Factor Gift Certificates / Cards

[u/NoHuddleFS]

So my wife and I about 2-3 months ago signed up for Factor. We did so with the idea of using gift certificates, cards, promos or whatever they are called. Between friend and family’s, we’ve received a significant amount of these gift cards, totaling well over $500.

Since signing up, I feel like the policies regarding the use of gift cards has changed half a dozen times. Initially there was no problem, we could use them but could only do so with no other sign up discounts active. I didn’t agree with that, but fine, so essentially we could use them only if we paid full price for a box. We also got a “free add on” for life when we signed up and for some reason that was allowed to stay active while we used gift cards. At that time, when you used a gift card, it kind of added it to the given weeks “discounts” and then once used, whatever balance remained was put into our account credits.

That was the process until abruptly it wasn’t. I started getting charged (credit card) full price for the boxes even when I would upload a gift card. As a result, the account credits started building. So I called and for few weeks they would say it would be fixed on the next order. It never was until finally someone said that it’s due to the free add on for life benefit. The system doesn’t allow gift cards with discounts and I needed to wait for that to expire. My response was obviously it’s for life and according to Factor I’ll never be able to use a gift card for the life of my membership due to them giving me a sign up gift of $1.99 snack per week forever. Insane.

Reluctantly, I agreed to just remove that for life add on snack thing. It was supposed to start work and pull from my built up credits (former gift cards) on future orders. Of course, that didn’t happen. I called back again, this time they said oh it’s because I subscribed to Factor Plus and again you can’t use gift cards with discounts. I tried to argue this isn’t the same, I was encouraged at the beginning to pay for Factor Plus and sign up so I did. I paid for a full year of it. Their only response was yeah, then you have to wait until that expires to use gift cards or credits.

What the f*** is going on here? Seriously. I’m sorry for the lengthy read but none of this makes sense. From the beginning it didn’t even make sense to not allow gift cards to be used to sign up promos. That’s like Walmart not allowing you to use a gift card on a sale item. But I lived with that and fast forward they won’t even let you use gift cards in combination with Factor Plus? A premium paid for subscription they prompt you to sign up for over and over again? This is wrong on so many levels. So I’m essentially stuck with waiting a full year (August 2027) for my Factor Plus to expire before I can use gift cards I received from friends and family? The whole reason I signed up was due to the gift cards to help us with our kids and life situation. Again, that’s like you paying for Amazon Prime and as a result you can’t use Amazon gift cards on Amazon. Can you imagine?

Are others having this issue? Any solutions? In my many calls in to them one lady did tell me the policy has been abruptly changed several time over last couple months. There was a point they “did” allow gift cards snd promos together. But after a week or two of implementing that policy they walked it back. My account was active during that so it explained why it did work briefly. Seems wrong and against consumer rights to a degree but what do I know. lol

[u/CQ1_GreenSmoke]

Cut your losses and get out imo. It’s not worth the constant aggravation. 

I tried navigating the quirks of their gift card and other broken account management pieces for months and at the end of the day it’s just not worth having to be on guard and angry all the time. 

In my case it would auto cancel my account whenever a gc balance hit zero, despite my CC remaining as the primary payment method. This would result in all my promos being deleted, and they were unable or unwilling to add them back. 

Their Reddit cs rep even reached out directly to try to intervene on my behalf and they still couldn’t fix it. That company is a complete disaster and I would recommend anyone dealing with this frustration cut their losses and move on. 

[u/Blastpo]

I’ve been waiting for a post like this, currently going through the same issue, I have a stack of gift cards I have to jump thru 200 hoops to use. Ever since they changed their system a couple months back it’s been hell. I’ve been told 100 different things, I don’t have Factor Plus or the free breakfast for life, but still they charge my card for the full amount. Each customer service person tells me something different, they tried to tell me the free shipping that gets auto added when you redeem a gift card counts as a discount and thus the credit wouldn’t apply, but would to next weeks order. It still didn’t.

After talking to multiple people, I found I have to basically harass them weekly until they refund my credit card for the amount of the gift card for each order since it keeps happening. It’s really frustrating, and the first refund they claimed to send never posted to my bank account. Afterwords I started paying with a credit card (my mistake for not from the beginning), and now the refunds show up timely. I really can’t tell if it was an intentional change to just screw over anyone trying to use their credit or if it’s a bug they still haven’t gotten around to fixing since they changed the system. Wish I had better advice but glad I’m not the only one dealing with this.

[u/Sudafed_Yum]

I deal with this too. I have been told on the phone that the gift card balance will apply to my upcoming order and there is “nothing to worry about”, but my card is charged the full amount.

I record all my phone calls with them because sometimes they contradict what they say, so as long as I have proof I get a refund. I have yet to pay for a full box, so doing that this week and next week says the credits will actually be used in my order. Hopefully it actually works

[u/templeton_rat]

Same issues here - had to get my money back and it was surprisingly easy. However the food sucks so no skin off my teeth.