Raise Marketplace Inc

After receiving and reviewing Revdex.com complaint number
font-family: 'Proxima Nova'; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">[redacted] and the corresponding order number, it appears that the customer has already been offered the requested resolution.
On January 16, 2016 the cutomer made a purchase on Raise.com for a [redacted] gift card with a value of $150.00 for a purcahse price of $112.50. The customer contacted Raise Member Service on May 11, 2016 and expressed to the serving agent that the gift card had a $0 balance and could not be redeemed. The order was forwarded to the Gift Card Support Team for further review as the customer contacted us outside of the 100 Day Money-Back Guarantee period.
The Gift Card Support Team determined on May 12, 2016 that the [redacted] gift card would be refunded for the full purchase price of $112.50, and the customer was notified on May 12, 2016 via email.
Overall, we are pleased to have resolved this issue for the customer and look forward to serving him again in the future.

After receiving and reviewing Revdex.com complaint number [redacted] and the corresponding order number, it appears that...

the requested resolution has already been provided to the customer.
On July 30, 2016 the customer purchased a [redacted] physical gift card from Raise with a value of $100.00 for a purchase price of $84.77 for which the customer paid $79.77 after a promotional code had been applied. The customer emailed in to Raise on August 5, 2016 to which a Member Services agent respond on August 8, 2016 at which time a refund was applied for this order. Unfortunately, our email response time is approximately 72 hours at this time, something that we are working diligently to lessen.
As of August 8, 2016 the customer was fully refunded for the out of pocket purchase price of $79.77 and on August 9, 2016 the promotional code that the customer used was returned to the customer’s account in the form of Raise Rewards which will automatically apply to the customer’s next purchase. A new promotional code has also been provided to the customer as our way of apologizing for these issues.
We would like to assure the customer that all gift cards are verified at least twice before being processed into an order. They are first verified when entering the marketplace, and again before the order process is complete. As a member to member marketplace, the gift cards are coming from other members across the marketplace, and as there is the possibility that there could be an issue, Raise has a 100 Day Money-Back Guarantee to cover any issue that may arise in that time. We also have a Seller Support Team in the office that address the seller directly any time that a gift card is purchased that has an issue.
We are glad to have been able to resolve the issue for the customer and look forward to serving him again in the future.

After again reviewing Revdex.com complaint number [redacted] we are, unfortunately, unable to provide the customer with a different resolution.As the Raise Guarantee for the [redacted] gift card has lapsed, we are unable to have further investigation done on the order. We do understand that this is an inconvenience to the customer and would like to extend to him a $10 Raise Rewards credit to use toward a future purchase. This credit will automatically apply to the customer’s next purchase and does not require a promotional code to be used. We would like to again apologize for this inconvenience and would like to consider the issue resolved at this time.

After receiving Revdex.com complaint number [redacted], we were able to review the complaint and the orders it references.The customer purchased three [redacted] gift cards on December 13, 2015 across two different orders on Raise.com. [redacted] had a policy change in early January 2016 regarding the way that they...

accept eGift vouchers for gift card redemption. The cards in this customer’s orders were all affected by this change. When notified about this change, Raise attempted to have sellers send the physical versions of these gift cards to the customers affected so they would still be able to utilize their savings. Unfortunately, not all of the sellers were able to send out the physical cards and some buyers were unable to redeem the gift cards the way they had intended.In this specific case, the customer contacted Raise Member Services on January 18, 2016 and notified the serving agent that the gift cards would not work and that there was probably a full balance on them all. At that time, the serving agent reached out to the sellers to make sure that the gift cards could be sent to the customer. When the sellers could not confirm shipment on the gift cards, the orders were escalated to the Gift Card Support Team for further review, for a resolution, due to the high value of the orders.Regrettably, the Gift Card Support Team was unable to respond in a timely manner and the customer filed a dispute on the orders. Raise is unable to refund a purchase when a dispute has been filed, so we did have to wait until the dispute had been removed before a refund can be completed for the customer. During review by the Gift Card Support Team they were able to determine that the customer had been able to use some of the gift card in the voucher format before the policy change occurred, so a refund was processed for what was not used by the customer in voucher format. We understand that this an absolutely unacceptable time frame for a customer to wait and are working to improve response time for the Gift Card Support Team. It is always our mission to learn from every customer experience and use it to improve the way our marketplace works. We would like to extend our deepest apologies for the inconvenience that this customer faced with these orders and would like to consider the issue resolved at this time. We look forward to better serving them again in the future.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: I don't feel that if the vendor cancels the card and it was purchased from Raise that the consumer should be responsible for the damage. That's something Raise should work out with the vendor or put a disclaimer on their website warning that gift cards may have no value after 100 days. Based on Raises policy, gift cards can be active for 100 days and can be immediately deactivated at day 101 with absolutely no responsibility from Raise. This is misleading to the consumer as Raise's website claims gift cards never expire. Gift cards being "deactivated" vs "expired" shouldn't be a technicality that Raise leans on to absolve them of the consumer experiencing the exact same outcome (an unusable card which was paid for in full).
Sincerely,
[redacted]

