Carrier Order NiGhTmArE!

[iSummer717]

Can anyone help me solve this mystery? I pre ordered the iPhone XS Max at 2:05 am when pre orders opened and received a delivery date September 21 . A few minutes later I placed a separate order for the Apple Watch to be picked up in the store on September 21. I placed these orders with two different forms of payment. When I woke up the next morning I looked at my phone order and noticed that the payment did not go through and I needed to update the payment information. I was confused because I know that I have plenty of money to cover the payment but I went ahead and updated with a different credit card anyway. A while later I noticed that a lot of forum member’s orders were progressing to “preparing to ship” and my order was not budging and I had not been charged on my credit card yet. So I started a chat with an Apple rep who basically told me to “be positive” and “have high hopes”. This rep did not seem to want to help me at all so I called Apple and the next rep was of no help either. It took me about four phone calls to get a rep that was actually willing to look further into the issue and help me. Every payment method I tried to use was denied for whatever reason. I was informed by the rep to call my bank and find out why they were not allowing the payment to go through. Mind you, I have tried three different credit cards that were all valid and should not have been a problem with any of them. But I called my bank anyway and my bank informed me that there was no attempt from Apple to take a payment at all. Same thing with the other two credit cards. So I called Apple back again and informed them that no attempts were made to take a payment from any of the credit cards.The woman I was speaking with seemed frustrated with me and said there was nothing wrong with my order and that I should just be patient and wait for it to update. I gave her yet another credit card she said she processed it and it it worked and everything was fine and that my order would progress. Great I thought we’re on our way now. The next day I just had this bad feeling in my gut that the rep I spoke with was lying to me because I checked my credit card and there had been no payment taken. Then I begin to worry about my watch order and called to see how that was progressing and was informed that that payment also was denied. Tried another credit card, denied again. This rep informed me that these payments were not being declined, but that a message was popping up and saying needs further review. She said she had never seen anything like this before but escalated it to their payment department Who would call me in the next 24 to 48 hours to work it out. I have never experienced anything like this before and I am so frustrated that I just feel like canceling all my orders but curiosity has the best of me and I just want this mystery solved. Does anybody know anything about this or has anyone ever experienced anything like this before with Apple ? For now, both of my orders are stuck at the
“order in progress” stage and are not moving at all. I hope somebody out there has some knowledge of what could possibly be going on.

 

[Tommy c]

I'm going to say, maybe CC company won't authorize the charges without permission. What cards are they? Do you use these cards online a lot or outside your state at all? It might be a red flag for them if you don't usually do that.

 

[iSummer717]

I'm going to say, maybe CC company won't authorize the charges without permission. What cards are they? Do you use these cards online a lot or outside your state at all? It might be a red flag for them if you don't usually do that.

3 Totally different cards that I use all the time and have never had a problem with. I called them and they all said that Apple has not attempted any type of payments at all. This seems to have nothing to do with my credit cards but something on Apple’s side.

 

[Tommy c]

3 Totally different cards that I use all the time and have never had a problem with. I called them and they all said that Apple has not attempted any type of payments at all. This seems to have nothing to do with my credit cards but something on Apple’s side.

That is very strange. I have not encountered that. I'm not sure what to tell you on this. Apple can't figure this out?

 

[iSummer717]

That is very strange. I have not encountered that. I'm not sure what to tell you on this. Apple can't figure this out?

They say someone from the payment department will be calling me tomorrow or Tuesday. And they are confident it will all get worked out. They seem to think that something needs to be verified but nobody seems to know what it is. What really frustrates me is that they did not send me any type of notification that there was an issue. I had to find out on my own. You would think I would get an email or some type of notification telling me that there was a problem but I received nothing.

 

[Tommy c]

They say someone from the payment department will be calling me tomorrow or Tuesday. And they are confident it will all get worked out. They seem to think that something needs to be verified but nobody seems to know what it is. What really frustrates me is that they did not send me any type of notification that there was an issue. I had to find out on my own. You would think I would get an email or some type of notification telling me that there was a problem but I received nothing.

I agree on that. Seems very silly, not to do that. Hope it works out! Post back what happens.

 

[iSummer717]

I agree on that. Seems very silly, not to do that. Hope it works out! Post back what happens.

Will do. Thank you!

 

[BigMcGuire]

I’ve had similar problems at other retailers. Once declined you can try any cc and it will be declined. I call my cc and they say said retailer never even attempted a charge. I ended up paying cash because it has only happened to me in person. Never online. . Hope you get this fixed.

My experience with buying iPhones via Apple online is that they are in no rush to do anything.

 

[iSummer717]

I’ve had similar problems at other retailers. Once declined you can try any cc and it will be declined. I call my cc and they say said retailer never even attempted a charge. I ended up paying cash because it has only happened to me in person. Never online. . Hope you get this fixed.

My experience with buying iPhones via Apple online is that they are in no rush to do anything.

I have an appointment to pick up my watch on Friday. If the issue is not resolved by then and they have not canceled the order then I will just go and pay cash but as far as my phone is concerned that is supposed to be delivered to my home so I have no way to pay cash for that. If my phone issue is not resolved by Thursday then I will cancel it and camp out and pick up my watch and phone at the same time.

 

[Nanotyrns]

The next rep you speak to be sure to ask for a supervisor. Last year I had to utter those magic words for it to be escalated probably because they are discouraged from just escalating it on their own.

