New York woman buys $500 Walmart gift card for neighbors in Tampa. Then they try to redeem it: ‘This is war’
With grocery prices climbing year after year, a Walmart gift card can feel like one of the most practical gifts you can give a family.
You can buy food, household basics, school supplies, pretty much anything under one roof.
That was the thinking behind one New York woman’s Thanksgiving gift to her neighbors in Tampa. She wanted to help ease the pressure heading into the holidays.
Instead, she says the gift turned into a weeks-long mess involving broken systems, endless phone calls, and a $500 balance that no one could actually use.
TikTok creator Claire (@claireinnyc) shared the situation in a video that’s now passed 274,700 views, addressing Walmart directly and calling the ordeal “war.”
What Went Wrong with the Walmart Gift Card?
In the video, Claire explains that she bought her neighbors a $500 Walmart gift card around Thanksgiving. She says the family has several children living in the household and works hard, often helping her out by taking in packages and lending a hand when needed.
Before buying the card, she asked where they usually shop for groceries. “Walmart would be perfect,” they told her.
So she purchased the card electronically and sent it over. That’s where things started to fall apart.
Her neighbor went straight to Walmart to use the gift card for Thanksgiving groceries and was told it wouldn’t work. The system rejected it, flagging the expiration date, which showed a year far in the future, something like 2037. According to store employees, there was a maximum expiration window that the register would accept.
Stuck in line with groceries they needed for Thanksgiving, her neighbor paid out of pocket.
Claire says she immediately sent money to cover the cost. “I’m not a complete a******,” she says in the video. “He went there because I provided a gift.”
At that point, she figured it was a mistake Walmart could easily fix.
Walmart Customer Support Allegedly Wasn’t Helpful
Claire says she started calling Walmart customer service and was quickly bounced between departments. The general support line sent her to the gift card line. The gift card line sent her to Mastercard. Mastercard sent her back to Walmart.
Eventually, someone told her the card was a Walmart Mastercard, not a standard gift card, and that incorrect information had been entered when it was issued. Because of that, the card could no longer be used online, added to Apple Pay, or used digitally at all.
The only option, she was told, was to use it in-store. So they tried again, and it still didn’t work.
The expiration date continued to block the card, and no store could override it. Despite the balance still showing $500, no one could access the funds.
“I can see the gift card. I can see the balance,” Claire says. “But no one can use it.”
When she asked if the card could be reported as lost or stolen and reissued, she was told no. According to Claire, Walmart told her that once an electronic gift card is issued, the purchaser waives their rights to a replacement.
“That cannot be acceptable,” she says. “You sold me something that cannot be used.”
@claireinnyc @Walmart I’ve tried to resolve this amicably…. #walmart ♬ original sound – Claire in NYC ???????
Commenters Are Appalled
Viewers were stunned that a major retailer could let a situation drag on for so long.
“Why can’t they just cancel the card and give you a refund?” one person wrote.
Another added, “Surely they should just cancel the card and provide a replacement.”
Others focused on the bigger picture. “Imagine all the money they bank each year on unusable cards,” one commenter said. “They probably hope people give up.”
Suspicious Activity Adds to the Frustration
In a follow-up video, Claire shares another unsettling detail. While checking the balance on the unusable gift card, she noticed multiple attempted transactions, none of which she or her neighbors had made.
She says the card showed declined attempts in St. Louis, Atlanta, two locations in California, and even Amsterdam. One charge for 99 cents appeared to go through.
Claire says this raised even more questions, especially since the card was never physically lost and never worked in the first place.
As it turns out, this isn’t an isolated incident. One Facebook user claimed their sister’s gift card was hacked, drained, and never refunded. Fox 4 Dallas–Fort Worth has also reported cases where customers never received their gift cards or their money back.
Claire says that wasn’t ultimately her outcome. In a later update, she shared that Walmart eventually sent her a check for the full $500, resolving the situation after weeks of back-and-forth.
The Mary Sue has reached out to Walmart via its contact form and to Claire via email for comment.
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