtual cards." ** is the difference aside from making me wait a month to get my money back, this company is such a joke. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THESE CARDS TO ANYONE.

We bought a Vanilla gift card from Walmart for our son’s birthday and when he tried to activate the card it had no money on it. Customer service at Vanilla and Walmart would never return calls or reply to email. No one is doing anything so people continue to get ripped off. What good is the convenience of the internet if it not safe to buy anything.

I purchased this card on Saturday for my son to use on a class trip to a cashless venue. The first time he tried to use it, it declined. I pulled up the card info and it showed that there was a hold on it. I called customer service and they stated that the card was compromised. The only purchase that was even attempted was the purchase that my son tried to make. I asked them to unlock the card. They refused and kept stating that the card was compromised and they would have to send me another one that would arrive in 3-5 business days. Despite me telling them several times that my son was the only one trying to use the card and stating that 3-5 business days was not going to work, they still would not unlock the card. These cards are a joke.

Do not waste your money on this gift card company! I received one for $25 as a gift and when I activated it 20 minutes later the money was stolen off of it. The $25 was used by a Lab company but not by me. I contacted them and they said they researched it for me and would send me a new gift card. I never received it. They won’t answer my emails now.

We paid money and fee and the card doesn’t work. Customer service wants you to jump through hoops for a non-working card. This is twice now. Never again. This card is supposed to be a gift. It was a disappointment to my child on her class trip. I bet the company is profiting handsomely from my child’s wrongly held funds.

My son purchased 2 $50 gift cards for Christmas December 2025. When I went to use them, one card had 37 cents on it. The other had 40 something cents left. Was told card was used for a gaming and the other was for a purchase. Filed the complaint paperwork with Vanilla, said it would take 90 days to investigate. Waited the 90 days and contacted them and was told it was declined with no notice or reason. I contacted them to send me an email or call why and as of yet no response. Now I will be turning this over to NYS Attorney General, maybe there I may get answers. We will never again purchase Vanilla cards. And will be posting this on Facebook media. They are RIPOFFS.

Theft. The card wasn’t working, The company was saying there were an issue and they will send me new gift card for the balance of 500$. When I was calling to check, they told me that the card was being used and have only 4$ dollar balance from 500 On the card. And they have nothing to do about it. So I lost 500$.

Absolutely do not buy a Vanilla gift card! It's a scam... Nowhere on the packaging does it state that it can't be used online! Customer service answer... Sorry for your inconvenience. Total waste of money!

Do not buy from this unscrupulous company. I was gifted $100 and when I opened the card and attempted to use it the funds had already been used in Costco online. Waited 3 Months for dispute that returned no results.

This is the worst CC. Do not use it. They are crooks, criminals. They took my money and locked the CC. Very bad people. DO NOT USE OR BUY THIS CC. You will get robbed. Horrible customer service. They barely speak English.

Don’t ever purchase these gift cards at all. Worst customer service. I have the card details, it was working before. For sure, I knew there is a balance of $50. Now they are asking me 3 months back receipt.

I’m so pissed off at this gift card. I bought the gift card. Paid for it. Put all my money onto it and right when I’m scheduling a ride home. It’s on hold. They told me it was compromised even though I told them that it was me. Any other company would just take the hold off so I can go home but now I am stranded at work with no ride home. Do not use this company. They screw you…

I think this company banks on the fact that nowhere accepts it so they can retain the money. I’ve tried using it on multiple online retailer, (Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, target, etc) it works nowhere. Then I try in person and it also works nowhere, they put every transaction on hold, you call they might unfreeze it for you. Just for you to try again and repeat the cycle. Highly recommend giving someone cash over using this as a “gift card”. They seem like they don’t want to let you use the money… Weird.

Used the card in an auto parts store. The card was run and showed the value of the card, $60, was applied. But when the total came us the $60 credit was not applied. Asked the store for a refund but they didn't know how to do it. Contacted Vanilla gift supports an opened a ticket...90 days later an email arrived saying investigation resolved...My claim has been denied. No reason why ever given. Spoke to a customer service from the company and was told to email the dispute department for more details. Why do I have to do that? Why couldn't they explain the reason for the denial in the email they sent me? Will tell all I know to not use this company.

Do not ever purchase a gift card from them. I received a gift card that I can't even use. The card keep declining so I called customer service. They told me something was wrong with the card and that they need to reissue me a new one. They told me it would take 10 business days to receive it which I never got. I call back. They said that the card was returned back to them and now it's going to take 30 days to resolve the issue. I do not recommend this company for anything. If you are thinking about getting a loved one a Vanilla gift card DON'T. You will spend your hard-earned money for a nice gift for somebody that they can't even use. Then they will get the runaround about even getting a new gift card.

