Old Navy refuse to refund back to Visa, sent gift card instead.

[EvilTofu]

So I bought 2 pairs of identical pants, one in black another in navy, from Oldnavy.ca at $21.75 each. Totaled $43.50. I used a $25 gift card and $18.50 in visa. The black ones were out of stock. Instead of refunding me $18.50 and $3.25 in gift card, they gave me a new gift card of $21.75.

i.e. When trying to use a gift card, I spent more money getting more gift card.

This is very frustrating. They kept saying they are "required to refund in gift card" because the refund exceeded the amount on the credit card payment. This could turn into a forever gift card situation, since my size is often out of stock.

Consumer Protection Act is useless here because the gift card was technically one of the original forms of payment. I don't mind having another gift card, but I'm upset by how unreasonable they are. Instead of admitting it is their policy, they kept saying they are required to do so like they want to give me a refund but an external force made them issue gift cards.

[wendymac]

Argh! Now you are trapped in a loop of shopping at a store you'd probably rather avoid 'cuz you are understandably annoyed.

[Ciel]

Visa refunds to customers do not restore the fee % the merchant had to pay Visa on the original transaction. So it's likely that the gift card refund was a way to avoid any more transaction fees through Visa. Some stores can have some managers who are really strict about card transactions to minimize merchant fees for credit card transactions (i.e. minimum transaction value before paying with cc, etc.)
So, see if the written refund policy on the store website indicates how a combined payment purchase will be refunded. It might help your case if you really, really want to get the full refund put on your Visa card. Or see if you can gift someone that gift card and just not shop Old Navy anymore.

[Ciel]

When You are Charged

Generally, credit cards are not charged until we ship the item(s) to you. However, when you pay for your order using a debit card that is associated with a checking account, we may pre-authorize your order amount with your card issuer at the time you place the order, which may have an effect on your account balance.

This is about the only reference to credit cards I could find in relation to orders. I did not see anything specific related to returns & ccs.

So from the brand's POV-it dealt with the cc payment as completed part of pants purchase you did receive and so treated the gift card as the refund as second pants did not ship/not in stock.

[macw1960]

How annoying!

[EvilTofu]

Good news! After 4th or 5th emails. They finally agree to refund the entire amount back to Visa.

I told them it is only reasonable to refund partly in Visa, partly in gift card. They probably think it is too costly to do both, so they gave me the whole $21.75 in Visa. It is the most desirable outcome, yet not very satisfactory. I mean, I did spent like an hour emailing. How exhausting.

Strangest thing is that the rep on the phone said they charge randomly - sometimes gift card first, sometimes credit card first. She has no control over it. I waited on the phone for her to ask her supervisor and she said once credit card is charged, they can't reverse it. The girl on the phone was empathetic, but she doesn't have the power.

I asked to talk to the supervisor, she kept saying they are "required" to refund in gift card. I was like, you're not require to do so, it is just your arbitrary policy. She then said, "You're right. I'm required to refund in gift card once credit card is charged." I said, "You're not listening. That's not what I said!" She said, "I understand you are upset right now, but we can not refund once it is charged..." She sound so stupid, kept using circular logic. Like pretending to be stupid so she can avoid helping me. It was infuriating. If she had apologize for the trouble. I would have let it go.

[ilovecats]

You used the $25 gift card, then paid the remainder using your VISA. It makes sense that refunding back to a gift card first (and if the return was more than the gift card, the balance to VISA) is done.