 

[Packers1958]

I had an issue like that with my CC last year when I bought the X. For some reason, my CC company liked to flag preorder iPhone purchases as possible fraud. You really don't know that they flag it, just that the charge did not go through. My guess is it was because it was an online purchase. So instead i just used my debit card this year instead. Banks dont really care if there is possible fraud when using your own money, but when using their money they start to flag when a lot of other iPhone purchases are happening within minutes of each other when preorder starts.

 

[iSummer717]

The next rep you speak to be sure to ask for a supervisor. Last year I had to utter those magic words for it to be escalated probably because they are discouraged from just escalating it on their own.

Yep. Done that. And supervisor what’s the one who lied to me and said that my payment worked when it didn’t.
[doublepost=1537157778][/doublepost]

I had an issue like that with my CC last year when I bought the X. For some reason, my CC company liked to flag preorder iPhone purchases as possible fraud. You really don't know that they flag it, just that the charge did not go through. My guess is it was because it was an online purchase. So instead i just used my debit card this year instead. Banks dont really care if there is possible fraud when using your own money, but when using their money they start to flag when a lot of other iPhone purchases are happening within minutes of each other when preorder starts.

I tried credit cards and debit. Like I said, the payments were not being declined by the banks but by Apple! Every time Apple tried to process the payment it would deny it and say “needs further review”

 

[Packers1958]

Yep. Done that. And supervisor what’s the one who lied to me and said that my payment worked when it didn’t.
[doublepost=1537157778][/doublepost]
I tried credit cards and debit. Like I said, the payments were not being declined by the banks but by Apple! Every time Apple tried to process the payment it would deny it and say “needs further review”

You didn't set a credit lock in your past to prevent stolen identity? Some people do lock their credit reports and makes it hard to make large purchases.

 

[bizack]

A few days before any pre-order I do a mock purchase (like buying an iPad and then cancelling the order once it reaches the processing phase). I used a new CC this year and the purchase failed to go through (Apple Pay gives you a very nondescript error). I thought it was my billing or shipping address, mucked around with this and the same thing happened when I tried again. I called my CC company and they did indeed put a hold on my card since it was unusual activity to them. I simply told them to expect some fairly high charges coming through via Apple Pay and everything was fixed.

In your case, it sounds like two forms of payment for two different orders might get flagged by Apple. You then went back and updated one of the forms of payment which probably flagged again. If your order went through and you have an order number, Apple plans on fulfilling that order. Also, why would you cancel it on Thursday if nothing happens? What if you go to your Apple Store and the phone you want isn't available? No you've cancelled your order, don't have a phone and have to start over again.

 

[Ariaizadi]

Has there ever been fraudulent activity at Apple on any of your cc’s that you reported to your bank? It seems like your billing info is what is getting flagged. This is a common thing among large online retailers, in most cases they need to verify your info.

 

[MaximTV]

My order's also still stuck in Processing, but I do see two pending charges (from 2 days ago) on my CC...

One is a 1€ charge and the other one is the total amount of the order charge.

I really do hope that my order (and yours, of course) go into Preparing to Ship soon enough for delivery on launch day.

 

[iSummer717]

You didn't set a credit lock in your past to prevent stolen identity? Some people do lock their credit reports and makes it hard to make large purchases.

No, I did not. And for the iPhone order it’s only $78 for taxes .
[doublepost=1537160520][/doublepost]

A few days before any pre-order I do a mock purchase (like buying an iPad and then cancelling the order once it reaches the processing phase). I used a new CC this year and the purchase failed to go through (Apple Pay gives you a very nondescript error). I thought it was my billing or shipping address, mucked around with this and the same thing happened when I tried again. I called my CC company and they did indeed put a hold on my card since it was unusual activity to them. I simply told them to expect some fairly high charges coming through via Apple Pay and everything was fixed.

In your case, it sounds like two forms of payment for two different orders might get flagged by Apple. You then went back and updated one of the forms of payment which probably flagged again. If your order went through and you have an order number, Apple plans on fulfilling that order. Also, why would you cancel it on Thursday if nothing happens? What if you go to your Apple Store and the phone you want isn't available? No you've cancelled your order, don't have a phone and have to start over again.

I understand your story but the difference is that when I called my credit card company and they all said that there were no attempts made by Apple take a payment. The payment for the iPhone is only $78 in taxes. So that’s not such a large amount. The Apple rep told me that the payments were not declined but that it needed further review. Nobody could tell me what that means .
[doublepost=1537160628][/doublepost]

Has there ever been fraudulent activity at Apple on any of your cc’s that you reported to your bank? It seems like your billing info is what is getting flagged. This is a common thing among large online retailers, in most cases they need to verify your info.

Not that I know of not that anyone has mentioned to me. I certainly hope that’s not the case. But if they needed to verify any information I just don’t understand why they didn’t notify me or send me an email asking to call to verify whatever it is they need.
[doublepost=1537160827][/doublepost]

My order's also still stuck in Processing, but I do see two pending charges (from 2 days ago) on my CC...

One is a 1€ charge and the other one is the total amount of the order charge.

I really do hope that my order (and yours, of course) go into Preparing to Ship soon enough for delivery on launch day.

If you have a pending charge then I’m pretty sure your order will be shipping very soon. As for myself I have no pending charges at all because there have been no attempts by Apple to take a payment. But I do know from years of pre-orders that once your card is charged your status will change to preparing to ship very shortly after. Enjoy your new phone .