Horrible! I had 2 gift cards for $25 each that were declined for "suspicious activity". I was trying to pay them towards a bill in my name, and they were declined. When I called, they said in order to get them replaced, I have to send in the original receipt along with a copy of my photo ID to verify that I purchased them. I don't understand why when the original purchase was made with a credit card, in my name, mailed to me, in my name, and activated under my account, in my name. But they have to open a case to investigate (what, I have no idea) and it will take 30 days, and I MIGHT get a replacement. This is a joke that I have to jump through hoops when my name is on EVERYTHING surrounding these cards. I even told them to mail the replacements to the original address that they were sent to when purchased. Still said no, they have to investigate. Somehow, I think the "investigation" is going to end with them keeping my money.

My 100$ gift card was hacked its remaining 54$ balance. I did a request to investigate and have the card replaced and my request was declined. The company never gave me any explanation why my request was declined and I wrote to them 3 times asking for a reevaluation of my case and an explaination and never got a reply. The only way to contact the claims department is by email. They don't take calls. Don't buy these cards because their security is very bad and once you get stolen there is no way of getting your money back.

Worst cards for easy access. They are constantly putting the card on hold for no apparent reason. Then it takes you forever to get through to customer service, which most are really hard to understand (language barrier is bad) then you're on hold for a period of time. Who has time for that. They are supposed to be easy to use yet there is nothing easy about it.

Was given as a gift - used it once - was a little difficult but got it to work - later when I went to use the balance it showed that the card had been hacked and the balance was one cent! Called customer service and they wanted personal information such as birth dates and I was unwilling to give as they do not seem to have a grasp of security issues. Very unprofessional.

Very Disappointed with Vanilla Gift Card. I received a Vanilla Gift Card as a birthday present, and unfortunately, it came with serious issues. There was a sticker covering the card numbers, and when I removed it, the printed numbers came off with the adhesive. This made the card completely unusable, as I couldn't read the number or security code to use it online or in-store. It's incredibly frustrating that something as simple as a protective sticker could ruin the entire card. I expected much better quality control from a company that specializes in gift cards. This experience was very disappointing, especially since it was a gift meant to bring joy. I do not recommend Vanilla Gift Cards to anyone. The risk of receiving a defective card is simply not worth it.

The card has been declined more than it has been approved. I activated and registered the card per instructions. It has been declined both online and in-store. Do not purchase. There is no plausible way to contact customer support.

Had the unfortunate experience of being given 2 of these as a gift. Neither of them work to purchase online. Incredibly shady customer service who when on the phone had no way to overrise the automatic decline of a purchase.

A friend sent me a gift card for Christmas like she had been doing for years. I never had any problems until now. I didn't use the card right away and when I went to make a purchase, my card had been used for an online purchase at Target. I filed a dispute and was told that the timeline was off and could not be traced. This is not true and was validated by customer service at Target. They told me that Vanilla (Visa) should have been able to track this transaction. I sent the company copies of the original receipt along with a certified letter and received no response. Do not purchase a gift card from this company as they are not to be trusted.

Waste of time and money. Merchants can never get them to work right and the customer service sucks. I've used both phone and website options and have been unable to resolve my issue. A literal waste of money.

Horrible!! This was the Second Card that was hacked three times. This time they stole $51.40. Vanilla never did anything except close the card. Again Never got my refunds nor replacement cards. I’m done & have been asking people to NOT get me these cards for those reasons.

The vanillagift.com site rarely works when trying to check the remaining balance on a gift card. By rarely, I mean maybe 1 in 10+ attempts will work. It keeps reporting a system error after entering all of the required card info and going through multiple "match the picture" rounds. VPN and all other enhanced protection browser options have been disabled. I have concluded that what others are calling a scam just might be that....a scam.

Birthday Gift card was $25 from a friend. Didn't work. Complained and they denied the claim. Sent me $3.29 card instead. Don't ever use them. 1.1 rating with over 1900 ratings. Thus says it all about this company.

Got one of these cards so my daughter had money on a card for her New York Trip. Activated it and said it was ready to go. She goes to use it and it declined. Good, I also gave her cash just in case. I called to find out why and was told the strip was probably bad. They told me she could punch the numbers in or only use it online. Instead of letting her try that, they deactivated and said, "We will send a new card." That did her no go being in New York with limited money. If she would have not taken some cash she would have been screwed. Now I have to wait another 7-20 days to get a card to try and use my money if this card does actually work. Will never purchase one again for anyone.

I think it is ridiculous what you have to do to check a balance, can't even get in to find out half the time. A big disappointment. Never again. Never again. Big annoying headache. Aa friend recommended this....some friend can't even add money accept online. I'm glad I started with a minimal amount.

