Clients credit card declined, reason HOLD CALL

[darkchild]

Does anyone know what HOLD CALL means when a CC is declined?? I was processing a CC from a client who purchased a GC from SPABOOM. I use PROPAY. The gift cert was purchased on Wednesday, and today is Friday.

Should I just wait a few days and try it again?? Or should I call the client tomarrow?

She is attending massage school herself part time. She comes in about twice a year, as does her boyfriend. This is the second gift certificate she has purchased thru spaboom.

TIA,

Christine

 

[Wolfy Trax]

hold call means that you take this card and hold it, then call the service center. this is done for stolen cards.... there's usually a reward.
you say this is a repeat client. do you think she is using a fraudulant card?

 

[Ashton L]

Oh dear,

I will call her tomarrow.

I have no idea if the credit card could be stolen.

I kind of think this is a debit type card. Maybe inbetween buying the gift cert and me processing it, she lost it?? I will find out.

Christine

 

[YANGA CHIVAS MEXICO]

hold call means that you take this card and hold it, then call the service center. this is done for stolen cards.... there's usually a reward.
you say this is a repeat client. do you think she is using a fraudulant card?

We would get this at the hotel sometimes. Too often it is just a mistake - and a client loses their card for no good reason at all. When traveling, that is a disaster for some people.

If someone has traveled without notifying their credit card company, the company will often assume it was stolen, and put an alert on it. If your client recently went out of her normal area and used the card, that could be the only problem - she didn't tell the CC company and they panicked! They stand to lose a lot, though, since the card holder will only be responsible for the first $50.

I would call and just tell her the credit card is declined because the company thinks it was stolen. Then tell her to call the cc company so she can get it straightened out, and "would you like to use a different card, or do you want to get that taken care of before you go ahead and purchase the GC?"

Assume the best.

I want to live where Mush lives......you get a reward for holding the card??? We sure don't!

 

[Blondie B.]

Hi,

I worked in the online payments industry for seven years and still follow the industry very closely. I agree with the previous posts: assume the best from the customer.


Good luck!

-rd

 

[bkylyt990]

So she called me back this morning and left a message. She said that number was no longer valid and left a new card number, but no exp date. I assumed it was a replacement card, and usually they have the same exp dates. The exp date was Feb 08, when I tried processing the card, it was declined again, said the card was expired!! So, I called her back and left another message telling her to call my cell phone and tell me what the exp date on this number is.

I just hope we get this figured out before her recipient tries to redeem the certificate!!

I thought spaboom verified the cc numbers that are used to secure gift certs. I will have to email them and find out.

Christine

 

[Kelly- RIP MJ]

I want to live where Mush lives......you get a reward for holding the card??? We sure don't!

If you're in the US at least you do. You know how the cardholder is only responsible for the first $50 when a card is lost or stolen? It's THAT $50 that serves as the reward for the person who confiscates the card from the user when they are asked to by the credit card company. When you get the HOLD CALL message and you call it in, they give you instructions on what to do with the card and how to get the reward $$.

I am in the US, unless WI pulled out without telling me. :shock: I called many of them in and never was given any reward info. Maybe because I was an employee? I *did* hold cards when instructed, since the little blurb said it was against the law not to hold it, but I sure felt sorry for people who had plenty of photo ID to prove it was their card.....and were put in a bad spot because they were traveling and that was their payment method! Maybe I never got a reward because I never pulled a truly stolen card? Or maybe the hotel owner got the reward, I don't know.

Anyway, Christine really can't hold a card that isn't in her possession. There isn't much one can do with an online CC order that is declined, rather than contact the buyer and let them deal with the CC.

 

[Prehistoric Pengy!]

With Spaboom you can Void the GC however.

 

[Normen Bates]

So I called Spaboom and told them what happen. I asked if they verified the number was a good number.

I believe I spoke with a gentleman named Paul. He told me with manual processing, which is what I do, they only verify that the number is a true number and that the expiration date is a good one. They do verify everything if you do instant tranactions through paypal. But honestly, I think it is paypal who does the actual verification.

Still waiting on the client to call me and verify the info I need.

Christine

 

[LuvInLust]

Great comments from everyone. I just wanted to clarify a couple of things regarding CC handling and SpaBoom.

There are two CC processing modes that SpaBoom supports. The first (and most common) is "manual processing." This is where SpaBoom collects the CC information (securely), and maintain it in a secure area for the Salon/Spa to process at a later time. SpaBoom uses industry recommended methods for “verifying a correct CC number” and valid expiration date. SpaBoom does not validate the CC with a bank, to determine whether the account is in good standing, sufficient funds, etc. To do this level of validation, you need to tie directly into a bank. (See “automatic CC processing” below).

The advaneforum.xxxe to this method, is that you use your existing offline merchant account, and therefore save some money. The disadvaneforum.xxxe is it's an extra step you have to do, and you run into the occasional bad CC (which means someone could be holding what they think is a valid GC, but in fact it hasn’t been paid for). Also, the CC companies prohibit software providers from keeping the card code in a database. So, if your offline merchant account provider requires the card code, manual processing with SpaBoom will be difficult. (The solution here is to either change merchant account providers, or obtain an online merchant account).

We recommend you work with the client, until you have a good CC that you’ve been able to successfully process.

Every once in a while, you may run into the situation where you cannot contact the purchaser or you cannot obtain a good CC for one reason or another. In these circumstances, we recommend you VOID the GC in SpaBoom and/or whatever other mechanism you use for managing GC’s and recording redemptions. If you void the GC in SpaBoom, SpaBoom will credit your account for any commissions we may have charged you.

The second form of CC processing within SpaBoom is “automatic CC processing.” This requires that you have the right online merchant account and/or payment gateway in place. SpaBoom can help you with all of this, and make it very simple for you. SpaBoom supports Authorize.net (and therefore, any merchant account that uses Authorize.net) or PayPal (only PayPal’s Web Payments Pro account).

While automatic CC processing does cost you more, the cost is nominal (i.e. the PayPal account only costs $20/month, plus normal discount fees you are paying anyway when you process CC’s using your existing, offline merchant account).

So, the disadvaneforum.xxxe of automatic CC processing is the additional monthly cost (from the bank or PayPal, not SpaBoom). The advaneforum.xxxes are enticing, though. First, CC’s are fully validated with the bank through your online merchant account. This validation checks for a valid account, sufficient funds, etc. Second, a GC will not be available unless the CC actually is successfully processed. And third, it’s all automated so you don’t have to mess with things.

I hope this overview helps. Thanks!

Larry.