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Verizon - My Credit Card has been declined due to Fraud Alert!

D

daaaaaan

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 7, 2010
16
0
Since this is soon going to be a very talked about topic, I figured I would share my story..


I pre ordered 3 iPhones - all on my chase freedom card.
First pre-order was charged today, and went through...The second two though were declined (due to "fraud"....stupid verizon & the way they attempted to charge them)

After speaking with 4 people, and on the phone for more than 90 minutes, I FINALLY spoke to a lady (no idea what department, dont ask) who was ABLE to enter a new credit card number and not lose the pre-order status. I was told by the first 3 people I spoke with that it was not possible, and I was going to be required to void the original pre-order and process a new one (which yes, puts you at the end of the line, and would be like just pre-ordering it today).

Verizon will be very, very busy in the next few days with pissed off customers.....
 
I called American express and told them to expect a credit card charge for $423 from Verizon. My card got charged not too long ago so no problems here.
 
daaaaaan said:
Since this is soon going to be a very talked about topic, I figured I would share my story..


I pre ordered 3 iPhones - all on my chase freedom card.
First pre-order was charged today, and went through...The second two though were declined (due to "fraud"....stupid verizon & the way they attempted to charge them)

After speaking with 4 people, and on the phone for more than 90 minutes, I FINALLY spoke to a lady (no idea what department, dont ask) who was ABLE to enter a new credit card number and not lose the pre-order status. I was told by the first 3 people I spoke with that it was not possible, and I was going to be required to void the original pre-order and process a new one (which yes, puts you at the end of the line, and would be like just pre-ordering it today).

Verizon will be very, very busy in the next few days with pissed off customers.....
Click to expand...

Check out the Verizon iPhone preorder thread (the later pages...the 50s). Some people had the same problem, were told the same thing by customer service, but called the Internet sales number (not customer service) and got sorted out.
 
Applejuiced said:
That's good but should one have to do that before they want to use their card?
Click to expand...

American express is very proactive with fraud detection. Now there may be something screwy in their system or maybe the fact that they are seeing thousands of orders for verizon triggered something.
 
daaaaaan said:
Since this is soon going to be a very talked about topic, I figured I would share my story..


I pre ordered 3 iPhones - all on my chase freedom card.
First pre-order was charged today, and went through...The second two though were declined (due to "fraud"....stupid verizon & the way they attempted to charge them)

After speaking with 4 people, and on the phone for more than 90 minutes, I FINALLY spoke to a lady (no idea what department, dont ask) who was ABLE to enter a new credit card number and not lose the pre-order status. I was told by the first 3 people I spoke with that it was not possible, and I was going to be required to void the original pre-order and process a new one (which yes, puts you at the end of the line, and would be like just pre-ordering it today).

Verizon will be very, very busy in the next few days with pissed off customers.....
Click to expand...

Same thing happened to me. They said they were not sure if I'd keep my spot for the 21st or not but she charged my account (had to call chase) and now it says my order in processing but has not been charged (now it actually has though) and I received an email from verizon saying "Your order has been completed and is being shipped to you." but without any tracking updates. My date moved to Oct 5 after it had been declined but is now blank. I do have the same preorder number and the rep told me if I was able to keep that that my original 21st delivery would be held. Hope I get tracking info soon.
 
leenak said:
American express is very proactive with fraud detection. Now there may be something screwy in their system or maybe the fact that they are seeing thousands of orders for verizon triggered something.
Click to expand...

How would it be fraud if its shipped to the billing address of the credit card though?
Probably something not right with their system.
 
JayLenochiniMac said:
Credit card companies' BS detector is smarter than that and should be able to tell whether the order you personally placed is legit. No need to call them up.
Click to expand...

I only called them up after dozens of Verizon people said Amex (and Chase) customers reported fraud alerts. I think being proactive doesn't hurt.
 
leenak said:
I only called them up after dozens of Verizon people said Amex (and Chase) customers reported fraud alerts. I think being proactive doesn't hurt.
Click to expand...

Good thinking.
If it happened to many using those companies its a good idea to call them so your order doesnt get cancelled and have to reorder or run around trying to fix it.
Still think it shouldnt have happened but better safe than sorry later.
 
Applejuiced said:
Good thinking.
If it happened to many using those companies its a good idea to call them so your order doesnt get cancelled and have to reorder or run around trying to fix it.
Still think it shouldnt have happened but better safe than sorry later.
Click to expand...

I agree that it shouldn't happen but with 2 million orders, I'm betting a lot are going through Amex and maybe it somehow glitched their system.
 
Contact # to get your place back in line

VZW Online Sales - 866.338.7390

You're all very welcome . . .
 
