The Titanium Plus Prepaid Visa from Money Mart was recently recommended to me. This post is about my experiences with Money Mart and the Titanium Plus Visa card and the frustrations I faced dealing with Money Mart and their Customer Service department.
The card was easy to get and is easy to load. A trip to my local Money Mart, answer a few security questions, give them some cash, and viola! A card is issued.
Several purchases were made with the card. Then I tried to make a purchase and received a notification that there were insufficient funds. One would think that the remedy for this would be to go back to the local Money Mart store and top up the card. I was wrong.
I did make a trip back to Money Mart where I gave them $75.00 to cover a purchase of $53.00. Back at the computer I was again told there were insufficient funds. I log into my Titanium Plus account and find there are two pending authorizations or holds on the card for the amount I wanted to charge and still not enough money to complete the transaction. This is where the nightmare begins.
The image below is a screen shot of Money Mart Policy as taken directly from the Titanium Plus web site. It clearly states that authorization removals under $100 can be removed over the phone.
I call the toll-free number on the back of my Titanium Plus card and spend over 30 minutes on hold. Finally I get to speak with a woman I will call Laura. Laura tells me that she is not able to remove authorizations over the phone and that I must have the merchant fax Money Mart a release form. She offers to e-mail me a release form to forward to the merchant. I accept. Laura is the type of person who is all yap and no listen. It took me nearly ten minutes to sort out with her what exactly my concern was.
In frustration, I ask to speak with a supervisor. After more time on hold, I am put in contact with Jennie. Jennie tells me that she is unable to help me beyond the little that Laura has already done. She does provide me a tip in that one of my options is to contact the Better Business Bureau and confirms that Policy as outlined on the web is different than what Customer Service can really do for me.
Thanks to spending over 30 frustrating minutes on hold and another twenty minutes with two people who are unable to to resolve my problem quickly, I have to wait another day. The merchant is now closed.
The next day I talk with the merchant who is very helpful. The fellow I spoke with is fine with me sending him the release form, filling it out, and faxing it to Money Mart. He does this and I wait, checking my Titanium Plus account online every half hour or so for funds to be released.
I receive a telephone call from a client and am out for a few hours. When I get back, I check my Titanium Plus account and funds still have not been released. I call Customer Service and spend another 40 minutes on hold. Finally I am able to speak with Matt. He tells me that the fax was received but is missing the Merchant ID number. The merchant is now closed so this again will have to wait one more day.
[This section will be updated as events unfold.]
Money Mart consistently over promises and under delivers. Customer Service does not understand the urgency of helping clients and/or is understaffed. Later I discover that I am being billed $1.50 for each call I make to Customer Service. This only adds to my frustration.
Over all, Customer Service have been extremely frustrating to deal with and I do not recommend doing business with Money Mart or using their Titanium Plus Visa. I have applied for a BMO Prepaid Travel Mastercard. Once I have had the BMO card for a while and am satisfied, I will be canceling the Money Mart card.
I welcome comments, especially if you have experience with Money Mart and their Titanium Plus Visa.
Gary,
Sorry to hear about the runaround.I don’t remember actually recommending the visa.I just told you what I use.I had the same problem with Mastercard.Money Just disappeared off my card and I have no idea where it went.Unlike you,I don’t have the time or inclination to find out what happened to it.It’s just gone.If you ever get any satisfaction,I’d like to know how you got it.Ifigured out a long time ago there is no customer service at Moneymart.The arrangement is that there is no connection between visa/mastercard & moneymart other than an outlet for the card and a place to reload the card.This is how visa/mastercard rapes peoples wallet and does not have to answer to anyone.Only a wealthy individual who does not need such a card would have the resources and time to deal with what I consider criminal behavior with the victim card holders.The hold for pre-authorization is bogus and then they are hidden away and never heave to deal with card holders.Except to charge you with their fees.In order to charge you with the fees they must first create a problem so they can charge you with a “legitimate”fee.Ain’t it wonderful?
You are correct. I picked up the card at your suggestion, not recommendation. My error with the wording.
I will keep you (and everyone else) posted with regard to what happens. As of a few minutes ago, Money Mart still have not released the authorization even though they have been faxed the appropriate information.