Purchased a card for $150 tried to use it and couldn’t. Called “customer service” they had cancelled it. No way to refund or get our money back. This company needs to be stopped or investigated immediately.

They are a Scam. Put money on it and was scammed out of it before I could use it. Reported it to customer service and they won't help. They basically said you're out the money. They don't care at all and very rude.

DO NOT BUY! SCAM. These cards are virtually impossible to use. You are to activate them on the website and be able to use with "ease". However, no matter where or how you use them, they are declined. I have even tried having the cashier enter the exact dollar amount on the card (which was the full amount) and still declined. Good luck calling cust. svc! Basically they hope that you'll get frustrated and give up and they keep the money. We used it at Costco once and it was declined and "pending investigation". When we finally got through, they told us it was for our protection. How absurd!

In March, 2025, opened the Vanilla Gift Card packet ($50.) and noticed that the last 4 numbers in the card number had been scratched off. Inspected the packet that the card came in and found nothing to indicate the packet was tampered with prior to my opening it. The same day attempted to use card at a restaurant and was advised the card was not accepted.

PLEASE for the love of God, do not gift anyone with these Vanilla Visa Gift, unless you are ok with your gift recipient trying multiple online merchants only to be frustrated because NOBODY TAKES THESE. I finally did some digging around and found that Amazon will take these cards, but then of course, Vanilla takes a $3.95 purchase charge. So you don't even get the full amount. I HATE THESE and will never give these to anyone as a gift.

Do not ever get a gift card from Vanilla. They are scammers and should be taken off of the shelves. Calling customer service is the worst I have ever experienced in my life. They do not try to help you and send you in for a loop. We have been trying to get help from this company for months and have gotten nowhere!!!!

I don't recommend Vanilla for several reasons. Issues and my card has been hacked even before I use it 2 days later with 2 dollars and few cents left on 100$ total. I filed a complaint with Vanilla and they refused to compensate me after they pretended made an investigation. I saw on internet that others consumers had the same issues with them.

I received two Vanilla gifts this holiday season. One for $50. & the other was for $100. I activated the cards together through customer service. Went to my favorite merchant and the 50 went through. Went back to use the other gift card, were it declined. I called, to verify and it said it was active with a balance of 100. My merchant called them, entered it and swiped the card, to the same message. NO ROUTE/SUBACCT/CONFIGURE. Was the message received the 5 time the card was ran, but denied. The supervisor from Vanilla could send me a new card, after I tried another merchant, but would not provide me with a new number that my favorite merchant said they would be happy to enter. He could not do this, even though he said it was not even showing in their system. Therefore could not provide me with a card I could today. However, I used the card at a different location with two separate transactions and the card went through fine.

On April 12, I contacted customer service to file a claim for a damaged gift card that had already been used. I was told by the representative that an investigation would be completed within 3–5 business days, and that a replacement card would be mailed to me. I specifically asked if I would receive any email communication, and was told no—everything would be handled by mail.

I buy something from TikTok shop. After that my balance of $269 dollars gone!!. I was checking my balance and says Uber Eats and some syndicate made those charges and I never did this transactions. The government needs to help us with these companies 😡. My gift card is under investigation and I have to wait till July 5 for a resolution. I need my money back!! This is not fair.

Simply put, this company is nothing but a bunch of scammers. I received a Vanilla gift card as a Christmas gift in December 2024. I just tried using it in mid-April and the card was declined. The cashier told me that I needed to contact customer service as it appeared there was an issue with activation. Upon speaking with several representatives, they all indicated that in order to investigate they would need a copy of the original receipt. As I explained that it was a gift, I did not have access to the receipt. I won’t even waste my money or time by trying to get a copy of the receipt just sent to them. There will be no investigation. There will be no further action taken by them. They will just happily go on with the money that they made on one more customer.

Scam, scam, scam!!! Stay far far away from prepaid visas!! I loaded 400 dollars because I didn’t have access to a debit card, the card worked once to purchase food but none past that. Not online, not swiping in person, nowhere. I called customer service and after being on hold for 10 minutes they tell me it's because of “fraudulent activity” and they offer no refunds and the only way to receive my money is to wait 7-10 business days to receive a new card in the mail. Save yourself your hard earned money and time and just buy a normal gift card or open a bank account if you don’t a debit card.

Involved in a scam. Submitted proof of receipts to claim remaining funds back. Company never returned funds and has never replied to a dozen emails asking for a follow up. Walmart should not do business with this scam company.

