I was at my local wal-mart today and it look like they still have the free $50 gift card if you buy a 40gig PS3. Question if you return the PS3 will you have to return the gift card, if not return the PS3 and re-buy it with the gift card $350 out of pocket.

I was at my local wal-mart today and it look like they still have the free $50 gift card if you buy a 40gig PS3. Question if you return the PS3 will you have to return the gift card, if not return the PS3 and re-buy it with the gift card $350 out of pocket.

I'm so glad I stumbled across this post yesterday.

I had about $200 store credit at Walmart and my 360 got the RROD (again), so I picked up a PS3 at Walmart on Saturday the 8th. I swiped my gift card w/store credit and then my credit card and away I went. The salesmen never mentioned the $50 giftcard. I got home and threw away the old gift card thinking it was completely used.

After reading your post yesterday, I went home after work and looked at my receipt. Sure enough, the $50 gift card was listed as being activated. I drove to Walmart and went to customer service and explained my situation. They were understanding and had no problem issuing a new card, thinking I threw mine away. I got the new gift card with a balance of $36 dollars.

Why $36 dollars? Because apparently the gift card that was supposedly issued on Saturday had been used to make two purchases of $6.88 at 10:30 am and 2:30 pm yesterday. What costs $6.88? Most likely a pack of cigarettes. How was a card used that I thought I threw away? The customer service manager along with the head of security at Walmart both agreed with me that the person working the register must have swiped my gift card on Saturday. So they issued me a new card (of course) and were going to catch up on some security film watching to see what happened to "my original" gift card.

I can only imagine how many gift cards a clerk at Walmart could swipe on a busy holiday shopping weekend like last week. Especially where I live, we have a ton of Canadians who come down to do their shopping as well. And to think he thought he would get away with it (all it takes is a thorough look at your receipt). Here's to him hopefully getting fired and having charges filed against him by Walmart. End rant.