A prepaid card from BMO is on it’s way to me. Once I have had some experience with it, I will write a review.
Also I will be doing an article on Best Practices and prepaid cards.
that titanium visa is a rip off they are hodling money from me for 15 days they are theived
i asked to have a manager call me and this is what i got
Response
Date 10/11/2011 7:59:46 AM
Subject RE Card Transactions
Message Dear Simon Duval,
Thank you for contacting Customer Service. Unfortunately we cannot offer to provide you a call back due to our high number of inbound calls we receive. We would suggest calling in the early morning when waits time are usually much less than those during our peak times. If you have time to spare and the matter is not urgent you can use this message center to ask your questions free of charge. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience.
If you have any other questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact us again.
Thank you,
Alicia
Nextwave Ti+ Visa
http://www.mytitanium.ca
Customer Service: 888-252-9535
It seems like you are discribing my own experience with this so-calledd visa card. I travelled to US, and stayed at two different hotels. They both put a hold of a certain amont on my titanium card. When I checked out of each hotel, a different charge was made against my card, and therefore the amount that was put on hold remain unavailable to me. I called the toll free # and spoke to an assistant who suggested that I should call the marchant to email or fax a release letter for funds that are legally mine. Otherwise the fund would remain on hold for 46 days. What an injustice. I got tired of the phoning and emailing around, and will cancel the card and go for a BMO mastercard.
I just received my permanent Money Mart Titanium+ card. It *only* took them 5½ weeks to send me the replacement for the temporary one they issued in-store. Apparently, they’ve been busy changing all their customers over from Mastercard to Visa (I’m sure a lot of people have called them at $1.50 a pop to hear that – I found out for free in-store).
Only time will tell if it’s the right card for me – I want to use it for online purchases only, as I don’t wish to use a regular non-prepaid card in case the card number is compromised.
Have to say though, had I read of your sort of experiences last month, I would probably have not got a card from them.
My card is a VISA. The regular card with my name on it arrived fairly quickly.
The card works fine with my PayPal account.
If the card is rejected for an Internet purchase and you are in Canada, check the postal code. If you have a space in the middle, take it out. (The proper way to write a Canadian postal code is three characters, a space, three characters. Seems some sites have a problem with this with the Titanium+ VISA.)
If the purchase is rejected and still shows as a preauthorization when you log in to the mytitanium.ca web site, it can be a bugger to get the funds released in a timely manner. I wasted a few calls before realizing I was also being charged for phone support.
I am still waiting for my BMO card.
I have had a bmo prepaid mastercard for about a year now. I have had no problems other than once I forgot my pin, customer service was happy to reset it immediately after a few personal verification questions. Unlike the “shady” cards issued by MoneyMart, the bmo prepaid card is fully backed by bmo, it has their name on it. Its just a prepaid version of their normal mastercard.
Works fine online or in person. There is a 1.50 charge for atm withdrawls but other than that there was a very small one time activation charge. I recieved it within the week and funds are loaded promptly from my td bank account to online bill pay for prepaid mastercard… no fuss, takes about 3 days for the f unds to load on the card, but would be faster from a bmo acct, immediate actually… I just don’t bank with bmo
I would highly recommend this as a solid prepaid card.
TD will not let me pay money to my BMO pre-paid card. This bites but not BMO’s fault. It is TD that is being stupid. I ended up getting an account with BMO.
Horrible Service. I’ve been a long time customerof theirs. Then just the other day I put in $50 and to discouver that my balance 2 days later was at 17.50 opposed to the 47.50 that I signed off on. Waiting for customer service on the phone really boiled my blood and their background music reminded me that I was getting played around. Taking my losses and my account to BMO.
This company sucks. Would not recommend to anyone and I do share the frustrations with you all.
HI, my experience so far has been less than pleasurable as well. I picked up a TitaniumPlus Visa dread-it card fairly easily and added money to it effortlessly (imagine that).
I used the card a few times and then it just sat waiting in my wallet for about 6 months. When I went to check my balance online I had forgotten my username. I did remember my password so I tried logging in hoping that I would be asked for a reset to my username. No such luck. Only my password. So I reset my password. That of course, didn’t work either. Why don’t they have an option to have the username AND/OR password reset like most financial institutions do?
