1800Flowers: How to apply 2 gift cards per order, and a big bug to watch out for

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1800Flowers 2 Gift Cards and a Big BugI had long been under the impression that 1800Flowers.com did not allow more than one gift card to be used per order.  Why?  Because when you click to enter a gift card, you see a message stating “Limit one Gift Card, Voucher, Fresh Rewards pass and/or Saving pass per order.

Seems clear enough.

Testing the waters

After you enter your gift card information, you should see something like this:

GiftCard/Voucher 987654321012345678 has been applied ($20.01 applied, remaining balance: $0.00)

But the text boxes (where you entered your gift card info) are still there:

1800Flowers Gift Card Text Boxes

One day I decided to put in another gift card number to see what would happen.  I typed it in and pressed “apply”.

To my surprise, the system accepted it!  The screen now read something like this:

GiftCard/Voucher 987654321012345678 has been applied ($20.01 applied, remaining balance: $0.00)

Remove

GiftCard/Voucher 123456789098765432 has been applied ($9.98 applied, remaining balance: $40.02)

Remove

Great!  The system accepted the second card!

How about 3 gift cards?  Nope.

When I entered a 3rd gift card into the system, 1800Flowers.com was extremely clear about the limit.  Below the gift card text box, it said: “You can apply up to 2 gift cards per order”.  Call 1-800-356-9377 to apply more gift cards to your order.

1800Flowers 2 gift cards per order

And, across the top of the screen a red bar appeared with similar words: “You can apply up to 2 gift cards per order. Call 1-800-356-9377 to apply more gift cards to your order.”

1800Flowers 2 gift cards per order

It’s a small inconvenience that you can’t do more than 2 online, but I actually find these messages comforting.  They prove that it is not an accident that the system allows 2 gift cards.  It is actually the initial message “Limit one Gift Card” that is wrong!

Why I care

The finding that 2 gift cards could be applied to an order online solved a big problem for me: what to do with the left over bits on my gift cards.  Thanks to the “Spend $50 Get $15” Amex Offers, I often buy $50 gift cards (after clicking through a cash back portal, of course).

Amex Offers Staples 1800Flowers

But, $30 orders are often the sweet spot in getting the most airline miles for your buck…

1800Flowers RR94 1750 SWA per Order

So, if we start with $50 gift cards and spend $30 per order, we’re left with orphaned $20 gift cards.  With the ability to apply two gift cards, though, we can now make full use of these gift cards.

For details about stacking deals like these, please see: 1800Flowers Extreme Stacking promo codes, portals, gift cards, and more.

A big bug!

In my experience, the system has a serious bug.  Rather than deducting value from your gift cards in the order in which you enter them or in the amounts actually displayed on the screen, the system apparently pulls as much value as it can out of the larger gift card first before turning to the smaller one.  Let me give an example…

I start with the following:

  • Gift Card 1 Value: $20
  • Gift Card 2 Value: $50
  • Purchase Total: $30

I want to use up the smaller gift card, so I enter it first.  Then, I enter the bigger gift card’s info.  The web page now shows the following:

  • GiftCard/Voucher 987654321012345678 has been applied ($20.00 applied, remaining balance: $0.00)
  • GiftCard/Voucher 123456789098765432 has been applied ($10.00 applied, remaining balance: $40.00)

That’s exactly what I wanted.  According to the web page, the smaller gift card is now empty, and the second one is down to $40.  I could be forgiven then for tossing out the smaller gift card since its value has been used up.  But, that would be a big mistake! 

As an aside, you should never throw away merchant gift cards because there may be a problem with an order that causes the vender to re-credit its value.  Yes, it has happened to me a number of times.

In my experience, despite the specific info given on the page, the system pulls as much value as it can from the larger gift card first.  So, in the example given above, the system would pull all $30 from the second gift card!

I would actually, then, have the following remaining:

  • Gift Card 1 Value: $20
  • Gift Card 2 Value: $20

Yeesh!

The way I handle this odd behavior is that I now keep all of my 1800Flowers gift card numbers in a spreadsheet, along with their dollar values.  After I use a gift card, I update its dollar value with the amount that I think it has.  I can then check the actual value later by starting a new order with a random expensive thing just so that I can enter in the gift card number to see how much the web page says it was able to remove from the card.  I then back out the order.

More details

For more about 1800Flowers, please see: 1800Flowers Extreme Stacking promo codes, portals, gift cards, and more.

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