Here's a weird one:
As I have done many, many times in the past, I placed an order with
amazon.com last night using a Citibank Virtual Account Number. For
those who don't know, VANs are one-time-use credit card numbers that
make it safer to do business online; if a merchant tries to charge the
card multiple times, or another party intercepts the CC information,
the VAN cannot be used or any additional purchases.
My order total was $116.something; I generated a VAN for $120, placed
my order, and went to bed.
This morning I woke up to an email from amazon.com telling me that my
credit card had been declined. I logged on to Citibank and checked
that VAN; according to Citibank, the card had in fact been used for a
purchase of $116. I logged on to amazon.com and clicked "try the card
again." According to amazon, it failed again.
So I got on the phone with Citibank. After speaking to some guy with a
strong Indian accent who was unable to help me, I was transferred to a
very nervous-sounding woman who confirmed that the initial charge had,
in fact, been approved, and that the second attempt had failed because
the sum total of the two charges exceeded the $120 limit I had placed
on the VAN when I created it (good to know that part works!)
I explained to Nervous Nellie that amazon.com didn't believe that the
charge was approved, and could she give me an approval code or some
other proof that the charge was approved. She told me that she could
not. I asked her (sarcastically) if this was some sort of secret
information? I pointed out to her that when I go to a brick and mortar
store and make a purchase with my credit card, the approval code is
printed right there on my receipt, so how could it possibly be a
secret? Once again she refused to give me the approval code or any
other information to prove to amazon.com that the charge was, in fact,
approved.
You can see the royal cluster**** that is forming up here, can't you?
amazon.com has successfully charged $116 to my credit card, but they
refuse to believe it, and the morons at ****ybank refuse to provide
me with any sort of proof. I'm wondering how I am going to get amazon
to reverse a charge that they don't think was ever made i the first
place.
Fearing the worst, I pressed on.
I dug through amazon's web site and found the well-hidden "call me"
page. A rep came on the line and told me that both attempts at
charging my credit card were denied. I explained what the ****ybank
rep had told me, but the amazon rep was unmoved. To her I was
undoubtedly just another lying s***bag customer trying to defraud
amazon out of $116. So I told her to make one final attempt to run the
charge through and, if it failed again I was going to cancel the
order. To everyone's suprise, IT WORKED!! The charge went right
through and was approved!! Yet the amazon.com web site STILL shows
the order status as "your payment revision required." Clearly
amazon.com is having some sort of a problem with their online ordering
system. Will they own up to it? Stay tuned as the saga continues...
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