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Anyone ever had to replace their gold card?

Magyar_Republic

Magyar_Republic

Self-requested Deactivation
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Aberdeen, WA
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Edward Magyar Republic
I made a stupid mistake yesterday and put my wallet on my desk nearby my iPhone. The phone nuked every single magnetic device in the wallet, including my gold card.

Ive put in a request with support, but with support's quality of service being dubious on the best days Im curious if anyone else has gone through something similar, and what to expect.

Cheers,

-MR
 
I thought I had to replace mine once so sent a support case - they said something along the lines of - send it to us and if it's broken we'll pay to replace it and pay for your postage. Someething like that. But basically, you won't get a new one for like 2 weeks.
 
You probaly need to purchase a new one.

But for reference .. how can your phone nuke your card ? Mine is near X-rays, Phones, Radio antennes and nothing happened..
 
ranpha said:
You probaly need to purchase a new one.

But for reference .. how can your phone nuke your card ? Mine is near X-rays, Phones, Radio antennes and nothing happened..
Click to expand...
Think it can happen.. I have no real proof of this but I once bought a memory stick and happened to put it to same pocket as my cell phone. Memory sticks really do not break so often, and even more rarely are bad after factory quality check (they do have one, don't they?), this was when I put it to my pc.
 
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The Gold Card does not have a magnetic strip. Any magnet strong enough to screw up your gold card would likely also suck the iron out of your blood, so you've got bigger problems. Is your phone out of order too? It should be, because it is the cause of the gold card failure, the sim card in the phone should also be dead (not to mention anything you had stored in it).

Are you absolutely certain the gold card is broken and not just the reader which is too dirty or the batteries have died?
 
Magyar_Republic said:
my iPhone nuked every single magnetic device in the wallet, including my gold card.
Click to expand...

I kew it, iPhones are evil!

[on topic]

What happens? Do you get an error or you just don't get anything?

In the last case you might want to try bending the downside of the card backwards. (if you know what i mean)
I have that problem every now and then, this solves it. (I guess the contacts points are bended a bit:dunno:)
 
Yes happened to me before (and am soon to be on my 4th card reader). It takes a while to get a replacement, but so far always got it within 2 weeks.
 
SnowLeopard said:
The Gold Card does not have a magnetic strip. Any magnet strong enough to screw up your gold card would likely also suck the iron out of your blood, so you've got bigger problems. Is your phone out of order too? It should be, because it is the cause of the gold card failure, the sim card in the phone should also be dead (not to mention anything you had stored in it).

Are you absolutely certain the gold card is broken and not just the reader which is too dirty or the batteries have died?
Click to expand...

Phone is fine. I hear alot about this type of thing not being possible, but I've had an iPhone first generation do this when I stuck the phone in my inside jacket pocket along with my wallet (no gold card that time), and now an iPhone 4 do the exact same thing.

Im not 100% sure the gold card is broken as I dont exactly have a 2nd gold card to test nor do my neighbors or any of my friends play EU with enough passion to actually have a gold card -- my gf has at most deposited $60 over the last year and a half!

Given that the reader isnt 2 years old yet, and I am getting a consistent error 72 on it no matter what type of device I put in, whether its a gold card, credit card, drivers license, or popsicle stick, I am reasonably sure its the Gold Card.
 
Not here...

Replaced the batteries in the reader a few times and cleaned it up etc.

But I know of people that have had their GC replaced by MA, and had their account "un gold carded" for the couple of weeks that it took for the new one to arrive etc. But they do tend to want proof of who you are etc before issuing another.
 
safara said:
Not here...

Replaced the batteries in the reader a few times and cleaned it up etc.

But I know of people that have had their GC replaced by MA, and had their account "un gold carded" for the couple of weeks that it took for the new one to arrive etc. But they do tend to want proof of who you are etc before issuing another.
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No problem. I sent in a full color scan of my Drivers License as well as my passport to Support last night. I wonder if it is possible to remove the gold card association for a few weeks. Would be nice.

Edit: If its as Norbert suggests and is the reader -- do you happen to remember what type of batteries the unit used? Im sure Im technically capable enough to replace a battery.
 
Try all this first before going through the hassle of trying to deal with MA to get a replacement...

Use the red eraser tip from a standard #2 lead pencil to clean the gold contact on the card, and/or get a small screwdriver and open up the reader and clean the contacts inside the reader, and/or replace the battery if needed.

I'm still using the same card and reader from 2005, granted, I haven't used it very much since 2006 :laugh: but those have resolved the problems I have had in the past.
 
...........................................................
 
