Mighty Bargain Hunter

How to cash in on Food Lion’s stimulus deal without a check

July 31st, 2008 | by mbhunter |

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I mentioned a little over a month ago that Food Lion was offering a 10% bonus on gift cards purchased in increments of $300 or more as part of a stimulus check promotion, good until August 16th.  In other words, I could purchase up to four $330 gift cards for $300 apiece.  This is a pretty good deal since I shop at Food Lion regularly and it’s better than the rebate I get on my Chase PerfectCard™ MasterCard®.

I got around to taking them up on this offer a couple of weeks ago.  The signs posted at each of the cash registers stated that cash, checks, debit cards, government checks, and credit cards were.  So I whipped out my credit card, thinking that I could get both the 10% and my bonus.

“Sorry, you need your stimulus check.”

“But it says right on the sign that I can use my credit card!  Besides, I don’t have a check.  I got direct deposit of my stimulus.”

“That’s wrong, I don’t know why that’s up there.”

OK, so I tried the next day with a different cashier.  She didn’t know how to do it because she hadn’t done one before.  I told her that the other cashier wouldn’t accept my credit card even though it said on the sign that they did.  She suggested that I call the customer service number on my receipt.  (More on that in a minute.)

Last week I asked another cashier about this.  She told me that they (maybe Food Lion in general) quit accepting credit cards for the offer because people were buying the cards and then disputing the charge, thereby getting the cards for free.  OK, well that’s a good reason, I thought.

So Monday I brought cash to buy a card.  The same signs were still up at the cash registers.  The cashier I talked to Monday didn’t know how to do it either, and she talked to the same cashier I talked to the first time.  She said I needed my check.  I repeated that I got direct deposit, and besides the sign still said that they accepted cash!

“Well, you can buy a card with cash but you won’t get the 10%.”

“Now why the heck would I want to do that?”

That night I took them up on their suggestion and called the customer service number on my receipt.  The woman answering the phone took my name, phone number, and address, and asked me which store I tried to purchase the gift card at.  She informed me that yes, I could take advantage of the offer with payment other than my stimulus check, especially because I got my payment by direct deposit.  I got a confirmation number, and she said that the store would be informed about how to do this for me.

This morning (Wednesday) my wife got a call from the store manager.  Whatever the corporate office said got their attention, apparently.  All I needed to do was to present photo ID to either the store manager or the assistant manager, and I’d be taken care of.  I did this, brought $600 cash, and walked away with two shiny $330 gift cards.

I didn’t see the signs up anymore, though.  Hmmmmm…. (The signs were still up, just not at the cash register I checked out at.)

Anyway, if you want to try this at home over the next two weeks, this is what I suggest you do:

• Try to take advantage of the offer. If you got your stimulus payment by direct deposit, tell them that, but I don’t advocate lying if you got a physical check and spent it elsewhere.
• If you win, great.  If not, call up customer service at (800) 210-9569 to ask for clarification on the offer.  Provide the information they request.  This lets the store contact you.
• I’d pay with debit or cash if they decide to extend the offer to you.  Credit cards are nicer but they open the store up to risk of charge back.
• Remember the TLC rule for gift cards: Treat Like Cash.

I won’t guarantee that this will work for you but it worked for me, and I did get an extra $60 worth of groceries out of it.

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