I purchased a Vanilla GC at 1054pm on 4/4 for my grandson's bday. The card was activated per instructions. Less than 24hrs later, on 4/5, my grandson tried to use the card and it was immediately declined. The merchant instructed us to contact vanilla customer service because typically they will unlock card once they speak to someone to verify the charge is legitimate. When customer service was contacted, they refused to release the funds and advised fraudulent activity occurred. Since the only activity on the card showed the purchase of the card and our initial purchase, we inquired about where/when the fraud took place. We spoke with 3 different customer service reps who could not tell us what the issue was.

Just remember: When you put your hard-earned money on a card for an emergency, and they make a mistake, on adding the money on the card properly you will have to wait 30 days for the issue to be resolved only after you jump through a bunch of hoops like having to email over the picture of the card and the receipt and the customer service is really awful and no one cares. That leaves you with no money, tons of wasted time, and a headache. I would give this 0 stars if I could.

I wish I looked at the reviews before purchasing this garbage card... I initially bought this vanilla Visa card to pay my phone bill not realizing it doesn't work anywhere online.. They will not allow you to assign a zip code or billing address, without that it's useless online.. The vanilla Visa cards are also a bit cheaper than other prepaid cards making it more enticing, I won't fall for that again.. Even Amazon which initially went through (they don't ask for zip) sent an email hours later saying the bank declined the transaction even though I have the money on the card.. Simply they don't want you to be able to use the card.. Not sure how these are even legal..

Their customer service is the absolute WORST. They have no customer service. All you get is recordings and redirected to recordings. Never able to speak with someone. Terrible for a business to do to their customers.

Our experience started out badly. It was a gift, and the card was packaged so that when my husband opened it the barcode was part of the packaging, it tore and was unusable. We called customer service, and it took several weeks to get a replacement card. They wanted to charge us a fee for the replacement, I told them that having the barcode stuck to the packaging was poor design, and there was no charge for the replacement. When the second card arrived, we had better luck. We took it on a short trip with us and used it out of town to avoid confusing our bank, and to avoid scams to our bank account.

Worst prepaid card to purchase! I always get frauds after activating the card. Then you have to file a dispute and wait 90 days till they decide if yes or no you will be reimburse + 21 days to ship your card! It has happened at least 5 times. They are scammers. Don't waste your time and money

This card is virtually useless for online purchasing. It is bordering on fraud that they sell this saying it can be used online. I’ve tried more than 6 websites and the card will not be accepted on any of them. Their customer service dept says too bad essentially. First, they lied and said the card had zero balance, and when I advised I was looking at the positive balance on their own website they changed their story.

Our daughter is on a class trip, 3000 miles from home. The first time she used the card, it was declined. There is money on the card and the website shows there is. This happened to several students that purchased these cards. I immediately called the company and was told the card was on permanent hold (no explanation why) and they would send a new one in 10 days. Completely worthless company.

They steal your money, the card will not work after you buy and there is nothing they can do to help you with that. I called customer service and they laughed at me on the phone. This a scam!!!!!!!!!!!

I received a $50 Vanilla gift card (Visa) a while back, and I have tried using the card a few times recently and it keeps rejecting. I checked the balance, and it says $50 is available. The customer service is not helpful in resolving my issue. They keep telling me to try it again, it's embarrassing at this point since it keeps rejecting. I just want my $50 from these scammers! There are numerous complaints about this fraudulent company. The card has an expiration of July 2028 so it's not expired. I genuinely believe this company is deceptive and keeps the funds from these gift cards.

Updated on 03/31/2025: MyVanilla is an absolute joke. They have had my money for over a month now and put a hold on my card for no reason other than me to send them identification documents. I've done it twice and they still haven't unlocked my card and it's been almost a month. This place is a joke.

Will never use another Vanilla prepaid card. Bought a card beginning of January at 12:20 PM. You have to wait 30 minutes to use the card.. at 10 after one. I went to go use my card online and it wouldn’t work. It declined. I went online to see that within 40 minutes of purchasing the card it has been scammed. I called the company on the back of the card and they had the nerve to accuse me of giving the card number out to somebody.. They told me that I had to wait 10 or 11 days to call back before they could dispute it. It was showing the card was used for gaming. I called back after 11 days and they started the dispute.. They told me it could take up to three months to be resolved.. such a waste … I’m not sure if I’ll ever see that money. I’m on the second month of waiting and still haven’t heard a word from them..

This company is the biggest scam I have ever encountered. To the point, I can not believe this is allowed how the company operates in the US. Purchased a gift card for my hubby's birthday, he didn’t use it for some time. When he finally went to use it the card had an activation issue according to the automated service. Spoke to a rep which was just trying to hurry me off the phone.

I see why all the one-star reviews. It was a joke trying to activate it when calling in as they tried to sell another service while I was standing in front of a cashier. I never got it activated & had to use another card. I came back home & finally got it activated, now I wonder if it will work.

