[Help] iPhone 7 Order Authorization Failed

[Nekomichi]

I ordered an iPhone 7 and for a week it was stuck at the "Processing Items" status. Today it was supposed to dispatch, but instead the order was stuck with an "Authorization failed" error message, prompting me to check my payment details. After double-checking that the entered details are correct and there are enough funds on the account, I retried several times, but every single time the payment would be declined.

What's going on? Is this a common issue, or have I just wasted a week only to realise that my order will never be coming?

(I'm abroad right now but have configured my account to accept payments made here, so that can't be it. Also because I'm abroad, I'm unable to call either Apple or my bank, so these solutions are not possible.)

 

[richard6r]

You HAVE to call Apple.

 

[Nekomichi]

You HAVE to call Apple.

I plan to call both Apple and my bank when I arrive home, which will take a few days (this would've been my top option). Sadly at the moment I'm abroad and don't have access to my phone network which means I can't make or receive any calls or texts at all.

 

[Bsadle1]

You can do web chat with apple customer service. Just go to the support section of the apple website.

 

[Nekomichi]

A strange thing happened:
I tried a couple of times and they all failed. Then I closed everything and updated my Mac to macOS Sierra, rebooted, and now the order says it's "Processing Items" again and there's no longer an error message about authorisation. I'm pretty sure updating to Sierra had nothing to do with it, but perhaps something changed when I rebooted. Odd.

I found a similar thread with authorisation issues and the author said that they called their bank and it may have been a server issue, though there were no updates after that so I don't know if it was ever resolved.

 

[Switchback666]

Ive had this issue before, in my case the bank blocked the transaction and I just called to make sure everything was ok and re-try payment on the site, it won't update on the spot but after a few minutes the error will go away and it will show processing again and preparing for shipment if its due.

You can always call to move things quicker.

 

[Crazy Badger]

Did you use Apple Pay to place your order? I did, and had exactly the same problem, twice, as the first time I was told they couldn't manually update my payment details. On the 2nd call they did, and its now preparing to dispatch.

 

[SisterBlue22]

My credit card tried to block the initial Citizens payment as fraudulent. They sent me an email instantly, and I just had to click a link to authorize the charge to go through. It could be something like that with your credit card.

 

[Nekomichi]

Thanks for the replies everyone,

Initially the order was placed with Apple Pay, which automatically used an outdated billing address. It wouldn't let me change the billing address after ordering, but I thought it wouldn't matter since I had been using Apple Pay as contactless in stores just fine like that anyway.

Initially I cancelled the order and attempted to set up a new order with the correct address, however the order would fail to authenticate immediately, saying that my latest address was declined. The order would only accept my previous/outdated address. So I had to re-order using the previous billing address.

When the error came up, I was given the option to update the payment details, and I attempted to use the latest, correct details but that was instantly declined.

Normally when a suspicious transaction is attempted, my bank would notify me via text and email, this time when the payment was declined I received neither text nor email notification from my bank. So I'm not sure if the payment was really declined due to the fraud detection system.

Once I fly back home I'll immediately call up the bank and ask what's going on.

EDIT:
Normally when this happens to other people, Apple sends a notification email. I haven't received any email from either Apple or my bank, which is weird. Also, from my online banking account it shows there were no declined payment requests. So from this it looks like my order payment request never even reached my bank in the first place. Possibly something's wrong on Apple's side. The plot thickens.