The most annoying part is waiting to talk to someone. After 30 minutes I gave up. I tried on another day and it was the same thing. I didn’t see “Long Wait Times For Callers!” on their webpage banners. I had to go to a MoneyMart in person to get my balance. Apparently my time is not worth much to them but my money is.
Hi there. I am agreement with all these statements. I have disputed $16 that went missing from my account. I even have a recieipt to be on their $15 monthly planbu that was never delivered for their high per usage fee. This company is a joke and they should be held liable with the government here in Ontario. I will be filing a complaint to the Ministry of Consumer of Affairs on this one.
I have verified that Money Mart is going against the Ontario Consumer Protect act.
You can complain here and have all your charges reversed as Money Mart’s fees exceeds what the Act allows.
http://www.sse.gov.on.ca/mcs/en/Pages/Gift_Card_FAQ.aspx
http://www.sse.gov.on.ca/mcs/en/Pages/Complaint_Steps_to_File.aspx
My advise is try to make contact once with Money Mart. If you are still been given the runaround, use the links above to involve the Ontario Ministry of Affairs.
I especially like this :
What is the penalty for violating the law?
The ministry will work with businesses to resolve problems. However, if convicted of breaking the law, individuals can be fined up to $50,000 and/or jailed for up to two years. Corporations can be fined up to $250,000.
That is all. I hope it helps.
i too have a visa repaid from money mart and its so frustrating-onece i needed a refund from the merchant and it was a long process the lady spent all day dealing with moneymart so i could get my money back on my card.it then took a couple more days after that.then when i placed an order from amazon at christmas they sent me an email on feb. 23rd saying i had a credit comey back to my card of $6.93 by mid march i recived no funds back on my card ,so i contacted amazon who said my refund was completed and i should have the money on my card so i contacted visa prepaid and still they have not responded back.-they charge a $7.50 monthly fee .the first week of march they took $3.60 of my card for a partial payment for my monthly fee since i did not have enough.i loaded my card a few days later and they took $7.50 for the monthly fee therefore owing me back the $3.60-i emailed them again 3 days ago and still no response.they can have the $6.93 and the $3.90-its not worth the efort to get it back-i just have to be carefull not to spend a large amount incase i need a refund.they are not getting any more of my money.not a cent
I have a beaf with Titanium Plus Visa’s phone system. Thanks to the Criminals that caused the Global Economic THEFT, I was forced to close my 20 year old business in Oct. 2009. As such, I no longer required my business website and later lost control over the Domain name I held since Jan. 1990 (but that’s another frustrating story of almost criminal behavior).
Anyway, since I don’t have the website or control over the domain, the Primary Email Address associated with my Tit Plus Visa web account is no longer relevant and I failed to change it while I could still receive a confirmation email at that address in order to change the primary email address.
I have been trying to contact Tit Plus ever since with hopes of quickly resolving the email address issue so I can log in to there website to see my account.
Money Mart has been absolutely useless and has the same phone number as on the back of the card.
I have spent HOURS on Hold as others have explained, which really pisses me off considering it isn’t Credit they provide. They simply Hold OUR MONEY and charge us $1.50 per transaction PLUS $8.00 per month when the card is used. Pretty Huge Profits considering they take ZERO RISK.
Anyway, now my home phone’s battery lasts only 10 mins before the phone hangs up. Long before ever reaching an agent at Tit Plus. Alternately, Tit Plus’s phone system has hung up on my more than once, after sitting on hold forever. That in itself makes me violent.
So after almost 2 years of trying to phone these phuks, I finally got hold of an agent this morning after a 8 minute hold (phone already beaping at me, threatening to hang up with battery failure). And guess what !!!??? Their Friggin’ Computer System is DOWN and they don’t know how long it will be before it is up again. BRILLIANT.
So I DEMANDED they phone Me back .. TODAY.. if/whenever their system is back up again.
Now the only problem (so far) is that I am reluctant to pick up the phone when it is an 800 number of any kind or unknown caller .. because of all the creditors that are chasing me since I closed my business. Because you know as well as I do…. WE don’t get a BAILOUT !!
Considering the fees charged for Tit Plus to Hold OUR MONEY, there should be INSTANT HUMAN CONTACT (max. 2 min. hold). We should be Top Rated Customers because they gain Interested for every day our money is in their accounts.