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Yup, got the same error a while back, got myself a list of codes using someone elses reader, and they asked me to send it back so they could check it and replace it if it was faulty. It is probably batteries, or that the connections don't meet properly to the card, since initially on the new reader that I was sent, I still got the message sometimes unless I gave it a cheeky wiggle.

GL with it.
 
Ahhh the Error 72

That is a reader issue. I take mine apart and gently clean up the contacts, and maybe bend them a bit out a bit.

Bending the card down a bit when inserting it can help as well.

As with all things like this, be careful how heavy handed you are.

I seem to resurrect my reader every year or so.

If you do get a number and get in game, then it would not be a bad idea to order another reader from the TT as a backup.

hmm, is the reader still in the TT? Not looked for ages....
 
Mac said:
and/or get a small screwdriver and open up the reader and clean the contacts inside the reader, and/or replace the battery if needed.
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Ohh tried that and it worked! (always was kinda afraid i would do more harm then good, seems it was easier then i thought :))
 
Harmony. said:
Ohh tried that and it worked! (always was kinda afraid i would do more harm then good, seems it was easier then i thought :))
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Will give these a shot as well. Cant hurt.
 
Norbert said:
Housemate Stilton got same error 72 and had to get replacement reader.

He just said try blowing into card reader and wiggling card, that helped short while till batteries in reader totally went.

I'll ask him to post Magyar, he's Nooba on forum.
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I hate getting that dreaded error. I am on reader 3 and only used the gold card system since early 2009. I guess I need to open up one of my 3 readers but seriously why should something so helpful be so darn fragile. In some was I rather not be bothered with the gold card, cause the prospect of having to jump through a hoop for a replacement doesn't seem appealing to me. I have also read of 2 cases of supposedly hackers defeating gold cards but I don't know if that was just Huey.
 
Magyar_Republic said:
I made a stupid mistake yesterday and put my wallet on my desk nearby my iPhone. The phone nuked every single magnetic device in the wallet, including my gold card.
Click to expand...

No.. it didn't. Goldcards aren't even a magnet strip, but if they were, a phone would not erase it.
 
I don't remember exactly when I got my gold card... over 3 years for sure, probably 4 years ago.
Still on my first reader and batteries. The gold card has lost some of the gold-plating and lines have appeared where the reader contacts scratch over all the time.
I get Error 72 everytime I use my card nowadays... I just give it the old in-out-in-out a few times and it ends up working.
 
I got that error last fall sometime. Started out i could just pull the card in and out a couple times and it would work. Then it wouldnt work at all.

I took it appart thinking to replace the batteries, but just cleaned all the contacts and put it back together and its worked fine ever since. (till I lost it :O) fortunately my wife had just gotten her GC, so I've been using her reader, I really should get a second reader i guess, procrastinating is a bad habit.

narfi
 
I put my goldcard and reader through a full cycle in the wash and occasionally get the error 72 thing. Its a reader error. My bf gets it too sometimes but it would work no problem with my reader, pre washing machine. :)
 
Centech said:
No.. it didn't. Goldcards aren't even a magnet strip, but if they were, a phone would not erase it.
Click to expand...

Ok that is barely helpful, and assumes way too much.

A phone can in fact erase magnetic strips, as is evidenced by the rest of my cards also not working.

"It is well known that magnets will wipe out information on credit card stripes," Sherry said. "However, it doesn't always happen after one exposure. It may take several exposures for the card to be deactivated, but it will happen eventually."

Read more: http://www.creditcards.com/credit-c...rd-mag-stripe-not-work-1457.php#ixzz1PNOvyHEQ
Compare credit cards here - CreditCards.com
Click to expand...

Now I'm not insisting this is the case with my gold card. I'm willing to try other solutions. But at least provide them. Simply posting a comment that is only half correct solves nothing.

I'll be investigating the solutions other posters have given. Thanks everyone.
 
my reader stopped working properly once, had to squeeze it to work, eventually replaced it, but doesnt sound like this is the case for you.
 
Replaced the batteries in the card.

No.

Cleaned the card contacts with rubbing alcohol.

No.

Either the gold card is nonfunctional or the gold card readers hardware has had a meltdown.
 
A really old thread. Apologize for that, but I've had my Gold Card and reader from 2005 and never even had to replace the batteries.
Is that unusual?

I've had "Error 72" a few times but that's all and it is working better now.
 
i have my gc for so long, dont even remeber when I ordered it..
never had problems (just an Error72 once in a while), just a few days ago reader didnt show anything.

friend told me to open it and clean contacts, maybe switch batteries (just by themselfes, not with new ones) - I did - it works fine again now
 
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