How long do EBT refunds from Walmart actually take? Nothing after 3 days!

same thing happend to me last month!!! walmart said 24 hrs but took like 5 days to show back up on my card. they lie about the timeframe everytime

EBT refunds almost never process as quickly as retailers claim. In my experience working with CalFresh clients, refunds typically take 3-5 business days to reappear on your EBT card, regardless of what the store tells you. This is because the refund has to go through both the store's payment processor AND the state's EBT system. A few things to try: 1. Call the EBT customer service number on the back of your card to verify if they can see a pending refund in their system 2. Ask Walmart for a refund confirmation number if you don't already have one 3. Remember that July 4th was a holiday, so that might have caused additional delays in processing If it's not back by Monday (which would be 5 business days excluding the holiday), then I'd recommend visiting a CalFresh office in person with your refund confirmation.

I've been on CalFresh for 3 years now and EVERY SINGLE REFUND takes longer than they say!!! Target told me 24 hours once and it took 7 days! Then when I called the EBT customer service they just said "we don't control how fast the merchants process refunds" and the merchant says "we already sent it back, it's up to EBT now" so everyone just points fingers and meanwhile I'M STILL WAITING FOR MY MONEY!!! The system is broken!!!!

I had a similar issue with Walmart EBT refunds taking forever. After waiting on hold with the regular EBT customer service for almost an hour and getting disconnected twice, I found this service called Claimyr that got me through to an actual person at the county office right away. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/eZ19FHRETv8?si=_CXnXqNXbLl26WB8 The county worker I spoke with explained that EBT refunds from major retailers usually take 3-5 business days, but can sometimes take up to 10 business days depending on when in the month it happens. She was able to see in the system that my refund was pending and gave me an exact date when it would be available. You might want to check claimyr.com if you need to talk to someone at your county office about this.

their always pulling this at walmart. the store manger told me one time that ebt refunds actually get processed difrent than regular credit cards even tho the cashiers dont know this. they have to manually aprove ebt refunds in there system or something. i got my refund after 4 days but i had to go to the store and talk to a manager

Working at a county CalFresh office, I can confirm that EBT refunds typically take 3-7 business days to process, but holidays and weekends don't count as business days. Since you canceled on July 2nd and July 4th was a holiday, today (July 5th) would only be the third business day. One important thing to understand is that CalFresh (food) benefits and Cash Aid refunds process differently: - CalFresh refunds usually take 3-5 business days - Cash Aid refunds can take 5-7 business days If you don't see your refund by Wednesday July 10th (which would be 6 business days), call the EBT customer service line and request a "transaction dispute." They can open a case to investigate. Make sure you have your original receipt and cancellation confirmation handy.

You know what drives me CRAZY about these EBT refunds? If you accidentally OVERSPEND they can take the money instantly, but when they owe YOU money suddenly it takes a week! My daughter accidently used her EBT card instead of her debit card at 7-11 once (buying non-food items) and they took the money immediately and then we had to pay a penalty too. But when they owe us a refund its always "oh 3-5 business days" which really means 7-10 days. The whole system is designed to work against us!

update: did ur refund come through yet? mine took exactly 5 days but my cousin said her walmart refund took almost 2 weeks once

Just to follow up on this thread - if you're still waiting for your refund next week, you can also request what's called an "Account Adjustment Form" from your county office. This is specifically for situations where a store claims they processed a refund but it's not showing up on your EBT card after 10 business days. The form requires documentation from the merchant proving they processed the refund, but in cases where there's a verifiable error in the system, this can sometimes speed things up. Just be prepared that the county might ask you to get written confirmation from Walmart that the refund was processed on their end.

So glad to see your update that the refund finally came through! This whole thread is super helpful for anyone dealing with EBT refund delays. I had no idea about the holiday processing delays or that CalFresh vs Cash Aid refunds work differently. Definitely bookmarking this info for future reference. It's frustrating that stores always give unrealistic timeframes, but at least now I know to expect 5+ business days regardless of what they tell me.

This thread is exactly what I needed to see! I'm currently waiting on a Target EBT refund that's been "processing" for 6 days now and was starting to panic. It's so frustrating that every store gives you these super optimistic timeframes like "24-48 hours" when the reality is clearly 5+ business days minimum. The explanation about holidays not counting as business days was especially helpful - I didn't realize that could add even more delay. Going to stop checking my balance obsessively and just wait it out until next week. Thanks everyone for sharing your real experiences instead of just the official timelines that never seem accurate!

This whole discussion is so eye-opening! I had no idea EBT refunds took so much longer than regular card refunds. I've been lucky enough not to need many refunds yet, but I'm definitely saving this thread for future reference. It's really helpful to see actual experiences from people who work at county offices too - the explanation about business days vs calendar days makes so much sense. It's frustrating that stores consistently give wrong timeframes, but at least now I know to expect 5+ days no matter what they tell me. Thanks to everyone for sharing their real experiences!

This thread is incredibly helpful! I'm dealing with a similar situation right now - returned some groceries to Safeway on my EBT card 4 days ago and still waiting for the refund. The cashier told me "2-3 business days max" but reading everyone's experiences here, I can see that 5+ days is much more realistic. It's so frustrating how stores consistently underestimate these timeframes! I wish they would just be honest and tell people it takes a week instead of getting our hopes up. The explanation about holidays not counting as business days was especially useful - I hadn't thought about how that affects processing times. Going to stop stressing about it and wait until next week before calling anyone. Thanks to everyone who shared their real experiences, especially the county workers who explained how the system actually works!