So anyway, I know how others feel with the complaints written here so far. It is a giant frustration.
However, I have learned there are Grocery Stores that have better pre-paid cards .. that my bank recognize, through which I can add money to the card online.
I might consider the BMO option I have read about here.
Thanks for the opportunity to vent my frustrations here.
PS> If you are thinking of obtaining a Money Mart Tit Plus Visa …. DON’T DO IT ! You will hate yourself forever … and probably have your money Stolen by them. And they’ll get away with it and they know it. Phuk’n Theives.
Just an update to my post from earlier today.
As you can imagine, no one has called me back “as promised”.
And again I have attempted to contact a human to no avail with my phone dying on me 3 times today.
I even tried calling a Customer Service at Visa (the real Visa) and got nothing but a bullshit answering service/computer and radio music until my phone died yet again.
At this point, I think my best move is to contact My Lawyer, My MPP and MP, My Ombudsman AND the Toronto Star to write a damning article against Visa in general. After all, it is all one big company.
They are amazingly incompetant and just blatant criminals … every last one of them.
I’ll update this thread as soon as I have made the above mentioned contacts .. and believe me I will. I’m good a follow-ups of the sort.
Well, I hate to admit it, but I actually got through to a human before my phone died today.
The agent recommended the best time for calling is around 4am PST but was quick to admit they realize there are issues with their phone system. Furthermore, she iterated that Visa is currently trying to resolve the wait time issues by hiring more staff.
Of course, all this remains to be seen.
Just the same, it has taken almost 2 years for me to talk to a human there and resolve my primary email issues.
I also took the time to explain (without providing any identifying information) that there are many people online that are not happy with the service from Tit Plus Visa for the reasons mentioned in this thread (and others). I included my beaf that since they are using our money and taking zero risk, they should be readily available to us.
Anyway, I am happy that my current issues are now resolved, but I will be looking for an alternative before my Visa runs out of money.
Thanks for the opportunity to gripe here. It has been interesting to hear about other’s issues that are similar to my own.
Best of luck to everyone.
hi im from quebec canada i have a titanium money mart card, in november i had the same problem added money to go on vacation in philippines, and wasnt able to pull out any money at all, stuck in a country six housand miles away with no funds, when i complained to titanium visa they change my card for new one, took them over five weeks before recieving my new card, then get my new card things were well in canada, so i reloaded my card to go back to philippines and i was told that everything will be okay, by the super visor at money mart titanium visa, and here i am again stuck in the country with no funds because my card is telling me insufficient funds again. tnx to money mart titanium visa for the second time my vacation here in philippines was spoiled because of the credit card that doesnt work so the best thing to do is bring cash with u… money mart can kiss my white ass im going to cancel this card as soon as i get home and pull my money out of it.
Great to see that the issue has been solved. Just wanted to say that I used to work at Money Mart (not anymore, and I’m not trying to defend them), and though it is true that their phone customer service has always been lousy, their prepaid cards are entirely under Visa’s responsibility. Money Mart is only a seller of Visa cards, and their CSR’s are honest when they tell you that they can’t solve the issue themselves… The lack of in-store support from Visa has been unbelievable, it’s as if they had just decided to launch this buggy new product in MMart stores and ran away with the money… Money Mart actually doesn’t make much profit from it, in comparison with their other services. It’s more of a pain than anything else for their employees, who have to face pissed customers without even being able to help them. Even with the private Visa phone numbers – the ones that only MMart can use for in-store support – we weren’t able ourselves to reach anyone!! Shame on Visa. And be nice to CSR’s, because they’re just as angry as you are. Just my 2 cents 🙂
Corinne: I very much appreciate your feedback.
Prepaid or otherwise, I have been much happier over all with Mastercard than Visa.
Had no priblems with earlier MC version. Visa’s customer service sucks. My login is usually rejected, can only be reset by phone call, which may take an hour.
I’m going to try to withdraw the few dollars remaining in the account, then drop it. I’ll talk to BMO about a prepaid for Internet purchases.
Thanks for info, guys!