This is a total of trash company. This is the third time I get this type of gift card gifted to me and all three times they have had to send me a new one because it gets declined even though the transaction is under the amount on the card. It makes it extremely inconvenient And nonetheless it’s not like they can unlock the card. They completely have to send you a new one and it takes seven days to get a new one. A pain in the rear company. Don’t ever buy gift cards from this company. If I could give no stars, I would, I would even give it negative stars.

Was trying to purchase a car seat online (target) and wasn't able to make the payment work. I have a brand new GC that I just opened with a $100 balance on it. Target's site kept declining payment. I went to Vanilla website, tried calling in and got nowhere. So, I called vanilla customer service. A man who I could barely understand answers. I tried my best, and explained I genuinely couldn't make out what he was saying and he negatively and quickly switched his tune. I can't properly answer the question if I can't understand the words.

This company is one of the worst, scammiest businesses that you will ever lose your money to. I was given 3 cards: $50, $100, and $200 by fellow employees at the college I work for a year+ ago. I may have used about $50-75, and when I tried to get my balance, it's impossible to find out online because for the past year, when I try, I always get "A system error has occurred. Try again later." You would think that it shouldn't take years to fix this; only everyone knows its purposeful. If I call the number on the card, you have to press 1 to get English. Then you're asked to put in the card #, but when you do, it says the card # is invalid. This is the kind of business that would rather steal/cheat you out of $1 than earn $500 honestly.

Someone hacked my card before I used it (it was $50 and they purchased a $49 thing valued at Target) most likely a gift card. I hope these thieves know they will eventually get their karma, to say the least. However, I reported this and they sent back a $1 gift card saying that the claim was outside of the claim window (card expires in 2029, not even expired yet). This company should be closed for ripping off their clients.

Yep, the one-star rating is appropriate. Vanilla Gift does not work with Amazon. Seems crazy that the biggest marketplace on the planet is off-limits with this gift card. It seemed work when I added the card to Amazon and completed the transaction. I had plenty of funds on the card. That part of the website was easy to navigate. But a couple days later, Amazon told me the charges were declined. VanillaCard customer service confirmed that Amazon is not a valid use of the gift card.

My student gifted me a $100 dollar gift card. Before I could use it, it was drained by a hacker! Shame! Never buy this scam card! I submitted a dispute. It took more than 30 days. I was so upset and hurt. The packaging needs better security measures.

I had a number of cards and I have not been able to use one of my cards. They have not sent me new cards. They have cut off my cards for inactive activity when I just only registered the card and then my card was shut off. This is the third time and I have not gotten any of my money back I spent. Very upset and when I call you can't even get anyone that speaks regular English, can't understand them

My card had 2 of the 16 numbers scratched off when I opened the card. I got online and completed the survey to get a case number. 45 days later, I still have not received my replacement card or any communication from them. There goes 100.00 down the drain and into their pocket!!!!

I recently purchased a Pre-paid card. I tried to use it right away and it wouldn’t work. Then I read that it could take up to a hr. I tried to use it again and it didn’t work. I called the customer service number and was told that the “FRAUD DEPARTMENT SAW SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY AND LOCKED MY CARD!” The suspicious activity was because I tried to use my card right away. There is no way to get a refund, unless they fill out a form and it will take 21 business days to see if you even qualify for a refund.

This company is the most egregious in the world and should be shut down immediately. I will never use them again in my life. They don't do any online thing, declined everything and just sink in general on their website.

I bought my son a $200 gift card for his birthday. He immediately used it and spent $174.00. After that, he told me he has been trying to use the card and it won’t work. He called customer service and was told it is activated and should work. I tried using it on a couple websites and I couldn’t even enter the card information, the store wouldn’t accept it. In a last ditch effort, I tried to load it onto my Starbucks account. The Vanilla website said the card had $21.43. I tried to buy $20 onto my Starbucks account and it declined.

This card is the worst. Every time I receive one, it's been compromised and blocked for fraud!!! I end up having to call and talk to someone to get a new one sent to with in 7-10 days!! Second time in two months this has happened. Talk about inconvenience. Jerks,

This card is a total scam, don't fall into trap. Activated the card, and was told money was gone and transaction pending, from what? The activation? I have to call back to see if I can get my money back.

I only use prepaids when absolutely necessary. Save the spent cards for free trials where you have to give cc. It's hilarious watching them try and hammer through a payment after the trial expires. Anyways, these cards give you no consumer protection and no rewards. My postpaid card gives extended warranty and points. Good luck trying to get these schlubs to do a chargeback if something goes wrong. I noticed they lock you out of checking online balance when your balance gets low. Likely so you can't drain it down to zero, and they pocket the change. But, you can still check the balance on the toll-free number if you can do simple math.

