Coles Group & Myer gift cards causing holiday upset after system outages

Shoppers around the Gold Coast and Australia have been left furious after system outages kept them from using Christmas gift cards.

SHOPPERS around the Gold Coast have been left disappointed after being told their Coles Myer gift cards can’t be used in store due to an outage.

The cards, a popular Christmas gift this year, can be used in all stores affiliated with the Coles Group & Myer, including Coles, Kmart, Target and Officeworks.

But people who tried to use the cards have been told they haven’t been working over the past few days – including during yesterday’s busy Boxing Day sales.

Traffic around Harbourtown during the Boxing Day sales. Picture: Glenn Hampson

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One Gold Coast resident told the Bulletin a 12-year-old relative had been left devastated after the gift card she bought him for Christmas had been declined at Kmart due to the outage.

“They were quite forthcoming that they couldn’t do a thing, they don’t own the cards, the cards are owned by Coles and Myers’ gift card company,” she said.

“I looked them up, phoned them up, couldn’t get through, and I really, really did hang on.

“There’s many, many people out there wondering what’s happened with their gift cards. It’s obviously very big, the young lady at Kmart said it was nationwide.

“I find that absolutely scandalous, I mean if the only thing you do is gift cards at Christmas, get it right. It’s not like it’s one of their minor departments, this is what they do.”

Customers have been unable to use the gift cards at Kmart and a number of other major stores..

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Upper Coomera resident Julie Mitchell was given one of the gift cards as a Christmas present by her son, and said she only had difficulties the second time she tried to use it.

“(The staff member) asked if I had any other way of paying and I said no, because I wanted to see if there was any way to sort out the problem,” she said.

“If they’re going to promote these things as being as good as cash, they need something in place so when things go wrong you can use them.

“Imagine if you’d been given a gift card and you’ve got a baby, you’ve gone to Coles to buy milk formula or nappies and that’s all you had.

“Then what would you do? And that’s the problem with the electronic system we have, that when it goes down there’s nothing in place.”

Kmart Broadbeach staff explained the cards had been working again this morning, before cutting out around 10am.

According to them the system has been on and off for the rest of the day, and they were unable to confirm when it would be fully operational again.

A Coles spokesperson said the issue was the result of a technical fault.

“Our third-party gift card provider has been experiencing technical difficulties intermittently and we’ve worked with them to fix the issue as quickly as possible,” they said.

“We understand this is frustrating and we sincerely apologise to any customers who may have been affected.”