I just checked a gift card that Was purchased through Raise and to my surprise it had a zero balance at the store. I advised Raise that I bought the card last year and never used it. I contacted them and they only guaranteed the card for 100 days from purchase, what a rip off. People selling on Raise can use the cards even after selling them. How does that protect the buyers. DO NOT BUY FROM THEM, IT'S A SCAM!.

We were able to further review Revdex.com complaint number [redacted] as well as the customer’s order and Raise account. The order [redacted] was placed on May 5, 2015 and contained one [redacted] gift card valued at $250. The customer paid $200 for this gift card. On January 13, 2016, the customer called our...

Member Services department to let us know that he was unable to use the full amount on this card. According to her, he was able to use about $95 of the gift card, not too long after she purchased the gift card. Unfortunately, this order fell well outside our 100 Day Guarantee. For this reason, we are unable to submit a refund. Our 100 Day Guarantee states that your purchase price will be protected if an issue should arise within the first 100 days after your order is placed. For this reason, we encourage our members to use their gift cards within this time frame.We regret that a follow up email was not sent in a more timely manner, causing our customer to wait for answers. We have been working diligently to ensure that communication is efficient and transparent with our members. A credit of $20 has been added to this customer’s Raise account, which will automatically apply to their next order. We hope to be able to serve this customer again in the future and urge them to call Member Services at [redacted] if they have any further questions.

After receiving Revdex.com complaint number [redacted] we again reviewed the order and are, unfortunately, unable offer a different resolution.At this time, Raise has fully refunded the purchase to the customer and confirmed that the transaction returned to the customer’s account was successful. When the customer contacted Raise the first time on April 8, 2016, before placing his order, he did ask questions about using Raise gift cards outside of the United States, at which time, the serving agent did answer all of the customer’s questions. While Raise does express that we are unable to process transactions outside of the United States, we understand that this specific instance was unfortunate. We would like to apologize for any confusion or inconvenience this may have caused and consider the issue resolved at this time.

At this time, we are unfortunately unable to continue reviewing complaint number 10997097.
On January 4th, 2016, the customer filed a dispute for Order R370695256 with his financial institution. Due to this dispute, we will no longer be able to provide a refund for this order.  The customer’s refund will now be processed and provided by his credit card company.  We would like to suggest that if the customer should have any more questions regarding his refund, to please contact his credit card company for further support or information.
We apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused.

After receiving complaint number [redacted] we were able to further review this case and the payment...

