A New York woman shared her experience with a Walmart gift card on TikTok, explaining how difficult it was to redeem the money on it. Claire, with the username claireinnyc, purchased a Walmart gift card for her neighbors around Thanksgiving. She bought the card online and sent the details to her neighbors in Tampa.
With grocery prices rising, a gift card can be helpful, allowing people to buy whatever they need. It also removes the pressure of picking a gift someone may not like. Moreover, in this case, Claire wanted to help the family a bit during the holidays. They have several kids in the house. Little did she know that buying the gift card would turn into a frustrating experience since the amount on the card was not usable.
This is not an isolated event with Walmart gift cards, as customers have reported problems redeeming them, or the funds are usually deducted from the bank but remain unusable on the gift card. Moreover, it often takes a long time for the customer service to respond to the queries.
Wow, @WalmartCanada so not impressed. Merry Christmas to me. Your system glitched & lost my order. Fine, that happens. But you took the money from my bank & the credits from my gift card, both provable. Your rep made me dispute w/my bank so now I wait 30 days … 1/2
— 🇨🇦JustATweeter🇨🇦 (@JustATweeterToo) December 24, 2025
Her video went viral, gaining more than 274,000 views. She explained in the video that she had asked her neighbors to pick the store where they shop. They chose Walmart and then went to the store to get groceries. That day, the system did not accept the card, saying the expiration date was the issue. However, the date was still 2037, so it did not make sense.
They were in line for a long time and eventually had to pay themselves. According to a report, the employees told them about the maximum expiration window on the register for gift cards. Claire said she sent the money to them to cover the groceries since she knew it was a Walmart issue. She hoped the issue could be easily resolved.
But she was on call with different departments discussing the problem. After a long time, she found out Walmart Mastercard is not a “standard gift card,” implying that the card could not be added to Apple Pay or used digitally. After learning this, they went to the store to try using it, but that did not work either.
She considered reporting it stolen. But the employees told her not to do it since it won’t be replaced. People were commenting on her video, knowing how frustrating the whole situation was. One user added, “Why can’t they just cancel the card and give you a refund?” Another commentator raised a question about how much money the store banks each year this way.
Claire posted another video to share that the card had suspicious activity. There were multiple attempted transactions on the card, but none of them had used it. The card was used in two different locations, Amsterdam and California, while they had the card the whole time. At the end, she revealed Walmart sent her a check for the full amount after a prolonged “back-and-forth.”
@Walmart cant even sign the damn card for a 15yr employee.. I thought maybe it was an inside joke between employee’s but we found out that nobody in that store got a signed card..🤦 Great job.. way to pinch pennies so those managers can reach those bonuses..🙄 pic.twitter.com/rMrvMOdadU
— greatwhitehunterinky (@ELulek) December 24, 2025
In another X post, a Walmart employee slammed the store for giving them unsigned cards for the holidays. The post also implied harsh penny-pinching working conditions that managers and other workers face.
