A few weeks ago, I mentioned I intended to sell a gift card on Plastic Jungle. I have been trying to do just that, but it hasn't been working out too well.

I have sold gift cards on Plastic Jungle in the past with no trouble whatsoever, but this time it is another story.

First, I put in a sell order. I received my e-mail confirmation, which stated I would receive my shipping label e-mail within 24 hours. I never received it. After 2 days, I e-mailed customer service. Eventually, I was told that my order had been cancelled because it had orginated too far from my home zip code. I submitted the order from my work computer. I live and work in the same town. Glitches happen sometimes, so I take this with good humor.

I submit a second sell order. This time, I do receive my shipping label e-mail and promptly mail my gift card to Plastic Jungle. A week passes, I go on-line to see if my check has been mailed. I discover that the status of my order is "cancelled"! I e-mail customer service, they eventually reply that Plastic Jungle was not able to verify the balance of my gift card. I am supplied with the gift card and PIN number.

I call the merchant's gift card information line, and I learn that the balance on my card is $25.00, exactly what I had claimed it was. I e-mail customer service. I receive a reply that my e-mail is being forwarded to another department.

A few days go by, and I receive another e-mail. They are sorry for the inconvenience and they ask me to submit a new sell order. I think to myself, I will do that, then reply to the e-mail with my new order confirmation number. Well, I attempt to submit a new sell order but I receive an error message that the gift card already exists in their system. I e-mail customer service again.

This is the reply I received this afternoon:

Thank you for contacting Plastic Jungle.

We would like to inform you that your card for the order # PJ200210142 has been freed from the system. However we found that the card balance is less than $25.00.

We request you to check the balance again because if the balance is less than $25.00 we will not be able to accept it.

We apologize for the inconvenience caused to you.

I called the merchant's gift card information number again, and again verified that my gift card balance is $25.00. Right at that moment, I became very disgruntled. They obviously still have not bothered to verify my gift card balance!

I sent them an e-mail summarizing my experience and my frustration. If they don't just send me my check, I am going to contact the merchant, have the gift card replaced, and sell it to another gift card broker.