Metabank (as a prepaid Visa card)
Complaint 81867 Details

Against my better judgment, I purchased a pre-paid debit card. My goal was to help my mom who lives out of state. She can no longer drive and her home health aids had abused her regular debit card when she did not feel well enough to be present during purchase.

The included information from the packaging says to register @ www.myprepaidbalance.com or on the telephone @ 866.496.6183. Sounds easy enough right? After numerous unsuccessful tries online, I opted to call. The representative wanted my name, my address, email address, DATE OF BIRTH, EVEN the last four of my SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER. I decided to defer this effort until I had more time. I tried again several times and apparently at one point provided a made up SS# to avoid identity theft just to get through the process.

When I could take the time, I pulled my receipt and took the card back to the Safeway store where I purchased it. I had not made purchases yet and simply wanted a refund. After talking to several people, I ultimately was told by the store manager that if I spent the $100 at his store, he would refund the $6 fee for purchasing it. I really thought that was a limiting choice and only benefited him, not me. I put the card away to deal with it later. In retrospect-it would have saved me money.

I then called Safeway customer service and after much ado they confirmed there was still a $100 balance available. They wanted me to jump a bunch of hoops that I did not have time for.

I later decided to just cut my loses (forfeit the $6 fee) and use up the card locally rather than mailing it to my mom. I found other options for her as she would have starved by now.

The $100 amount represents the base amount. It is possible that eventually I may have used the card a time or two for small purchases like Starbucks.The reason that I am not clear on this is that when a purchase is made, the receipt does not show a balance remaining.

Recently, I tried to make a $3.00purchase. It was declined. I then tried to log on, and the web-site said the balance was zero. I knew better. On the back of the card, it does state a "monthly inactivity fee of $2.95 after 12 consecutive months of inactivity". Do the math, it would expire in 2018 before that fee would spend it down to zero. I then called the number above. Although David had good customer service skills, he was no help. I requested his supervisor, and Michael was worse. He provided an email address. I tried a test while he was still on the phone. I have copy & pasted the failure notice. "Final-Recipient: rfc822;[email protected] Action: failed [email protected] fax number. When I told him it was returned and this was a big scam, he hung up on me.

I am out $100 bucks. Never again!