I'm going to try to avoid a TL;DR situation here.

I sell things on etsy, and I get paid into paypal. Often times it is easier for me to buy a Wal*Mart e-gift card than to wait for the 3-5 day turnaround time for paypal to deposit money into my bank account.

I've done this on four other occasions, and the longest it ever took to arrive in my email was a little under 2 hours. Usually it's within a half hour.

I do understand that the Wal*Mart site says it can take "24-48 hours, but usually immediately".

Today I purchased a gift card for a much higher amount than I usually do. I have prescriptions to pick up, groceries to get, etc...

Seven hours later, no e-gift card. I called up customer service and I was told that they're having 'technical difficulties'. How can a billion dollar company have such dramatic technical difficulties that it would hold up a major service like electronic gift card delivery?!

My receipt says very clearly that I should expect delivery by 9/26, which contradicts the 24-48 hour window.

I just find the whole situation so frustrating! At the absolute end of the day, I was promised a worst case scenario of 48 hours until delivery, but I don't understand why THIS purchase is the one that has to be so dramatically delayed. After establishing a purchase history on this account already, I honestly thought...I don't know what I thought. :\