Now that I know about the $15 "pre-authorization fee" charged when you use
the card for telecommunications companies (fee is refunded after a few days) --
I was able to use the card to pay $35 toward a Sprint bill. I believe I also
will be able to use it for Cingular and possibly other things such as water
bill, if I only use $35 of the $50 at one time (allowing for the $15 fee -
which should be refunded).
I was able without any trouble to use an entire $50 for Cox Communications
bill. (no $15 fee taken - no idea why - isn't this a telecommunications
company?).
Between paying some bills, some groceries, etc., and using small amounts at
the Post Office, I should be able to kill off the $900-1000 in cards I got
within a couple of months. (I'm down to about $300 left in fact! Yippie)
However - I don't think I will be buying any more this month, despite the
theoretically terrific $10 per $40-worth-of-points bonus. The things just have
too many quirks.
I'm sure a lot of people with only 1 or 2 cards will have no trouble using
them, while others will quickly become peeved when they run into problems with
the "pre-authorization fee" at restaurants or other venues. I'm sure that
Coast is hearing a lot of complaints.
If they do this again, I suggest they try Simon Gift Cards, which don't have
the "pre-authorization" fees and seem to work like regular gift cards and
can be used at a lot more places without problems. Also, they should provide
the ability to buy $50, $100, or $300 cards instead of only $50, which would
also avoid problems.
As someone pointed out, yes you can sell gift cards/certificates of all
kinds on Ebay. However, you will lose approximately 20% of the value in fees and
low final bids. (At least that has been my experience with Neiman Marcus
and Macy's cards. Pure Visa cards might do a little better). Obviously in the
case of the Coast cards, it is not worth selling them on Ebay when you could
have obtained cash.
Coast players should also watch for other specials that Coast has had, and
probably will have in the future, such as 25% off liquor (past) if you purchase
with Coast points, 50% off Batman tickets (current), and so on. I believe
that if you use Coast points at some restaurants, they will not charge you
tax, though others do. So it is always good to keep some Coast points as
points.
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