I can't recommend Sixth Continent right now
Sixth Continent gift cards are sometimes not downloading.
I have used and loved the site for months now, as have many of you.
But recently, problems have begun to crop up. Multiple readers let me know this week that they've ordered gift cards and have not been able to download them.
Absent customer service
Contacting customer service seems to do nothing (they don't respond), and that's been my experience too as I tried to help these readers.
My original PR contact seems to not be working with Sixth Continent anymore.
And the second contact I had also seems to have disappeared (her email address comes up as invalid.)
This level of customer service and lack of communication is completely unacceptable.
I personally haven't had any problems downloading my cards, but given that multiple readers are having difficulties, I can't recommend that you use Sixth Continent right now.
What should you do if your gift card won't download?
If you purchased the gift card with a credit card, I'd recommend disputing the charge with your credit card company.
Sixth Continent has not made good on the transaction, so your credit card company shouldn't give you any grief about refunding the charge.
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Sixth Continent has been open for five years, so I'm a little surprised that things have gone downhill so quickly. It's not as though they were a brand new website.
Who knows? Perhaps they will turn things around, and if they do, I'll be the first to let you know.
But for now, I'd play it safe and shop elsewhere.
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P.S. I updated my book list for June. I only read two books; I loved one and hated the other.
I wonder if Amazon would do anything about Sixth Continent since they are linked through Amazon pay? Or if disputing a charge would be easier if you went through Amazon?
A RESPONSE TO THIS WOULD BE SWEET. THANKS
They would not let me dispute it through them. They just said that AmazonPay is just a payment platform and the item ordered didn't go through them. I argued that their name is attached to it. He said that he would forward my concern to the proper team.
I have not used Sixth Continent but I appreciate the integrity you show in highlighting problems with a company you previously supported. I have read your blog for many years and find you to show great moral character.
I've had several issues with Sixth Continent. Unable to open shopping card link, unable to make payment, etc. Each time I have sent email (contact us). Almost always the problem has been fixed within 24 hours, if not 24, then definitely by 48 hours.
Thank you for the information, I have had issue as well and stopped using them this last month.
It is very weird with them. I bought a couple of gift cars months ago when you recommended them, and had no trouble at all. I bought two more after your post about the Aldi cards; a Starbucks card and a Gift of Choice card. Both of those cards were supposed to be available on July 4th. The Starbucks card gave me an error message, and the GoC card wouldn't download. I put in a support request, and they messaged back with the Starbucks card attached, almost immediately. They didn't address the GoC card. I put in multiple requests, tried calling the customer service phone number (no one ever answers), and posted on their Facebook wall, and got no response.
Yesterday, I sent them a final message detailing my attempts to contact them, and informing them that I would be starting the process to dispute the charge if I didn't receive my GoC by 5:00 pm. I had the form printed and filled out, I just needed hubby's signature (the Amazon card is in his name), but decided to check one more time, around 4:30. The GoC downloaded with no trouble. I really have no idea if it was coincidence, if they finally did something about one of my earlier service requests, or if the message with a specific deadline for starting the process to dispute the charge did it.
I'm thinking about giving them one more try. If I do I'll switch my Amazon payment method to my credit card through the credit union I bank with first, since I think they'll probably handle a charge dispute faster and easier.
I really hope they resolve their issues because there are so many awesome choices with the GoC cards. I even think it's worth waiting longer than the two days it's supposed to take their cards to activate, but they need to be upfront and clear about that.
I've been trying since mine were supposed to activate on July 4th as well, and it magically appeared this morning.
I cancelled the dispute with my credit card and am tentatively trying it out again with a low-value card to see if it was a weird glitch.
I wonder if it was something weird because of the holiday? Though you wouldn't think it would take that long to resolve it.
If/when I try again it will definitely be with a low value card so there isn't a lot of money tied up in case there are issues again. I really, really want it to work. I can't believe how many choices there are with the GoC gift cards. I just keep thinking about how much I can save on Christmas shopping and stuff we regularly buy anyway if the cards actually work.
I was going to try it, but I think I'll hold off now. Thanks for letting us know, and thanks, as KD said, for being open about something you previously supported.
That's weird, though. Did the entire company have a shake up or something? Odd.
I had ordered a very large sum of giftcards for Home Depot in order to purchase a washer and dryer (ordered July 1st). They were supposed to be activated on July 3rd but then the site had a very strange glitch on July 3rd that would not allow me to access the site at all. Once it was back up and running I was not able to download any of my cards. I sent 5 support tickets without any response. On July 8th I began calling the number at the bottom of the site. What I found was that half the time the number was busy, but if you were able to get through you had to let it ring for close to 5 minutes before anyone picked up. I finally got a hold of a rep who tried to help but wasn't able to get much done. I called 2x per day July 8th-12th. On the morning on July 12th I received a support ticket from a project manager apologizing for the customer service and lack of response. They sent me the links to all my cards in that support ticket and I was able to download them. They also sent me a gift card to Amazon for the inconvenience.
