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Credit Card Charging Problem & System Status Info
Susie
Registered Users Posts: 1 Beginner grinner
After trying three times to order a gift membership and receiving the message "We couldn't validate that credit card. Please try again" each time, I contacted smugmug help. I received an immediate reply that they're having trouble verifying credit cards this morning and are working on it [side note: best support anywhere!]
In the meantime, I checked my credit card and found that the charges went to my card (yep, you guessed it: three times!). I let smugmug know that, but thought people would want to be advised to keep from trying again (and again and again) if the transaction doesn't seem to work at first, at least until the problem is addressed.
I also searched for a thread here or a page on the smugmug site that might provide system status information (e.g. to post an advisory about problems like this), and was surprised that there isn't really a dedicated "current system status" location - at least not one that I found. I know that others have said on this site that when problems last a long time smugmug will post it on the site, but a simple blog or page dedicated to just system status would do the trick easily, wouldn't it? Requiring just a few minutes to throw out a "we're on it, hold tight" message?
Anyway, be gentle - this is my first post!
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In the meantime, I checked my credit card and found that the charges went to my card (yep, you guessed it: three times!). I let smugmug know that, but thought people would want to be advised to keep from trying again (and again and again) if the transaction doesn't seem to work at first, at least until the problem is addressed.
I also searched for a thread here or a page on the smugmug site that might provide system status information (e.g. to post an advisory about problems like this), and was surprised that there isn't really a dedicated "current system status" location - at least not one that I found. I know that others have said on this site that when problems last a long time smugmug will post it on the site, but a simple blog or page dedicated to just system status would do the trick easily, wouldn't it? Requiring just a few minutes to throw out a "we're on it, hold tight" message?
Anyway, be gentle - this is my first post!
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Comments
Hi Susie, welcome to Dgrin and thanks for posting. Yes, there's a glitch and our engineers are on it. It took a bit to find out what the exact nature of the problem is. We'll make sure your charges are squared away, too.
I'm sorry for the trouble. Thanks for your patience and understanding.
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I wish we had something better to report, but here it is anyway:
Authorize.net, the credit card processing company, is having some major problems. I'm afraid our hands are tied, other than yelling at them.
They process credit cards for millions of companies (brick & mortar as well as web, I believe), so I think they're getting it in both ears from companies, especially given the holiday season.
We're working on it, as much as we can, but really have no ETA since it's out of our control.
More as we get it.
Don
Update: The problem apparently lies with "First Data Corporation", who is our actual processor. (It's complicated ... it apparently takes 3 or 4 corporate entities to actually get a credit card processed).
Their Nashville location is having some sort of problem, and it's affecting us and millions of other merchants all over the world (First Data is a $33B corporation. They own Western Union. Stock ticker: FDC on NYSE)
They're aware of it and working on it.
More as we get it.
Don
Update: It's fixed (for the time being?).
Also, no credit cards were actually charged during the outage. Some credit cards were 'authorized', but those charges will never be called in. They'll disappear from your credit card statements.
Don