A few days back I wrote about my experience loading my Target REDcard prepaid while in Atlanta.
Things went well and I had no problem loading the final $2,000 for the month of April at the Atlanta- Edgewood store.
With April coming to an end,I thought it would be a great idea to start off the month of May right by doing at least one load onto my card before heading home.
After participating in the Delta Jet Drag on the morning of May 1, I headed over to the Target Atlanta-Midtown location.
I wanted to try loading my card at a register but they actually seemed a bit busy so I headed over to the quiet customer service area instead.
If all went well, I’d get to load half of the monthly limit allowed on my card- $2,500 in one visit. The card allows a maximum charge of $1,000 per swipe so this would still take me three transactions to get this done.
As I approached customer service I heard a friendly “can I help you” so I asked if I could load my card (while showing the cashier my REDcard).
The first load of $1,000 went through without issue. After it was done, I asked if I could add some more money. I received an enthusiastic yes. This time (using a different card) the credit card company denied the charge due to a fraud alert. Instead of calling in right away, I swiped another card. That worked so I now had $2,000 loaded for May so far.
I decided to call up the number on the back of the card that rejected the second charge. Within 10 minutes I had the fraud issue cleared up.
I now asked to load $500. I tried using the card that was rejected just a few minutes before and was happy to see the charge go through, this time without any problems.
So now I was done loading my $2,500 daily REDcard limit and was surprised by what I was offered.
The cashier turned to me when I said thank you and asked me a simple question: “Again“?
I’ve never been asked that before…
Wow, at home I can only load $1,000 per store plus a manager needs to be called to do it but in Atlanta I’m being offered the chance to attempt to load more than I’m allowed! What’s going on here???
If you ask me, it seems like the stores, cashiers and customer service reps around Atlanta don’t mind loading the REDcard at all. They probably also have people coming in to load their cards much less frequently than in the NYC area…
ShlockDoc- Might as well share with Megmarmor & Autolycus considering the big rumor is that credit card loading is done as of tomorrow…
Jeff- Looks like we’re about to find out starting tomorrow.
Mike- If only it was always like this when loading at Target…
Same situation for me near Boston on Friday. Went to the customer service desk, and after each swipe they asked again? (did 6 swipes)
Such an easier process and didn’t feel annoying having to ask can you do 5 more.
Another interesting story of the “Wild West” of Redcard experiences. If nothing else, this continues to be an encouraging sign. When the inevitable day comes that they stop allowing CC loads I’m hoping this is an indication that it will be a slow store-by-store shutdown rather than everything happening at once.
ShlockDoc- Hmmm, now I’m wondering what this could be…
Yeah, ATL cashiers are great! Been loading since it started and never had to go to customer service or any negative experience.
Shame that you left already, I would have shared a super-secret Atlanta-only Redbird hack with you….
Please share? I am Atlanta-based and just picked up my first red card. I’m waiting for the physical copy before I load.
Well you definitely have to share that with the crowd. :-p