I received a Vanilla gift card and did not use it right away. Someone made a purchase with the card number on Target online. I filed a dispute and it was declined. This had to have been an inside job as they should be able to prove the address of the purchase and or online email that made the purchase. The friend that sent me the gift card used to purchase Vanilla cards every year at Christmas time and send them to friends and family members but not anymore. It's a shame that this company is really dishonest.

WHAT A SCAM!!! Absolutely the WORST gift card you should ever buy. If you receive one, you’re up a creek without a paddle! Here’s why… My wife received a $25 Vanilla Visa gift card for her birthday. She went to a restaurant nearby to buy herself and a friend lunch. She paid with her gift card, but the waiter soon came over to tell her it only accepted $20 for her $39 lunch, so she had to pay the extra with her regular credit card. Then, later that day, we went to get a hamburger and thought we’d pay with the left over $5 on the card. WRONG! The attendant said it would only take $1.

After filing a report for money, not being on card. It's been over 2 months and every time I call, They say the same thing. I sent all the documents in that they requested. And they still have yet put my money on my card. Every time I call all they say is, wait 5 days... It's been 2 months. And still nothing, terrible customer service and can't understand anybody because nobody speaks english. Even the supervisor has 0 sense. After discussing everything with him and I have proof of everything. He still just said the same thing over and over like he never comprehended what I said. This company should be shut down. It's a shame, they stealing money from people.

If I could give a rating of ZERO I would. There’s a bunch of incompetent people working there and they’re useless. They refused to provide an logical explanation as to why my 2 gift cards are not working and they won’t provide a refund. I reported them to the BBB and waiting for an answer. I’m tired of those useless people.

Have an issue with this card! Website that doesn't work and when you can reach customer service, not helpful and if you don't have a receipt... forget about it. I wonder how much the profit is when there is an "accidental" issue with loading or activating a card? How many people lose or don't keep the receipt thinking it'll be fine... either way I don't recommend Vanilla and won't use them again. I'll also put this out to the military and veteran community to be sure it's understood that this company has poor business practice and customer service. DD sends

I wish I could give this a zero stars like how the other unsatisfied customers want to. I got a $50 Vanilla gift card this Christmas. I decided that I wanted to use it now, so when I tried buying something off a merchant site, the card declined. Mind you, what I wanted was $20. Apparently, it was blocked for "suspected fraud." How is it suspected fraud when I haven't even used it yet? Honestly, just convert the card into an Amazon one, or sell it off. Not worth your money and time.

If I could do no stars I would. My co-workers and I got my boss a $500.00 giftcard, he did not take it out of the packaging until this December 2024. Random charges from were made on it that were not his. Put a claim in and it was denied. We will never purchase another giftcard from this site again. Customer service is USELESS. $500.00 down the drain because this company does not care what happens.

Was given $250 Vanilla gc for Christmas. I used it once and next time went to use it my card decline. Know I had certain amount left. I called customer service. They told me I had wait 7 days to call back. Come 7 days later and the customer service guy goes someone used my card 74 times Dec 30 at 12am. He put it through to claim department and later I got email they Denied the claim and told me they will send me a new card with whatever is left on card. That is unacceptable. That was Jan 8 and today is Feb 4. Told me my card would be here in 7 days. I was advice to send a email to dispute was told they will get back to me in 24hrs. Well it's been a week now. Don't ever buy these. Tell your friends and family stay away from any these prepaid cards. One unsatisfied customer 😡

My daughter bought me a $100 Vanilla Visa Gift card for my birthday in August 2024, I went to use it on Sept 12th, 2024 and there was only like $10 on there and someone had used the card at a Target (an online order) mind you I have had the card in an envelope since she got it for me and I havent even scratched any numbers off of it. I called and reported it immediately, they took my online report and sent me a edocument to sign and I did and sent back that same day, then they say wait 30 days, so I waited and I called back in October only to be told I needed to provide additional information when I already did in the original complaint, so I did it again and now they said wait 60 days, so I called back in December and I am told it takes 60-90 days and from the date of investigation of NOVEMBER - like what - I filed the first time 9/12, then the second time on 10/12, but they didn't get to it until November so I have to wait.

Got a $250 Vanilla Gift Card/Visa. I've tried to use at 4 different online sites with no luck. Went to Vanilla website to verify the card is active and it is. I then called customer service and they took verified it was active and they suggested using it at a walk in store. I've tried 3 different locations with no luck. Walmart needs to remove the cards from all their locations.