involved.
On August 27, 2015, the customer listed a [redacted] gift card for sale on the Raise marketplace.  This gift card sold on August 29, and the customer’s earnings were $20.00 for this sale.  To receive payment, a seller must request payment via [redacted] ACH direct deposit to his or her bank account, or a physical check.  The physical check option would be paid to the name and address on the credit card used to verify a seller’s account.  This verification is a mandatory process completed at the time a seller lists a gift card on Raise.com.
At the time of this customer’s seller verification, the credit card used for verification was in the name of someone other than the seller..  He proceeded to request a physical check on August 30, which was made out to the name on the aforementioned credit card.  This check was sent out via [redacted] three business days later.  
The customer emailed Raise Member Services on October 9, 2015, stating that he has not received his check in the mail.  Our Seller Support team reached back out to him, confirming the address to which the check was sent.  After confirming the correct address and that this check had not yet been cashed, our Accounting team was able to cancel payment.  It was suggested to the customer to take advantage of a quicker, more convenient method of payout.  After several days, the customer had not entered banking or [redacted] information.  He was informed that we would proceed with sending another physical check to ensure that he was paid for the card sold on the site two months prior.
The second physical check was sent out the following day using the same information as the first attempt.  The customer emailed Raise on November 25 that he had yet to receive his check.  In accordance with Raise policy, we must wait 45 days before a check is considered lost in the mail and cancelled.
On January 12, 2016, our Accounting team was able to confirm that the second check had not been cashed.  The customer was informed that either a [redacted] shipping issue or the name in which the payment was issued was preventing him from receiving this check.  The customer was again urged to choose another method of payout, as we would not be able to issue another check after the two failed delivery attempts.  We would like to thank the customer for connecting his [redacted] account for more immediate payment.  He was informed that his second check payment has been cancelled, and that the funds would be available immediately within his Raise account for re-request.  Shortly after, we received the customer’s payout request.  This transaction has been approved, and will be accessible in the customer’s [redacted] account within 24 hours.
We would like to offer a sincere apology for the length of time it took for the customer to be paid for his sale.  Overall we are pleased to have resolved this issue for the customer and look forward to serving him again in the future.

After receiving Revdex.com complaint number [redacted], we were able to review the orders in question.
id="docs-internal-guid-d2902f4e-386f-e637-d2da-c8f033851d66">Order [redacted], placed on January 23, 2016, included a [redacted] eGift card with a value of $100. A total of $80 was charged to the customer’s credit card. The customer contacted Raise on February 18, 2016 in regards to this order noting that he had not previously used the [redacted] gift card and it had a $0 balance when he attempted to redeem it in the restaurant. This inquiry was responded to on February 22, 2016 with a full refund of the purchase price $80 as the gift card was determined as having a $0 balance.
Order [redacted], placed on January 25, 2016, included four [redacted] Bread eGift cards each with a value of $50. A total of $168.00 was charged to the customer’s credit card. The customer contacted Raise on February 4, 2016 in regards to this order noting that he had only been able to use about $10 of  gift card and the other three remained unused by him, but were all then reflecting a $0 balance.
Regrettably, our Gift Card Support Team was unable to respond in a timely fashion and this inquiry was resolved as of March 2, 2016. Three of the gift cards were refunded in full as they had remained unused by the customer, and the customer received a partial refund for the gift card that he had been able to redeem for a portion. This partial refund was calculated but subtracting that amount used by the customer from the value of the gift card and the percentage of savings the member received on the original purchase price was applied to the new value to determine the new purchase price. The partial refund for the specific gift card totaled $33.60 and the full refund total on the order was $168.
We understand that it is not acceptable for a customer to wait weeks to be refunded after an initial inquiry. We are actively working to bring our response time back down to standards found more acceptable. We apologize for the inconvenience.  Overall, we are pleased to have resolved this issue for the customer and look forward to serving him again in the future.Tell us why here...

After receiving Revdex.com complaint number
background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">[redacted], we were able to review the order in question.
On November 01, 2015, the customer placed an order on Raise.com for twenty [redacted] eGift cards. The three gift cards that the customer inquired about were all purchased with a value of $100 at a purchase price of $99. For the entire order the customer paid a purchase price of $1881.04 which was paid for by credit card.
The customer contacted Raise Member Services via phone on February 6, 2016 and notified the serving agent that he was having trouble with three of the eGift cards in the order. The customer was reached out to again by the serving agent and it was requested that he send in images of the error messages, which the customer did quickly, and for that we are very appreciative. Due to the volume of the inquiry the order was then sent to be reviewed by the Gift Card Support Team.
Regrettably, our Gift Card Support Team was unable to respond in a timely fashion and this inquiry currently has not been resolved. The customer did however issue a dispute on this order as of March 3, 2016. Because a dispute was filed, going forward the inquiry will be resolved between the customer’s credit card company and our payment processor.  
We sincerely apologize for the delay that the customer has experienced and look forward to serving him again in the future.

