Bitcoin Forum

Edit: Issue has been resolved!

Thank you Bitrefill and Amazon for the help.   :)

i haven't heard of this happening with bitrefill cards---always thought they were legit. what did amazon say? they just closed your account and won't say anymore? usually it takes multiple fraudulent gift cards to get an account shut down.

did you email support@bitrefill.com, and what did they say?

they have a bitcointalk account (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=389306) too but i assume you're more likely to get a response emailing them directly.

Yes, Amazon just closed my account. I have contacted both Amazon and Bitrefill through email. Currently waiting on a response from both.

I never have seen claim like this against Bitrefill, also you are not telling us lie (no point). There will be something wrong from Bitrefill. I they will come forward in this and solve accordingly.

Thank you for keeping me assured. This is a difficult time for and feeling really anxious at the moment. 

Is there any update? Bitrefill is a well-known platform (AIRFILL PREPAID) and is gaining a lot of good reputation, so buying cards and deeming them as illegal will be a real problem.

I think this paragraph will guarantee that you will get your money, but you should make sure of the cause of the problem because that will speed up the chances of getting your money back.

I’ve just been replied to this morning. They’ve informed me that they haven’t yet received a response back from Amazon at the moment.

And yes, I will pursue onto receiving a refund for my purchase if I don’t receive a response back from Amazon by tomorrow, as then it’s been a week since the date of the transaction.

So Bitrefill will refund your money? Why did it happen they told you?

They haven’t told me why it happened. They’ve told me they contacted Amazon and haven’t received a response back yet on my case.

I’ve emailed them back just now telling them I would like to receive a refund for my purchase, if the issue remains unsolved by tomorrow, since it will be a week since the reported incident.

I have been using their service for over 2 years now and never faced such a problem or seen a complaint of this nature. But i believe if things don't work out on Amazon's side, they will refund you. Just keep us updated on the outcomes  ;)

@Flawless96

It won't solve your problem but I can tell you there are similar stories with Amazon and websites rewarding their users with Amazon gift cards (i.e. Swagbucks)
The same story happened to me before when I wanted to use a virtual card, I purchased an item and less than 10 minutes later my account was frozen.

The problem comes from Amazon but they're so stubborn and think only they are right.

It is good that they kept their word, especially since the problem did not appear by them. Have you contacted Amazon? What happened to your account? Is it back again or is it still frozen?

Perhaps what happened is a problem in the connection between the third party "Bitrefill" & Amazon and thus the gift cards became illegal.
Good luck and I hope you recover your account.

Question about Bitrefill. When there're selling you a card from a store like Walmart, are they providing a scan that can by used on site or it's always to be used for online transactions?

Each card has different conditions. It'll tell you whether it's online only or can be in store too on each card's page on Bitrefill. It's showing me UK only options and for groceries they're all saying they're in store. Some are in store only.

I'm not sure what form the in store usable ones take, they might be a code linked to a balance or something.

It depends on the store. Some provide you with a barcode or a QR code that the cashier at said store can scan to apply your gift card balance. Some provide a long number like a credit card number that the cashier has to type in. Some also provide an additional 4-digit PIN to go with barcode or long number. I've had mixed results trying these cards at self-service checkouts - generally the ones with a barcode or QR code which can be scanned work fine, but the cards which have a long number to type in need some special option that only cashiers have access to.

The e-giftcard can be redeemed and used on the website for online purchases.

Sorry to hear that man.  :-\ Did you ever manage to reach out to them?

I received this response just now:

*Censored for privacy reasons* (Bitrefill)
Apr 14, 21:11 CEST

Hello!

I understand your situation and the frustration, the problem is that Amazon will keep the funds when they block a card like this due to their algorithms being triggered. Which means we have no way of affecting their decision of a refund. If they do not refund us, we cannot refund you.

/*Censored for privacy reasons*

Did you receive any response from Amazon?
Before saying it is a scam we have to know what was the root cause of the problem.
If Bitrefill gave you invalid giftcards then they must refund you without waiting for Amazon to refund them.

You would hope so but there might well be something buried in their terms and conditions. They might try to claim the contract is between you and Amazon and all they did is provide a way of paying for the card.

Even then I wouldn't regard that as good enough and would expect some good will.