I have chase too, and they just sent me a text asking me to reply 1 if the purchase was valid and 2 if the purchase was fraud.
 
Yeah I got worried mine was flagged so I called but Chase said Verizon hasn't even made any attempts to charge my card.

I did have them place a note on my account though for when they do try to.
 
It happened to me with Citi last night. After Citi cleared the fraud alert, they forwarded me to Verizon, and through a series of transfers a Verizon agent charged my credit card again and verified I will receive three phones of 9/21.

It was a bit of a hassle, but my order wasn't canceled. In the end, I didn't mind the protection of the fraud alert.
 
Last edited:
We placed two different orders, with two different cards.

No way would I waste time calling in to say I was going to spend $400. Come on.

As to the random fraud alerts. Many of these are triggered by multiple orders, changed address, other purchases, etc. For example, if I happen to be buying a bunch of stuff online all within a short timeframe, I have gotten a call from the fraud department. They then release any holds, no problems.
 
nostresshere said:
We placed two different orders, with two different cards.

No way would I waste time calling in to say I was going to spend $400. Come on.

As to the random fraud alerts. Many of these are triggered by multiple orders, changed address, other purchases, etc. For example, if I happen to be buying a bunch of stuff online all within a short timeframe, I have gotten a call from the fraud department. They then release any holds, no problems.
Click to expand...

It took me all of 5 minutes to call and a $400 charge on my credit card is not abnormal but a charge to a wireless provider is and again, I would rather my iPhone not get delayed for a couple weeks due to some random fraud alert glitch by taking 5 minutes to call.
 
I Find it surprising that Amex was one of the companies throwing fraud alerts, since they have had a couple advertisements out about not wasting your time with unnecessary fraud alerts, not automatically fraud triggering when you travel, etc but I suppose it makes sense if you don't regularly purchase large amounts of electronics or something it could look odd to their magical system.

For those with Amex Charge cards, you can also pre-authorize the transaction via the website using the check my spending ability tool. It will ask for an approximate amount and the kind of charge, I'd bet this is the same as calling them.
 
I ordered 2 thru apple, and my card was declinded for the same reason on Friday morning. Chase called and said they found it to be suspicious that I was ordering $1000 worth of phones at 3am. But my orders were never cancelled. I got an email from Apple saying they couldnt authorize the payment method and to log in with my apple ID and update my card. And thats exactly what I did.
 
trevorlc said:
I Find it surprising that Amex was one of the companies throwing fraud alerts, since they have had a couple advertisements out about not wasting your time with unnecessary fraud alerts, not automatically fraud triggering when you travel, etc but I suppose it makes sense if you don't regularly purchase large amounts of electronics or something it could look odd to their magical system.

For those with Amex Charge cards, you can also pre-authorize the transaction via the website using the check my spending ability tool. It will ask for an approximate amount and the kind of charge, I'd bet this is the same as calling them.
Click to expand...

No too commonly known, Amex cards do have a limit. If you charge $100 above your all time single charge high, you could generate a fraud alert.
 
I really don't think you can blame anybody for the "fault." Ordering three phones from the same place in a short time with no card present would trigger any Credit Card companies Fraud Alert, and for a good reason. If my card was stolen I sure as hell wouldn't want my CC company authorizing all those charges. Great rule of thumb, if you are ever making significant purchases that are "out of the ordinary" just give your card company a call. Some will make a call not long after the charge to okay it, but I don't think Chase does that. I know AmEx has called me before when I have made large purchases mostly for "Card not Present" orders (i.e Online)
 
I used my debit card for my purchases, and got a call from an automated machine. I had to put in the last 4 digits of my SS#, and enter my bank member number, to verify who I was. Then they proceeded to ask me several questions about my last 5 purchases. Two were from apple. They charged my iPhone and AppleCare+ seperately. I verified that the purchases were from me, and haven't had a problem since.

I absolutely love my credit union. :D
 
The online ordering system gave me fits. It wouldn't accept my address online, so I couldn't proceed with the order. It kept substituting an incorrect city automatically and there wasn't a way to override it. It had to be ordered on the phone.
 
Credit card company fraud alerts can happen any time, anywhere regardless of amount.

Every single time I rent a Decobike on Miami beach (a $5 transaction) I get a fraud alert. No amount of calling, telling them to whitelist the vendor, etc. helps. I've stopped renting them because of this stupidity.

So multiple iPhone orders at 3AM triggering an alert surprises me even less. :)
 
I used my Chase Freedom card too without any problems. The Chase card has never been declined in the years I've used it, but back when I used to use Discover, they would cancel it due to "fraud detection" ALL THE TIME. Every single time I tried to by a MetroCard in NYC, they'd cancel it. That doesn't even make sense! So yeah, needless to say, I don't use that card anymore.
 
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