I see you guys have had terrible experiences at the local money marts. I believe the prepaid cards are very useful, we also have frustrations like the ones mentioned above with companies with AMEX, BMO, Scotia, Mastercard etc etc. Point being if you happen to being served by the right customer service reps, chances are your transitions to all the above mentioned companies will be more pleasant. I found one such Money Mart at the Pender Street, Vancouver.
Prepaid cards keep you debt free and with the power of Visa being accepted worldwide, my experience with this particular card has been positive.
My experiences dealing with the local Money Mart stores have been fine. It is the card that I had problems with.
CANCEL YOUR CARDS. THESE PEOPLE ARE RETARDED. CAPITAL ONE WILL GIVE YOU A CREDIT CARD. $52 IS WORTH NOT HAVING TO WAIT ON HOLD FOR 20 MINUTES. TIME IS MONEY AND THESE PEOPLE DON’T UNDERSTAND THAT. ALSO HAD THEM DECLINE MY PURCHASES WHEN I HAD MONEY AND THEN CHARGE ME SEVERAL CUSTOMER SERVICE CALL CENTER FEES WHEN THE MERCHANT REPEATEDLY CALLED THEM TRYING TO SOLVE THE ISSUE. AVS WAS CORRECT, MONEYMART IN BC ARE SELECTIVE SCAMMERS WHO COUNT ON YOU NOT BEING UP FOR 20 MINUTES ON HOLD SO YOU JUST LET THEIR GOUGING SLIDE. CUT IT UP. CANCEL NOW.
I did not know that Capital One offered a pre-paid card. This is good news.
Im so f&*^%ing pissed off with MoneyMart AND Titanium that I can barely type this note. I have had too many headaches as a result of their ‘business/SCAM’.
BMO, here I come Tues. bright and early…
I have been with BMO for over a year and a half and am very happy. The only glitch I’ve encountered is I cannot pay the card from my TD account. I ended up opening a small BMO account to get around this. No biggy, all things considered.
you were lucky. i can’t get it to work the first time. it was declined even after i phoned moneymart and got the authourization no. for the purchase, the exact amount etc. still declined.i’m now wondering, since i haven’t used it, if i can get my money back. alfredkub
i cannot get a hold of anyboty to up date my new card please respond thanks
I am afraid this site is not in any way affiliated with Money Mart.
Your best choice is probably to visit a Money Mart location in person.
There should be a phone number on the back of the card. However, Money Mart charges you a small fee every time you call them.
Sorry I can’t help you more than that.
I’ve had my Titanium+ VISA for just over a week and have already dealt with a number of headaches. First and foremost, I tried to reset my password as I had an existing account from when I used the Titanium MasterCard back in 2007. After going through the motions, I did NOT receive an e-mail containing my temporary reset password. I tried this about 5 or 6 times over the past week to no avail. Throughout the week, I even tried contacting customer service to rectify the issue. Each time I’d call, I’d be on hold for at least 30 minutes at a time to the point where I’d just hang up. I even questioned whether anyone was even manning the phones. Anyway, tonight I tried again…..waiting on hold for at least a half an hour. They manually reset the password, therefore that issue was resolved.
NOW, the day I got the card I placed 8 orders for Christmas presents. 6 from Amazon and 2 from eBay. 7 out of the 8 orders went through from day 1. The 8th was to ship today. I get an email from Amazon at about 3pm stating that the final order HAD been shipped. They even provided a USPS tracking number. 3 hours later I get an email from Titanium customer service which stated that Amazon tried to authorize the purchase and failed due to insufficient funds.
Last Sunday, I put $250 on the card. Tonight I added up all over the orders, service fees……and that wonderful little surprising $1.50 charge for each customer service call. Added up, everything came up to just under $230. My 8th Amazon order is listed under Authorization Details. What I want to know is……….where’s my $20???? Amazon says the order went through yet Titanium states that it did not. The order (which was $17.33 should’ve gone through without a hitch. Yet $20 is now missing and they state my funds are inadequate to complete the authorization.
For now, I’ll just sit on it and see what happens with the order. Why would Amazon say it was shipped and even provide a tracking number if the transaction was indeed incomplete? And if the order DID NOT go through……..where did my $20 go??? I’m very quickly starting to remember why I stopped using Titanium in the first place……
I’ve had my pre paid card for a long time now. I’ve only used it through paypal for online purchases. And I’ve never once had a problem with it. 🙂 Sorry to hear all the other problems in this thread.