This entire thread should be required reading for anyone new to CalFresh! I've been using EBT for about 6 months now and thankfully haven't had to deal with refunds yet, but wow - the disconnect between what stores tell you and reality is shocking. The fact that EVERY major retailer (Walmart, Target, Safeway) consistently gives the same false "24-48 hour" timeframe shows this isn't just miscommunication, it's a systemic problem. They clearly don't train their staff on how EBT refunds actually work versus regular card refunds. The real-world experiences shared here are so much more valuable than anything you'd get from official customer service. I'm definitely bookmarking this for future reference and will know to expect at least a full week for any EBT refunds, regardless of what the cashier promises me. Thanks to everyone, especially the county office workers, for sharing the actual facts about how this system works!

This thread is so valuable! I wish I had found this information when I was dealing with my first EBT refund last year. I returned some items to Kroger and the customer service rep confidently told me "the refund will be back on your card tonight" - spoiler alert, it took 6 days! I spent so much time on hold with EBT customer service thinking something was wrong. It's really disappointing that stores haven't updated their training to reflect how EBT actually works. The pattern here is so clear - every major retailer gives the same unrealistic timeframes because they're treating EBT like regular debit cards. I hope more people find this thread before they go through the same stress and confusion. The county office workers who explained the business day rules and holiday delays deserve special thanks for actually educating us on how the system really works!

This thread is incredibly helpful and honestly should be pinned somewhere! I'm currently dealing with my first ever EBT refund situation - returned some groceries to Ralph's 3 days ago and they told me "usually 24-48 hours but definitely by the weekend." Well, it's Saturday now and still nothing! Reading through everyone's experiences here is both reassuring (it's totally normal) and frustrating (why do stores keep lying about timeframes??). The explanation about business days vs calendar days makes so much sense - I had no idea holidays could delay things even more. I'm definitely going to stop checking my balance obsessively and just wait until next week. Thank you to everyone who shared their real experiences, especially those working in county offices who actually know how the system works! This community knowledge is worth way more than anything I've gotten from official customer service.

This thread has been such a lifesaver! I'm dealing with this exact situation right now - returned some items to Vons two days ago and they told me the refund would be "processed within hours." Of course, it's been 48 hours and nothing! Reading everyone's experiences here is so reassuring because I was starting to think something went wrong with my card. It's honestly ridiculous how every single store seems to give the same false timeframes. Like, how hard would it be to train cashiers to say "5-7 business days" instead of getting people's hopes up with impossible promises? The holiday/business day explanation makes total sense too - I never would have thought about how July 4th could delay processing. Going to stop obsessively checking my balance and just wait until next week. Thanks to everyone for sharing their real experiences - this community knowledge is way more reliable than anything customer service tells you!

This whole thread is so eye-opening! I had no idea that EBT refunds took so much longer than regular debit card refunds. I'm still pretty new to using CalFresh benefits and was wondering why my recent Amazon Fresh return seemed to be taking forever - the customer service rep told me "2-3 business days" but it's been 4 days now with nothing. Reading everyone's experiences here makes me feel so much better knowing this is totally normal! It's really frustrating that stores consistently give these unrealistic timeframes when they clearly don't understand how EBT processing actually works. The explanation about holidays and weekends not counting as business days was especially helpful - I never would have thought about that. Thank you to everyone who shared their real experiences, and especially to the county office workers who explained how the system actually functions. This community knowledge is way more valuable than anything I've gotten from official customer service calls!

This thread has been incredibly helpful for understanding EBT refund timelines! I'm currently waiting on a refund from Costco - returned some groceries 3 days ago and they told me "usually same day or next day for EBT." Reading through everyone's experiences here, I can see that was way too optimistic. It's really eye-opening how every major retailer seems to give the same unrealistic timeframes without understanding how EBT processing actually works compared to regular cards. The business day explanation and holiday delays make so much sense - I had no idea that weekends and holidays could add extra time. Based on what everyone's shared, I should probably expect to wait until early next week before seeing my refund. Thank you to all the county office workers who explained the real system mechanics, and to everyone who shared their actual experiences. This community knowledge is way more reliable than what you get from store customer service!

I am going through this with Walmart right now. Cancelled my order but didn't receive all my money back to EBT. I've called every day since this happened. It's been 6 days now. I keep getting the runaround.

6 days is really frustrating! Based on everyone's experiences in this thread, it sounds like you're right at the edge of when things should start showing up, but since you're getting the runaround from Walmart, you might want to escalate this. A few suggestions from what others have shared: 1. Ask to speak to a store manager in person if possible - someone mentioned that EBT refunds sometimes need manual approval that regular cashiers don't know about 2. Get a refund confirmation number if you don't have one already 3. Call the EBT customer service number and ask if they can see any pending refunds in the system 4. If it hits 7-10 business days with no resolution, you can request a "transaction dispute" through EBT customer service The fact that you didn't get your full refund amount back makes this more concerning than the usual processing delays everyone else experienced. That sounds like it might be a separate issue beyond just timing. Document everything and don't let them keep giving you the runaround - you have a right to get your full refund back!