I received a Vanilla gift card as a gift over the holidays. When I went to redeem a few weeks later, it failed as a credit and a debit. I called to see what was going on, and they asked for much personal info. We have supplied as much as we know about the card and the purchase and nothing has been done at this time. The original charge was $100 plus the fees associated with purchasing the card. The giver is out $100 and the recipient is also out $100! Seems this could be a scam after the research done on these. Incomm services out of Atlanta GA needs to step up somehow on this. Refund all of the purchasers what is due and/or replace the gift cards for face amount! I would not recommend purchasing anything Vanilla or through the Incomm company.

Worst experience with gift card. Was a 120 prepaid card. I used it at the grocery store for a $60 bill. It took off only 28 cents then said insufficient funds. Called number in the card told me to call back in a week to activate the card.. Week later they tell me there's a whole bunch of charges on Google for 1.20.. So now it's in dispute. Never deal with them again.

This credit/debit gift card company is a total fraud and sham. Do NOT spend your hard-earned money with these clowns!!! They have every excuse in the world why you can’t get authorization on a transaction. No matter how much you placed on the card, there is always a different reason why it will not work. Save your money and get a checking account or a totally different company’s product!!

You are not guaranteed to get the funds you purchased. I recently received a visa gift card for Christmas and made a first purchase with no problem. A few days later I went shopping and was looking forward to treating myself to the rest of the balance on the card. Once at the register the machine only accepted $0.67. They tried multiple times but it's all it would accept. At home I checked my balance and there was nothing left on it, so I called customer support straight away. Apparently people steal the numbers off the cards and will keep trying to spend until it is empty. It happens 'all the time' and always with the same methods but there "nothing that can be done" and actual card holders get scammed twice. Shame on you visa.

I bought a Visa branded $200 Vanilla gift card at a large chain grocery store. I paid the $200 plus a $7.95 processing fee with cash (so not some odd payment method). When I tried to activate the card, the Vanilla website gave an error message saying that a system error occurred. I immediately called their customer service phone number, explained the situation to an agent, and was given a case number. The agent said that they resolve most cases in 3-5 days, but that it sometimes takes as much as 30 days. I also provided the requested scanned images of the card, receipt, and packaging, which they acknowledged receiving.

I purchased a gift card in November 2024. When I tried to use it, there was a hold and was unable to use. When I called I was told the hold was for security reasons. I requested a replacement card THREE TIMES and never received it even after I was told they mailed them. I asked for a refund and was told I had to wait UP TO three weeks. It’s been over a month and nothing. Every damn time I call, a “supervisor” tells me a different story. I was told the check was on its way and to wait until Jan 24th to receive it. I called again on the 25th and was told THE CHECK WAS NEVER SENT. This people have stolen my money and will not give it back.

I was given a hundred dollar gift card. After the first 30.00 purchase the card was not going through. I called an overseas helpdesk associate who told me to throw the card away. It's been deactivated the card. I have not received my new card with the balance and I can't through because my card has been deactivated. I'm sure wherever this person lives, my 70 dollars was spent. Give the cash. Easier, cheaper, less risk.

Vanilla Prepaid Cards are the absolute worst. There isn’t a word strong enough to describe how bad their customer service is. You cannot add the gift card to Apple Pay, cash app or Venmo and most of the places I tried to use it (i.e., to pay a 15-dollar subscription fee) did not work. I received a $200 card as a gift and was double-charged by Walgreens for a delivery I never even received. Walgreens immediately reversed the charges, but Vanilla has been holding almost $80 hostage ever since.

I've tried three of these cards now when purchasing orders online. "EVERY" time it comes back...card declined?!? One representative even jokingly told me: Quote: "You're Better Off Trying Canadian Money".

Bought a $500 gift card and the first purchase was declined. I called and they told me they had no idea why but that it was declined so it was cancelled. They then told me they would mail me a new card in 3-5 days. So I’m out $500!!! Rude foreigners and useless. Horrible people and service.

I got a 50$ Vanilla gift card for my Birthday. I spent 10$ of it and if was shut off for a fraud alert. I called the number on the back where the person was not helpful at all. I finally spoke to a supervisor who told me he would send me a new one within 3 to 5 days, 2 months later no card, when I call them back they just keep telling me they will send another one, but I still haven’t received it.

Trash "gift" card absolutely no gift in this card. Pure stress and madness. Don't buy this trashy card. Save your money on some else. Wasted 20 dollars and 5 dollars more for charge. Thanks very much for wasting my cash.

