Cardpool Slow Email Delivery Times

 

I recently bought 2 gift cards from Cardpool.com to make a purchase from WestElm.com for a friend’s wedding registry.

Cardpool has two delivery options, Email and Physical.

From their website it says:
Email Cards
Email gift cards are delivered via email. While it will typically only take ten minutes for you to receive your eGift card, it can take up to 1 business day if further verification is needed.

Physical Gift Cards
All physical gift cards are sent via FREE USPS First Class Mail and should arrive in 3-7 business days. During peak holiday periods and USPS holidays, delivery may take a little longer.

Because 3-7 business days is far too long, I opted for Email, because I wanted to purchase my item on WestElm immediately as it was for a wedding registry.

Here is the sequence of events:
Sept 11, 2017 8:29pm – Ordered gift card #1

Sept 11, 2017 9:23pm – Ordered gift card #2

Because I ordered via email, I was really hoping it would take only 10 minutes, but nope, I didn’t even get the gift card codes delivered the same day.

Sept 12, 2017 – 8:06AM – Card #2 is delivered

Sept 12, 2017 – 9:41AM – I emailed support@cardpool.com asking how much longer it would take to get my card #1.

Sept 12, 2017 -2:19PM – Card #1 is delivered

Sept 14, 2017  – 2:42 PM – I finally get a response from support saying:

Thank you for contacting Cardpool.com! We do apologize for the long wait to receive a response and appreciate your patience regarding this matter. We are experiencing a high number of emails and we only answer them in the order we receive them.

Our processing center typically completes all electronic gift card orders within one business day of the purchase. The orders are very often shipped within a few hours, however there is some processing time involved as we verify the value of every gift card before it is sent. In some cases we may ask for additional verification and your order will remain pending until we receive the necessary documentation requested.

 

Not only did getting a response take over 2 days, but the information listed on their website implies it’s usually 10 minutes, not a few hours. 

Luckily nobody bought the registry item by the time I received both gift cards.

I’ve been a CardPool user for over 2.5 years, and this is a very upsetting experience, and makes me wonder if the few bucks I saved was worth the hassle.

 

 

 

2 Replies to “Cardpool Slow Email Delivery Times”

  1. My bad Cardpool experience on 2/26/18:

    1) Ordered 2 identical e-gift cards – value of $25 each. After ordering, I receive this auto email from Cardpool:

    “Thanks for your order!…We’ll typically email you with your electronic or mobile gift cards within 3 business days. In some cases we may ask for additional verification and your order will remain pending until we receive all the necessary documentation requested….”

    Then I found this in their Support section – https://www.cardpool.com/support/buying :
    “…While it will typically only take ten minutes for you to receive your eGift card, it can take up to 1 business day if further verification is needed.”

    NOWHERE in the ordering process, all the way to checkout, does it say that ELECTRONIC gift cards could take up to 3 business days to arrive by email. I WOULD NOT have bought them had I known this. Cardpool doesn’t even tell you in any fine print in the ordering process that it could take up to 1 business day, as they say in their Support section.

    My experience with buying e-gift cards is that they are available to me, if not immediately, then very soon after purchase. The 10 minutes they say is typical is fine, but a day or more?? C’mon, REALLY??!!!!! Something wrong is going on with their operation for this to be the case. At least the customer should be forewarned.

    2) ALMOST 27 HOURS AFTER ORDERING, I received this email:

    “Thank you for your recent order with Cardpool.com! We recently received your order, but we were unable to fulfill the entire order due to an inventory error. You will not be charged for following items listed below. We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused. Your order will be shipped to you shortly….”

    And then immediately afterward I received only 1 e-gift card link in a separate email. There was no chance, through proper customer service, to ask if I wanted to cancel the order, since they were not able to fulfill it properly. Obviously I wanted both of the cards, and I wanted both of them at the same time. I would have cancelled my order if I thought I was not going to receive them both.

    Before even clicking on anything in the email, I contacted them to ask if I could cancel the order, not redeeming the card. Their response is understandable, but not very acceptable to a customer:
    “Thank you for your inquiry. According to the terms of our Purchase Guarantee Program, which are available at http://www.cardpool.com/guarantee, we are unfortunately unable to accept returns or exchanges on our electronic gift cards. Since you are already in possession of the card numbers and they still have value, we hope you can understand why we have to adhere to this policy….”

    With some of the email responses (or lack of them) from Cardpool to my inquiries (they have no phone number or live chat), it seems obvious to me what at least one major problem is, a problem that seems to be getting more and more common out there:
    BARE BONES CUSTOMER SERVICE STAFF

  2. Ordered two Safeway gift cards from Cardpool on 1/30/2019. Received standard confirmation email, similar to Jason’s post, and have still not received anything as of 2/4/2019. Excluding the weekend, this is 3 business days.

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