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[Question] Series 4 Pre-Order Failed?

Nekomichi

Nekomichi

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 20, 2016
305
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So I pre-ordered a Series 4 Apple Watch, but just now the order failed with a really weird "could not authorise payment" error. Was wondering if this has happened to anyone else? Full details:

I made a pre-order for the new watch and verified that my payment details were all correct. Just now I received a notification that my payment details had been declined, and strangely enough, the payment details listed under my order do not match the ones I used to make the order at all. It was a card number that I did not recognise and have not used to link with my Apple ID. Even stranger is that when I tried to re-authorise using my correct details, the payment still failed. Presumably, this was my bank blocking the transaction as "suspicious activity" (third year in a row, despite being told every time "this won't happen again"), however I never received any notifications from my bank about suspicious activities and as far as they're concerned, they've blocked no transactions.

So what exactly is going on here?

Update:
It seems people who made the initial order with Apple Pay may experience some issues with the bank clearing the transaction. When this happens, call Apple support with your order number and have your card details handy because they can manually clear the payment method and retry with your card directly. This is what fixed the issue for me.
 
Last edited:
Call Apple and let them input your card number over the phone to secure your order.
 
Did you use Apple Pay? Your card number is randomly re-generated for each device you have use Apple Pay with on your card.
 
Update:
The failed transactions are starting to show up on my Apple Pay history, all listed as being declined.
Every reattempt I've verified my details are correct, however I haven't received any texts or automated calls from my bank to confirm (as they usually do when blocking suspicious transactions), and absolutely nothing has appeared on my banking account to indicate any payment attempts. Since both Apple and my bank are not available right now, I'll probably call them tomorrow. But as of right now, I have zero faith that my bank can get things sorted in time, my order will likely just end up getting cancelled, like every time before.
 
Hmm... there appears to be a number of posts from people who used Apple Pay to make the initial transaction. All appear to be failing.

Perhaps it’s something to do with that!
 
Nekomichi said:
Update:
The failed transactions are starting to show up on my Apple Pay history, all listed as being declined.
Every reattempt I've verified my details are correct, however I haven't received any texts or automated calls from my bank to confirm (as they usually do when blocking suspicious transactions), and absolutely nothing has appeared on my banking account to indicate any payment attempts. Since both Apple and my bank are not available right now, I'll probably call them tomorrow. But as of right now, I have zero faith that my bank can get things sorted in time, my order will likely just end up getting cancelled, like every time before.
Click to expand...

Ah, so you are using Apple Pay. The card number given to vendors is always different from the one on your physical card when you use Apple Pay. Also, you should call your bank a few hours ahead of time to let them know to authorize all payments for the next few days on your card. I'm assuming you're using a credit card and not a debit card, so there's no real risk by doing so.

Also, just to confirm, was your billing address listed correctly on the Apple order page? When you use Apple Pay on the Apple Store will default to your iTunes billing address which may not have been updated for a while.
 
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omgitscro said:
Ah, so you are using Apple Pay. The card number given to vendors is always different from the one on your physical card when you use Apply Pay. Also, you should call your bank a few hours ahead of time to let them know to authorize all payments for the next few few days on your card. I'm assuming you're using a credit card and not a debit card, so there's no real risk by doing so.
Click to expand...
I'm using a debit card, does that make any difference?
 
Nekomichi said:
I'm using a debit card, does that make any difference?
Click to expand...

Well, other than the huge risk of losing your money every time you hand your debit card to anyone, it shouldn't. You should still be able to give your bank a call the day of to let them know not to block any transactions for a few days, although I would never do that on a debit card. To give some unsolicited financial advice, never use your debit card to purchase anything.
[doublepost=1537129668][/doublepost]
Nekomichi said:
I'm using a debit card, does that make any difference?
Click to expand...

Also, I made an edit to the post you quoted, asking if the billing address info was correct. I had to chat with a rep yesterday to correct the billing address on a couple of my Watch orders since it defaulted to my old address.
 
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omgitscro said:
Well, other than the huge risk of losing your money every time you hand your debit card to anyone, it shouldn't. You should still be able to give your bank a call the day of to let them know not to block any transactions for a few days, although I would never do that on a debit card. To give some unsolicited financial advice, never use your debit card to purchase anything.
[doublepost=1537129668][/doublepost]

Also, I made an edit to the post you quoted, asking if the billing address info was correct. I had to chat with a rep yesterday to correct the billing address on a couple of my Watch orders since it defaulted to my old address.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the heads up, I'll switch over later.
(also, the billing address was correct)
 
morganperry said:
Hmm... there appears to be a number of posts from people who used Apple Pay to make the initial transaction. All appear to be failing.

Perhaps it’s something to do with that!
Click to expand...
agh, I haven't seen this! I haven't received any message about tracking info yet or any issues with payment but I did pay with Apple Pay
 
Hart1583 said:
I paid with Apple Pay

Preparing for shipment
Click to expand...

I paid for my Xs with ApplePay and mine is PFS, too. My watch isn't due until 9/28, so it's still in progress, but I don't anticipate any issues.

I usually do my ApplePay stuff with the AMEX that has no real limit and is always empty... AMEX really doesn't freak out over charges like some other companies do. I had one of my Visa card providers get weird one year and switched to AMEX after that for preorders.
 
Nekomichi said:
It's exactly as you said - I gave them a call and they fixed it from their end. Thanks again, I appreciate your advice! :)
Click to expand...

Excellent. I had an issue one year with a credit card payment through the store....not Apple Pay and got it fixed immediately over the phone. It was the year the AW launched and they had odd rules about how many you could buy in one transaction.
 
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