Ralph’s Scamming Customers by selling fraudulent Visa Gift cards!
On June 15th, I purchased a $300 Visa gift card at the Ralph’s store #205 at the Calabasas Commons as a Father’s Day gift for my elderly and disabled father. The card did not work when dad tried to use it, so we went to the website on the back of the card - the card number was not valid. We called the customer service number on the card and were told that this was a fraudulent card, the card number and bar code do not match, and to contact the store where we purchased it.
I contacted Ralph’s, and after over a week and half, the store manager, Edwin, confirmed that I was sold a fraudulent card that had been tampered with. The manager told me that this is a big problem for the store, and as much as they try, they can’t prevent fraudulent cards from being placed on the card kiosks. According to him, the store loaded the money onto a card, so the transaction is good as far as they are concerned, even though they loaded it to a bar code stuck onto my card by a scammer. Because the card they sold me had been tampered with, the money never went to the card we purchased. He is refusing to give me a refund, issue me a new card, or even offer a store credit in the amount of my purchase. And the corporate customer service for Ralph’s and their parent company, Kroger is completely useless.
Ralph’s Calabasas is taking no responsibility for the fact that they are selling fraudulent products - possibly the most expensive products in the store (as these cards can go up to $500). Ralph’s is aware that this is a problem, yet they are keeping these cards on their shelves and selling them to customers. Anyone who purchases a gift card from Ralph’s/Kroger stores, is in danger of losing large amount of money with seemingly no recourse. The stores are fully complicit in this scam.