After receiving Revdex.com complaint number [redacted] we were able to review the order in question, and at this time a resolution has already been provided. On January 22, 2016 the customer placed an order on Raise.com for five Taco Bell physical gift cards. Each of the gift cards held a value of $150 and...

were purchased for $104.85. A total of $524.25 was charged to the customer’s credit card.The customer reached out to Raise Member Services via email on February 2, 2016 and stated that the gift cards did not have balances. At this time the order was escalated to the Gift Card Support Team due to the volume of gift cards in the order. The customer was notified that the order had been sent to review and would hear back shortly.It was determined that the member was unable to use the balances of the gift cards, but regrettably, our Gift Card Support Team was unable to respond in a timely fashion and this inquiry was resolved and the customer was notified via email on March 5, 2016. At this time the customer has received an email confirmation that the full refund of $524.25 has been returned to their original payment method and those funds will be seen within 1-3 business days.We understand that this is an unacceptable time frame for a customer to wait for a resolution and we are actively working to minimize our response times for the Gift Card Support Team. We appreciate the customer’s patience while we resolved this matter and would like to consider this issue resolved at this time. We look forward to serving the customer again in the future.

After receiving and reviewing Revdex.com complaint number
14.6667px; font-family: Arial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">[redacted] and the corresponding order number, it appears that the current resolution is warranted.
On July 5, 2015 the customer purchased a [redacted] Cinemas gift card from Raise.com with a value of $100.00 for a purchase price of $85.82, which the customer paid $81.53 for after a promo code was applied. The customer then contacted Raise Member Services on July 11, 2016 and expressed to the serving agent that the gift card did not have a balance when he attempted to redeem. At that time the serving agent notified the customer that the order fell outside of the 100 Day Money-Back Guarantee so a refund could not be applied. The customer then spoke with a supervisor in our Member Services Team who also reiterated the same information.
Before a gift card is processed into an order on Raise, the card balance and validity are confirmed through at least two different verification checks. At minimum, one check is run before the gift card enters the marketplace and the second before the card is processed into the customer’s order. Gift cards sold on the Raise marketplace do not have an expiration date, while the Raise Guarantee does only guarantee a refund for the purchase price for the first 100 days after the date of purchase.
Once a gift card is processed into a customer’s order, Raise does not go back and periodically recheck the gift card. If a customer brings a fully processed gift card back to the attention of Raise, at that time another verification check will be done. In the instance that this problem is brought to light during the Raise Guarantee time frame, the purchase price is fully covered. In cases when the order is brought to Raise attention outside of the guarantee period, unfortunately, the purchase is not longer covered and no refund can be offered.
We would like to sincerely apologize for this inconvenience as the order falls so far outside of the Raise Guarantee that no further action can be taken on the order.

Complaint[redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
Raise has made no effort to abide by the guarantee they state very prominently on your website.  The guarantee specifically states that it will cover the cost of the gift card.  At this point, I don't think there is really anything more to discuss.  You are living up to the promise you made.  This is a lesson learned for me, I will simply not use your site anymore and we can go on with our lives.  That being said, just because you repeat the same falsehood over and over does not mean that I have to accept it.  I realize Raise in it business to make money, I just wish they would be honest in their dealings.
 
 
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Complaint: [redacted] Please simply refund the entire amount paid to my credit card. Thank you.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

After receiving and reviewing Revdex.com complaint number [redacted] and the corresponding order number, it appears that the customer has been provided the requested resolution.On May 2, 2016 the customer made a purchase on Raise.com for 11 [redacted] gift cards. The customer contacted Raise Member Services on...

May 20, 2016 and expressed to the serving agent that not all of the gift cards arrived. At this time, the serving agent refunded the member for the gift cards that had not arrived. One gift card was refunded that the customer had, in fact, received, so that purchase was recharged, but once the customer went to redeem the gift card and was told it had a $0 balance, the customer was again refunded for the gift card once it had been received in the office. At this time, the customer has been refunded for all six of the [redacted] gift cards reported to have an issue, for a total refund amount of $1199.80. The last refund was completed as of June 8, 2016 and the customer should see the funds returned to her original payment source in 1-3 business days. We would like to sincerely apologize for the length of time that it took for the customer to receive her final resolution and look forward to better serving her again in the future.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:I do not think offering $75 for a $365 gift card is an adequate solution. There are several complaints of this same nature made about this company. I think the company is aware of the fraudulent use of the gift cards they sell and should accept responsibility. I also question of the company itself is reselling the gift card numbers after their 100 day policy. Money from gift cards doesn't just disappear and that is exactly what is happening way to often with gift cards purchased from Raise. 
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Only after the Revdex.com intervened, I got my refund!
Sincerely,
[redacted]