I have at the moment only received 2 emails from Amazon. One saying that my account has been suspended for unusual activity. And one saying my account has been closed and stated the giftcard was invalid.

Yes, I certainly agree with you. I will continue pursuing for a refund. They shouldn’t even need to wait for Amazon to respond to refund me. It’s been a week now.

You are right. This exactly why I asked OP to contact Amazon directly and ask what triggered their algorithms.
Bitrefill have good reputation and I believe they will find away to sort this out.
@op, is it possible that someone else had access to your giftcards and used them already?

I just logged into my Amazon account now and see that my account access has been restored. I went to order an item from one of the items I ordered previously and my account was suspended yet again. I’m truly fed up with this. This is not going anywhere. Now I want my money back more than ever.

Just finished reading their Terms of Service.

Appears to me I should be eligible for a refund.
https://imgur.com/a/4mRcTU4

This just says what they already told you:

“Should the third-party provider fail to correct the issue and agrees to refund us, we will then refund the Customer”.


Sounds like you will need to wait for Amazon to do the right thing.

The Terms and Conditions on all the Bitrefill pages for purchasing Amazon card states the following:


A quick internet search suggests that people have frequently have their Amazon account locked because of using gift cards, even legitimate ones, from different regions/countries or because of trying to purchase or ship goods to different countries/regions. Does this apply to you OP? Do you regularly use a VPN or Tor which would have made Amazon think you were ordering from a different country?

On another note, the Amazon Gift Card Restrictions page here (https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201138990), states that is it forbidden to "Purchase a gift card from an unauthorized third party as we cannot guarantee that they are legitimate." Is Bitrefill an authorized or unauthorized third party?

Yep, it took me almost 1 year to get my account back. Tired to exchange emails with the verification service (which was asking me crazy stuff like my bank history), I used the chat and played the imbecile card by saying "Sir, what's happen, I can't log in my account, I tried to reset my password but nothing work"
They gave me my account back the same day lol


Yeah, such services are using authorized sellers of course. As I said it really come from Amazon and its borderline system

So who and what counts as an unauthorized seller?

This thread has me a little concerned - not because I think Bitrefill will scam me (I've used them probably 100+ times for at least a dozen differnet retailers without a single issue) - but because I am worried that Amazon will arbitrarily lock my account with no recourse available simply for using legitimate gift cards.

I'd be surprised if they weren't authorised. There was a large purge of Amazon resellers a while back and plenty either didn't return or took a long time to list them again.

My main place for Amazon cards is Giftoff.com and the availability there appears and disappears with great regularity. I presume they have to plead to get them back or fulfil some new condition.

I'm pretty sure that condition won't hold up where I live. The seller is your main point of contact, and any problems should be resolved by the seller. Bitrefill operates under the laws of Sweden (https://www.bitrefill.com/terms/?hl=en). I have no idea whether or not this condition is allowed under Swedish law, but I find this a very bad condition. It means Bitrefill won't take responsibility for the products they sell.

Assuming they are basically resellers from Amazon itself and the reason his account was frozen has nothing to do with Bitrefill's cards (e.g the user was flagged for a totally unrelated reason), why should they just give $1k (losing them) if they are not getting that money back from Amazon?

People could abuse that by buying a card from them, using in an illegal or against-the-ToS way and if they get banned by Amazon, they just get the money back. No risk for them, all risk for the reseller.

You make some compelling arguments. I was thinking of a case in which a honest user gets flagged by mistake, after which Amazon refuses to fix it. But your scenario sounds much more likely. I'm not saying OP is dishonest, but I'm curious to see how this unfolds.

Amazon reinstated my account again and my order processed just fine this time. Amazon also told me that my bank apparently held a £0.00 transaction for a day before processing it...

What did you say to Amazon for them to reinstate your account? Did they ask for proof of purchase of the gift cards? Did they give any reason for why your account was closed or why they reversed their decision?

If all is good again, can you change the topic title to reflect this? There's no need to make Bitrefill look bad (especially if someone only reads the title) if the problem was resolved.

I provided them with the information they asked for. They told me it took some time for my bank to verify my transaction, hence why my account was put on a pause.

Changed topic title and body.  ;)