PSA: Check your Walgreens rebate gift card balance before you use it

I ended up not going to Walgreens on Friday to use the $5 off $20 coupon because my gift card hadn't been loaded with last month's rebates yet. I checked the email I had received from Walgreens stating that my rebate had been processed and was a little irritated. The email was sent on June 7 and said the rebate would be credited to my gift card within four days. Friday was June 13, so six days had actually passed. But, I figured, it was no big deal, since my need for the things I planned to buy wasn't urgent.

Fast forward to this morning. Today's circular has a pretty good cereal deal: 4 boxes of my family's favorite Kellogg's cereals for $10 plus a $2 Register Rewards coupon. I could take the $2 RR, apply it to two Lysol wipes, and still get the $1 monthly rebate on two. With my $1 off two Lysol coupon, I'd pay $10 for cereal and $3.98 for the Lysol and get $1.10 back next month - not bad, but not great either. What would make the deal really sweet would be using the $7.68 that should be on my gift card to pay for the cereal.

So I called the automated system and was more annoyed than before that the rebates still haven't been credited to my card. This time I pressed the buttons to talk to a person, and eventually learned that there's some kind of glitch in their computer system that's prevented them from crediting gift cards, so they're mailing me another gift card. The CSR could only vaguely tell me that they were sending the card out sometime during the next five days, so I probably won't get it in time to do the cereal deal.

What's especially strange about all this is that the online submission system to get the rebates was fantastic. All I had to do was register and input the information on my receipts. I promptly received an email telling me that I had bought qualifying items, even though I didn't complete the submission process in case I bought more qualifying items. I didn't, so a couple of days into June, I submitted the rebates, and within a few days, I had that email telling me my rebates had been processed and listing the items and applicable amounts. So everything up until the actual receipt of the rebate money was perfectly smooth and easy.

To sum up: Don't assume that your Walgreens rebate gift card has been credited with your monthly rebate in a timely manner. Always call to verify the balance before you go shopping!

Is anybody else having problems?