Posted by I want to put out a warning about the trouble we had trying to use an Arby’s gift card. The gift card was for $50 and was obtained from an online casino. I have cashed out many gift cards, but this was the first one for Arby’s. With your online casino winnings, you select a gift card from a list of dozens, which are offered by a company called PrizeOut. The best ones to get have an extra bonus percentage. The easiest ones to use are those from businesses that let you order online. Unfortunately, Arby’s does not let you use gift cards on their app. You have to present the gift card in person at one of their stores.
Gift cards are emailed to you, so for Arby’s, we printed the gift card out on a sheet of paper. On our first attempt to use the gift card, the girl that took our order was unsure about how to enter it into the system. Luckly, an assistant manager came over and was able to apply it to our order. We kept the receipt because the order only used half of the amount on the card. Arby’s uses a modern Point of Sale (POS) system centered on NCR Aloha Quick Service software and PAR Brink hardware. Since the gift card doesn’t have a magnetic strip, the QR code needs to be scanned. If that doesn’t work the number must be manually entered.
On the second visit, the girl behind the counter had the same problem. This time a store manager was present and came over to assist. He first tried to scan the QR code, but that did not work. He then tried to enter the number manually, but that didn’t work either. He then told us that the gift card was either invalid or had a zero balance. I tried to find a way to look up the balance using my cell phone, but it kept taking me to the Arby’s app, which doesn’t accept gift cards. We decided to pay for our order with a debit card. Later, when I got home, I was able to verify the gift card balance on the Arby’s website from my home computer.
The manager either did not know how to enter a gift card or didn’t want to accept a gift card that was on a sheet of paper. The process is fairly simple from what I found online:
- Ring Up Order: Enter all items into the guest check as usual.
- Access Payment Screen: Tap the Pay or Tenders button at the bottom of the screen.
- Select Gift Card Tender: Choose the button labeled Gift Card.
- Enter Card Information:
- Swipe: Slide the physical card through the Magnetic Stripe Reader (MSR) on the terminal.
- Scan: If it is an eGift card, use the barcode scanner or POS camera to scan the QR code from the customer’s mobile device.
- Manual Entry: If the card is unreadable, tap Manual Entry and type the 16-digit card number using the on-screen keypad.
- Confirm Amount: The system will display the available balance. Confirm the amount to be applied to the current check and tap OK or Submit.
- Close Check: Once the balance is paid, close the transaction. If a balance remains, the POS will prompt for an additional payment method.
Note: A manual entry may require a manager’s swipe or security code. This could be part of the problem, as the system may refuse to allow a gift card number to be entered without a manager’s security code. The manager insisted that the number was invalid, even after we showed him the receipt from our last visit at that same store from two weeks ago. That didn’t make a difference. He made us feel like we were trying pass a fake gift card or something. If we decided to try again, it won’t be at the same Arby’s, and I will take a printout of the instructions on how to enter a gift card, so they can become familiar with the process.