Hello,
I signed up for the Titanium Visa card last week Saturday Oct 15, 2011. I paid $20 for the card. Reviewing their contract, it said I will be charged $15 every month even if the card is not being used however, you can save up to $10, 000.00 (Dumbest thing I have ever heard). Realizing quickly that these ppl are straight up thieves I went back the following Saturday to withdraw my cash only to find out these ppl already took the $15 monthly charge in less than one freaking week. Man I was soo mad,, i called them to give a proper lecture of some mixed up German language but they had me on hold too long i hung up. I DO NOT recommend this card AT ALL. My main reason for taking the card was i actually thought it would be a smart thing to have since i change my cheques there, so i could just deposit the money there without having to walk out with live cash. BIG MISTAKE. Cost me $36.50 for nothing.
hello
Yes i have the same thing and went to go put mony on the card and went to used it it was declined or inceffient funds and i go back to mony mart tha told me the mony is in there an try to use it in store and i cannot used it and even i went online still nothing and i will not used there card ever again so i am going back to bmo there more better and understanding just chokes me felt like a fool wen the card does not werk 4u:{
holy cos i just got my titanium card today…all the above reports are scaring me, i am travelling to a few countries soon, hope i dont have trouble with this card
yeah the visa card is carp…i went throughthe same madness today,with them holding up my payments and telling me to fax the merchant the release form,for them to cance the pending funds…unfotunately too for me the merchant was the even more nutty magic jack company….magic jack is always up and ready to sell but always invisible to provide customer service for their crappy products….need i say that it seems hopless?
I am glad I found this blog. I am going to apply for a BMO prepaid MC right away then cancel my Titanium Visa card!!
I too needed a CREDIT to my visa card for $40.00 which was returned to me from a client I buy from on a regular basis.
Days went by and still no credit on my card so I call them up (they also have a $1.50 fee every time you call them I found out) and they said that the company did not fill out the proper paper work and FAX it in!
Wow! So I had to call the company and explain this! I sent them the form via email and they complied.
What a bunch of rigamarole! For MY money too!
Titanium Visa basically HOLDS ON TO OUR MONEY for 15 days!! What a farce!
And they charge us $7.50 a month for this crap? Plus other outrageous fee’s and horrible service. (on hold forever)
I am DONE with Titanium Visa as soon as I get my BMO mastercard!
Deb
I have also read the horror stories from people who depended on this card while travelling and in foreign Countries only to have their money frozen or not go through.
What a nightmare!
Market Place needs to do a show on these crooks.
Deb
I recently discovered that someone got a hold of my credit card number over the internet and scammed money off of my card. I have been in to visit a money mart, who managed to put me through to their direct line, and was made aware that about 400 $ worth in payments were being made from across the country on my card. I canceled my card, and left the next day on vacation. Good thing it was discovered before loading money for my vacation and leaving. However when i went in to the money mart, they ushered me out of the store before any resolution was able to be made, and now that I have returned I am attempting to get through to the customer service department. So far I have been on hold for 51 minutes.
Clearly they are not adept at dealing with the volume of customers that their service provides for. I think i will go back to the store and use their direct line.
Thanks for the info, i was starting to get nervous but to all the bloggers ive made up my mind &cashing out.
I know that in T.O you can get pre-paid visa, & after a couple of years it will work as a regular card at any T.D. bank if you are a customer. Now i live in surrey B.C. & royal bank doesn’t honer pre-paid’s, but i won’t
give up. I’ll keep all posted on challenge’s on obtaining a proper pre-paid visa/mastercard
I did not know about the TD card when I got my BMO card. Most of my banking is with TD and they have been good.
Royal Bank in my opinion are the most dishonest in the banking industry. After a certain incident involving a regular credit card I refuse to deal with them.
Titanium Mastercard is a rip off 130.00 dollars disappeared from my account. I tried talking to a supervisor and she actually pretended not to hear me so I thought maybe she really couldn’t even though the connection was clear anyways i tried calling back now everytime I enter my card I get to the point where I’m about to be transferred to a live agent and it hangs up on me over and over again lol wow who the hells runs this fall down company smh is it actually MC.!! BS