Paypal Digital Gifts not accessible

[iahaleem]

I purchased a Paypal Digital Gifts card for use with Southwest Airlines back in Feb 2016 with the idea that I would use it at a future date.  I finally had an upcoming flight I wanted to use it for, and when I went back to the original order e-mail, clicking the "View My Code" takes me to a page that reads "Sorry! This is not a valid claim link."  Trying to call Digital Gifts support leads to an unanswered hold line (I waited over 30 minutes), and trying to contact Paypal directly has also not helped (they transferred me to another unanswered hold line).

Can anyone suggest what I might do from here?  

EDIT: Called Paypal again and got through to the correct person who re-issued me these e-mails.  Looks like they are working now.  If anyone else has the same problem with this, call Paypal support and say "Gift Card" on the support line.

Thanks in advance

[DT23]

i have same problem, their gift card service phone number seems like a dead end, was on hold for over an hour before i saw your post ...  recalling the paypal number now to see if i can get help ....

update:  auto system does not recognize "gift card" ...  she just transferred me to the same dead end even though i told her not to do it ...  bad service ....

any other way to get to the right person?  help appreciated ....

[iahaleem]

The first time I tried saying "gift card" to the automated system it didn't understand my either.  Try again a few times until the computer does recognize it.  Make sure you're calling the direct paypal line.  I logged into my paypal account and then Help at the top of the screen.  From there I navigated to the phone number with the one time use pin.

Once I was on with an operator, I told them that my claim link was no longer working and that I needed a new one. I provided them with the date of my purchase (Feb 2016), and they handled the rest.  It was super easy. 

[DT23]

thanks, i recalled a second time after waiting another 20 minutes on the dead end transfer and the 2nd operator claims he doesn't know any other way other than through the gift card line ...  so he transferred me over again to the dead end ...  let's see if i get anyone this time ....

do they have a tech line or like a supervisor that one can speak to?

[iahaleem]

Don't call the digital gifts number.  It is a dead end.

Call paypal support.  It is a different number.

From there tell them you need assistance with gift cards.

[DT23]

got through after the transfer on the gift card line finally after about 40 minutes, service refused to resend me the links (after i told them that others with old purchases were able to get the links resent) and forced me to just take a refund ...  no actual loss but did lose the bonuses on the gift cards ...  very disappointing experience.  for such a large company, all they had to do was put a warning on the emails that those links would actually expire .... 

thanx for your help in any case ....

[mililani1]

This same thing happened to with Staples gift cards I bought a few years ago.  It just happened today.  It was working the past few years (I have over $800 worth of these things) until today.  Then I get "Sorry! This is not a valid claim link."  Called <removed> and that went no where.  Still trying to get this resolved.  Tried calling technical support and that didn't help either.

[Shankins123]

I'm having the same problem.  I finally got a hold of a PayPal customer service rep that gave me what he could (not much info, though).  He gave me the actual transaction number from when PayPal purchased the gift card from Southwest.  Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be helping - I'm now on the phone with a Southwest rep.  He's tried every number I can come up with.  We'll see what happens.  I really wanted to use this last night to purchase a flight.
😞  That went nowhere.  He suggested I call Ebay - Ebay sent me back to PayPal (where the wait time has gone up considerably, from 5 minutes to 4 HOURS).  I tried Southwest again - they sent me to their Customer Relations who said there's nothing that can be done - go back to PayPal.
I will try again much later today; I'm exhausted by this and a little angry.

[Shankins123]

Update - After 3 hours worth of calls (at least 10 separate calls, mind you) I finally have resolution.  I had called PayPal AGAIN....this time I was transferred to the "dispute" department.  There, because my purchase was older than the 180 days the rep told me I had to talk to Southwest - they had the money.  He kept telling me "at the end of the day...""...there's nothing we can do" OR "....they have your money" OR blah,blah,blah.  He had thanked me for my 13 years of being with PayPal so I asked him how much he valued that 13 years - was there nothing he could do to help me?  He told me NO.  He could transfer me to a supervisor, but not to get my hopes up.  I transferred.  This one told me "sorry"....I pressed him for help and he also told me to prepare myself for rejection.  I said I'd like to try and he transferred me to "gift cards". (I had tried saying "gift cards" several times during my previous calls, but was getting sent off into phone tree space).
This was it!!  I wish I had gotten her name - she assured me that our call would be my last and she issued me a refund straight back on my account.  She also said that during the time I had purchased the digital gift there had been issues with invalid links and that it made complete sense.  I did tell her that no one else knew that, and that they had all explicitly discouraged me from getting help.
SO...keep trying.  There's hope!

[AnnieCustomer]

I have the exact same issue. Now that I have been on the phone going no where for 3 hours. there is no human being on the phone at all. I will have to try hard tomorrow or who knows how many days. I have never seen customer service/operation as bad as paypal in my entire life. This does not match Paypal's company reputation at all.