Repeated Credit Card Decline - Going Round in Circles!

hdw4sting

Would be so grateful for any advice this evening, at the end of our tether here...who would've thought buying an iMac from John Lewis would be so hard?

We initially tried to order the iMac in January through the John Lewis website, all details filled in correctly (triple checked!) and proceeded to the Verified by Visa screen. Didn't ask for any password but came up with a "transaction declined" message. Clicking continue took us to an order confirmation screen with John Lewis... Cue confusion! Called Barclaycard who advised no declined transaction, however, and so assumed all was well.

Lo and behold, order cancelled the next day by John Lewis with the explanation that security had not been passed. This was follwed by a call to Barclaycard to be advised that at the time we spoke to them the previous evening no request for payment had been made and that when this was processed the next day the transaction was flagged as a high risk retailer and a high risk item.

In the interim the iMac has been out of stock but we've tried to order one again today... Exactly the same set of events so far. Have just got off the phone to Barclaycard who are advising they cannot see the transaction and I cannot ask them authorise it in advance and to John Lewis who are advising that if the transaction is declined the order will automatically be cancelled again!

Surely SOMEBODY must be declining the transaction at this point for the verifed by visa message to pop up? It is such a frustrating situation: the funds are there, I'm pre-empting the potential issue and trying to be pro-active but it seems there is nothing to be done and no way to place a high value item order from John Lewis.

Any advice would be gratefully recieved as the 5 people I've spoken to in the last 3 hours have been no help at all!

Many Thanks x

stephane_2

Try a different online retailer....

stclair

Could you not call john lewis and place the order over the telephone?

hdw4sting

With hindsight a telephone order would have been a better idea to be fair... There was literally just one left in stick so my priority was to get it in the basket ASAP to guarantee my order, ironic I know!

Moving forward, as much as I would always rather have the additional John Lewis warranty, I think we'll be cutting out losses and waiting for the iMac to come back into stock in our local Apple store.

Thought I was a fairly savvy online shopper but it seems I've managed to tie myself up in a knot over this one!

Thanks for your kind replies x

Willing2Learn

From a purely MSE perspective, I doubt that either John Lewis or the Apple Store would offer the most competitive prices. As long as you go through a reputable e-tailer you will have the standard guarantee. And your transaction will be over £100 so you'd have your statutory protection through the card too!

victoria797

Does the verified by visa' page allow you to enter your password? If it doesn't and the 'transaction declined' messasge pops up,there will be a telephone number displayed with an error code.Ring that number and let them know you are having trouble with the verified by visa page.They will reset it for you and the next time you try,you will be able to enter your vbv password.

This happens quite often if you try to use your card from a different computer or a different IP(most UK homes have dynamic IP and it also happens when you clear cookis/cache).The verified by visa page blocks itself as a fraud preventive measure.

Where a retailer has specified that a successful VBV authorisation is mandatory,once the VBV page gets blocked,there won't be an attempt to take payment from the card,so Barclaycard wont have a clue of the transaction as it hasn't even been attempted by the retailer.

You won't be able to use your card on any other websites until the verified by visa password has been reset.

Good Luck.

Johnmcl7

I find Barclaycard block my card each time I buy a computer even though their pretty pie chart shows 90% of my purchases are technology related. They're also usually completely incompetent in resolving the blocked card as well so I'm not surprised to hear you're having similar issues.

John

moatmeister

Computer says no. Very frustrating isnt it??

dalesrider

hdw4sting wrote: »

Surely SOMEBODY must be declining the transaction at this point for the verifed by visa message to pop up?

Many Thanks x

VbV is a retailer based system. JL are paying extra to Visa for the extra layer of security.

So any decline relating to not going through VbV will be JL.

As well as other idea's posted. Try a diffrent browser and see if that makes any diffrence.
What are you tring to make the purchase on?

grumbler

dalesrider wrote: »

What are you tring to make the purchase on?

Barclaycard?