To get it right out in the open, yes, this is a true story and yes, an actual Walmart store manager called me on my cell phone and it was even related to manufactured spending!
The saga of finding a working “Kate” 
I am one of the lucky ones whose Serve account did NOT get shutdown during the recent account closure. Â I haven’t been a huge manufactured spender, but I do have a bunch of gift cards that I got to take advantage of the recent NBA All-Star Game weekend.
The closest Walmart to me has a Moneycenter machine and it has worked for me pretty well. Â A few weeks ago though, when I got there, I saw
Sometimes it seems that half of the pictures in my Instagram feed are of Walmart ATMs.  Truly I lead a glamorous life…. 🙂 So I have been visiting my backup Walmart and the other day the machine froze on me, due to running out of receipt paper.  I walked away to check the clearance shelves for possible resells, and when I came back I found an actual Walmart employee fixing the machine!
Walmart employee proactively FIXING Kate!!!! #manufacturedspend A photo posted by Points With a Crew (@pointswithacrew) on
(what did I tell you about my Instagram feed?) 🙂
The reason this was so picture-worthy was because these machines have a reputation for always being down and nobody ever fixing them.
I read somewhere (can’t remember where) that someone suggested actually contacting Walmart through their website and complaining about the Moneycenter ATM being down actually worked. Â Supposedly those customer comments go directly to the store management.
My Walmart store manager call
So I wrote in through the Contact Us section of Walmart.com. Â I didn’t say a ton – just that the Moneycenter ATM had been down at my local Walmart for several weeks, talked about how frustrating that was, and asking if/when it would be fixed.
That was about a week ago, and last night I was writing a post when my cell phone rang. Â I didn’t recognize the number but when I picked it up, the gentleman introduced himself as the store manager of my local Walmart.
He apologized that the machine was down – he said they had a technician out today but there was a part that needed to be ordered and he hoped that it would be back up and running next week. Â I have to say this was a true Customer Service WIN – I was not expecting an actual call and I’m definitely glad that it’s getting fixed!
Have you ever contacted Walmart about a Moneycenter being down? Â Did it get fixed?
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
I guess my big questions is why is it so hard to keep these up and running? Also just a side note. I’ve seen a big influx in promo signs at several local walmarts pushing Serve cards. Seems strange.
Congrats that your serve is still good. Other than loading $ to Kate, just curious that u did many bill pay & ACH out to your bank before the shut down wave?
I do not want to get into MS big time, just enough to get me to the next level for a trip. Is there a tutorial that says something like. Go to Walgreens and get “this card”, then go to Walmart and load it to your bluebird account. I just need something for the novice.
Told you Dan! lol
Ah – that’s right. I was trying to remember where I heard that…
nah, nothing serious… just wish to know of what you did or didn’t do to escape the shut down. plz pm me if necessary
I detailed the reasons for why my account might have been different in this post. Short answer though is I don’t know – nothing seemed to stand out to me other than it was a fairly new account
noted, thks!
Couldn’t find how to subscribe to your blog without posting
I had a call once from a manager after I complained online that the machine was always out of money order paper. He said it had to be ordered and that it would be in on Monday, I went on Wednesday and of course still no paper!!
That’s hilarious
I have 4 WM that I visit, for the most part Kates are always working, however, only 1 of them is able to issue money orders. Does anyone know why is this the case?
congrats on your Serve still working for you — and with a working Kate to boot. bravo.
Alas, we both had our Serve (& BB) accounts shut down like most. Yet rather than being too sour here, we’re wondering if there have been any reports of folks being able to open a new account after a month? (that is, if your serve account got close, any luck later starting a new bb account? or vica-versa?) Any data points out there on this, yea, or nay?
I haven’t tried it – though I did just sign my wife up for a Serve account (she never converted from Redbird yet).