I received 4 gift cards this Christmas. Been looking forward to a specific pair of sneakers. I go to use 3 of my gift cards. 1 - got scammed. Funds were used on 1/2 😒. The other 2 the sneaker site won't take multiple gift cards. These cards are worthless. Now I have to hope I can use at the grocery store as I have nothing else to really use these on. Would be nice if I could just deposit in my account so that I can purchase my sneakers.. Vanilla, Nike, just about any gift card sucks, I will stick to sending Cash App or Zelle. These prepaid cards waste of money. All of them.

Adding mine to the overwhelming number of negative reviews. I purchased a Gift Card on 12/5/24, billed 12/7/24, but it never came. There was no tracking info in my account online, so I called for tracking info and was told that there was a delay due to the holiday rush, and the card would arr. by the end of year. I requested a refund, and was told that would be impossible. I asked for a Supervisor and was told the same thing. Gave up and called back after Jan 1, same result; “someone will call in 42 (yes 42) hrs” but still no call for two weeks. Called on 1/15; was told agent would call in 24 hrs; still no call, no tracking, no email response, nothing. Finally initiated dispute with my credit card company to resolve.

I received this card as a Christmas gift, I called and activated the card. I also went on the website to make sure it was activated and it showed I had 25.00 which was the correct amount and the card was active. I went to two stores in my town and the card was declined. I was in line at the grocery store and I was very embarrassed.

Bought 3 $100 gift cards, also bought 2 $75 packs consisting of 3 $25 in each pack. The 3 $100 cards were drained with unknown transactions. And the pack cards apparently never activated even though the slip says they did. That's $450 at Christmas time that they stole from me. They had a class action lawsuit last year around this time for the same thing. Might be time for another. What higher penalties for continuing to blatantly steal from customers.

I received this $50 gift card from my manager at work for being employee of the month. I went to use the card and to my surprise the card was already used for $20, the transaction said shipping. Mind up I disputed the charge back in September 2024 and today January 16 I get a email stating my case has been denied and if I had a balance they will send me a new card in the mail. I’m so happy it wasn’t my own money out of my pockets that I lost. Now I know I would never purchase this card and I will put a sticky note on these cards telling customers not to buy because this cards will scam you out your money. I will make sure to tell my friends and family about this card. I hope they go out of business.

Never buy or gift this card for anyone you know!! They scam your money as soon as you try to use your card! My son was scammed out of his birthday money and they did not reimburse. The online scammers drained the card within seconds and left him with a .45 balance. Customer service denied his claim to be refunded 3 times even though it shows the scam website on the history. He is 7 years old!! So disgusting. NEVER TRUST THIS COMPANY!!!! HORRIBLE SERVICE.

If I could give this experience zero stars I would. What an absolute nightmare. I should have just given my children cash. This company needs to be shut down. I have had nothing but problem after problem. And their customer service line is even more hilarious.

I have had a terrible experience with these cards. Once the balance gets below about $15 I have found them unusable. I have three $50 cards with balances between $3.37 and $11 that have all been declined at vending machines and grocery stores where the purchase amounts were well less than the remaining balance. When I called the 800 number, I was told to keep trying. I asked to please have the balances of the three cards combined into one card, which would give me over $20 on one card, to see if I could get the use of some of the remaining balance. I was told no and to try again and call back if it did not work. The amount of time I have wasted trying to use the remaining balance is not worth it, which is what I bet they are counting on.

NOT RECOMMENDED AT ALL. I am writing this review to express my frustration regarding a serious issue I’ve experienced with a Prepaid Vanilla MasterCard I purchased from Walmart. I loaded $500 onto the card, but when I attempted to use it, the transaction was declined. Upon further investigation, I discovered that the card had been charged for a purchase at an unknown online video game store, leaving the balance at zero. I immediately contacted your customer service, and an investigation was initiated. However, after several weeks, I received an email stating that no discrepancies were found, and the case was closed. I responded to this email requesting specific details about when and where the card was used, including the receipt for an in-person transaction or the IP address for an online transaction.

I should have read the reviews first before purchasing three $50.00 gift cards that's charges you $4.95 to buy them. Anyway every person who received a gift card was unable to use it as it declined the purchase. The card was activated with a $50.00 balance on it and still would not work. MY ADVICE TO ANYONE, GIVE CASH. Stop using these cards, I will be contacting someone as this scam must stop.

I did not want to give a star to this Vanilla service, but the website required me to select at least one star. I'm not sure why the government allows them to be in business. I bought four gift cards and used them to buy apps on Google Play. I was charged twice for every purchase, and as a result I lost a total of eight hundred dollars. I contacted Vanilla customer service because my Vanilla Visa prepaid card was declined. I was told that there is nothing they can do and that it is Google's fault. I am very disappointed with this response and will not be using Vanilla Visa prepaid cards again. I would recommend getting a credit card with a small amount of credit just for online shopping. That way, you can keep your credit card peace of mind.