I'm not sure if it was the holiday or that weird glitch that happened but it was very time consuming getting a resolution. Also every person I spoke to was Italian and so the time difference made it difficult to get things done. I think I will try the site again but with really small balance cards so as not to stress about the large value cards. I actually really like the site and it has saved me a lot of money so I hate to abandon it but man, I can't spend hours on the phone just to get access to cards I purchased. Sadly I didn't get the cards in time to take advantage of the 4th of July sale on the washer and dryer so I'm waiting until Labor to day to purchase them with the hopes they are a similar price.
I was able to download $50 worth of gift cards today with no problem. I've noticed that you have to wait 2 days AFTER the activation date of the GC you purchased. Once the 2 days are over, the word DOWNLOAD will show and you can download your GC. I always get the Gift of Choice card and purchase Aldi's cards with it. In a couple of days, I will receive the cards in the mail.
The only problem I have is that when I click on Amazon Pay to pay for the purchase of a GC, Chrome doesn't seem to like it much and won't direct me. I have to use another browser.
I have purchased several GC's over the past few months with no problems at all.
I to have had the same experience with Sixth Continent. I would call and email with no response. My trouble tickets were never answered. On one occasion it took Kristen intervening (Thank you :)) to help my receive my gift card of choice. I will no longer be purchasing gift cards through the Sixth continent, because I have now twice experienced the same issue. It appears when my credit would build up, and I was eligible to obtain a low value gift card for half the cost, my account became frozen, and I was unable to purchase a gift card of choice card. My gut feeling tells me this company is having financial problems, and in not able to provide the product that they are promising.
Frankly, I no longer tolerate retailers with no Customer Service to address consumer concerns.
I have no experience with Sixth Continent but I did have a recent experience with Macy's & will no longer have any contact with them. My DD & I attempted to return a gift with tags attached for store credit & was denied a return d/t the fact that it was purchased in excess of 30 days prior. 30 DAYS! I emailed Customer Support - no response, waited 2 weeks & emailed again - no response, waited 2 more weeks & emailed them that they had lost a potential consumer for life. I don't shop at Macy's but DD has received several gifts from there that have necessitated returns. No more. Retailers that offer no Customer Service should close. End of discussion.
The Macy’s around here seems to be falling apart fast in every way. The store looks like a real mess, no worker knows what they are supposed to be doing, after I spent a long time looking for someone to help me, and it just has a weird feeling where if someone showed up with a Going Out of Business sign, that would make sense.
I blame Amazon, for one. Of course there’s more to it, but I’m sad that I can no longer go to a nice store and try on and buy nice things, and be helped by helpful people. This is the last surviving department store around, and I think they won’t be surviving much longer.
I agree that anyone who is not happy with SXC should stop using it, go back to the old method and pay full price for a GC!
Now without irony … I already have the SXC since 2018 November, I have already saved more than € 800, if I have to wait 1, 2 or 3 days to download the GC, I hope. Where do I find discounts up to 50% !?
The trick is to plan your purchases well in advance and take advantage of CreditBack campaigns without ever exposing yourself too much!
SXC has grown more than 800% in the last year and has not been able to respond in a timely manner, Mr. Polliti Fabricio, creator of SXC, keeps us informed and said he will strengthen Support with 5 more people in August.
Do not lose confidence, only SXC manages to increase its acquisition capacity …people have the power to change the economy!
UNITED WE ARE FREE
The thing is, we the customers have not been informed. We are only getting auto-responses from email submissions that promise a response in 48 hours. But 48 hours passes with no actual response and no explanation.
The growth is lovely, but in order to retain its customers, Sixth Continent needs to earn trust by communicating.
Kristen, so you know it was always like this ...
SXC = Patience
Let's wait patiently for August!
I bought one on July 1st and still cannot download, i just get auto replies and some of my threads are marked as solved even though they were not
I've stopped using them as well. When it works it's great, but the frustration isn't worth the savings. Plus...they kept sending me things in Italian! I deleted my account.
finally after a month its fixed, you know i bought it before the 4th of july, and last time it happened was before memorial day. I had bought one after memorial day and that worked fine so i'm wondering if it has something to do with purchasing before a holiday.
Thank you for saying this. I feel bad for the people I turned onto it because I'd heard good things. I am so upset right now to be out money just before the holidays. I am going to dispute my charge. Customer service just told me to wait...then disappeared. This is completely unacceptable.
I've just found their site and the issues that have arose with me they took care of. But do u have any more sites similar to them with immediate activation?
I don't know of any others that are just like Sixth Continent; sorry!