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Embarrassing "your card has been declined" stories

tag
iced
Valued Contributor

Re: Embarrassing "your card has been declined" stories


wrote:

I was at Giant Food with $100 worth of groceries and a $500 gift card at the register with the CSP in hand. Swipe one - "unauthorized". Hmm. Perhaps CSP doesn't authorize purchasing gift cards. Swipe two minus the gift card - "unauthorized".

 

The cashier gives me this look while I give my CSP the good ol' "Ben Affleck's The Accountant" face. I'm nowhere near my limit.

 

 2ywz8z9Cwbcwx2WIAArQ75

While talking to the Chase CSR and verifying my identity, I was asked if I wanted to try the transaction again. I kindly advised them I was already home as I couldn't bare to wait in line, but that I did resort to using my Amex to complete the purchase. Saying the word Amex must've struck the right chord. The CSR went into overpolite mode and assured it would not happen again.

 

In Chase's defence, I suppose $500 gift cards are uncommon.


Chase has a pretty solid fraud detection system in place. I don't think it's that buynig $500 gift cards are uncommon, if you're at a store/site where large purchases are more common (electronics, airline, appliances, etc). Buying $500 gift cards at a grocery store does feel a bit more uncommon and even a little suspicious. That's probably what tripped it up. I also think they profile your spending habits and when you deviate from it, they can flag it, too. Why do I think that? Well...

 

Though not directly a 'declined' story, my (current) embarrassing moment is that last week my CSR's number seemed to have leaked (almost certainly a server at a restaurant skimmed it) and someone tried using it to buy $37 worth of gas at a convenience store. Except the thing is, I never, ever use the CSR for gas because that aint coded dining or travel, and Chase knows my habits. They flagged it as fraud immediately and it was declined, so no harm done, but I had to decline overnight shipment of the replacement card since they use UPS and accepting UPS packages is like pulling teeth (that's for another thread). In the meantime, I've been CSR-less and had to ring up dining/travel on another card, which hurts every....single...time. I know, first world problem and tiny violins.

 

On the bright side, the ApplePay seemed to have instantly updated with the new number so I'm already up and running at restaurants that accept contactless.

Message 31 of 44
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Embarrassing "your card has been declined" stories

I was the Director of a respite program that provided services for people with developmental disabilities.

They were all excited we were going to Disney Land.  We took a charter bus from Vegas to Disney, the charter company asked for our credit card for “extras”. Mind you we had paid for the bus already (checks). We get to the hotel, I have 50 disabled folks, 15 staff and the bus driver. Hand the hotel my company issued credit card and I get declined, she runs it again, declined. Now I know we pay the card off monthly and I have a 10,000 limit the rooms were only going to be 3500 so I was confused, not to mention embarrassed. I called the President of the company, she gets right on the phone with the credit card company and they raised my limit (they are a multi-million-dollar company, so it was no biggie to raise the limit).

                We found out later during the trip that the Charter bus company had taken our payment on the credit card, not the check we had given them (on accident). Everyone did have a wonderful time at Disney though.

Message 32 of 44
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Embarrassing "your card has been declined" stories

My very wealthy friend was visiting me in NYC from LA. I took her on her first subway ride and when I go to refill my MetroCard with $5.00, DECLINED.

 

Turns out my mom wasn't happy that I had an expensive lunch beforehand, so my AU limit on my Amex was set to $0. And that's where it stayed forever more.

Message 33 of 44
2GreenThumbs
Frequent Contributor

Re: Embarrassing "your card has been declined" stories


wrote:

About 18 years ago, when I was in my late 20s, friends of mine introduced me to a friend of theirs that they thought was a perfect match for me.  We went out on a double date and had a great time. 

 

A couple of days later, I called her at work to see how her day was going and she was having a horrible day.  Since she worked downtown and I lived downtown, I suggested she come over after work and we could go grab dinner and some drinks.  She took me up on my offer and we went to one of my hangouts a block away from my apartment.  We spent 3-4 hours there, had a great time, and she really got to relax after a rough day at work.  After I threw down my debit card to pay the bill, our waitress (who I knew) came back and said "Sorry, it was declined.  I ran it 3 times".  Before I could get my wallet out, my date threw down one of her cards and picked up the check.  I felt like a complete idiot. 

 

I knew I had plenty of money in the account, so I couldn't understand what happened....until I hit up the ATM the next day.  The ATM gave me a PIN error and I looked at the card like "What is going on here?!?".  At that point, I noticed someone else's name on what I thought was my card.  I had been to the same restaurant a few nights earlier and they gave me back the wrong card when I paid.  As soon as I showed up at that restauant, they knew exactly what had happened and had my card waiting for me.

 

As embarrassing as that was, all is not lost.  Flash forward to the present...my date from that night and I just celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary.  She still teases me about that night.


I wanted to kudo your post but couldn't.  What a great story!


Message 34 of 44
Gregory1776
Valued Contributor

Re: Embarrassing "your card has been declined" stories


wrote:

About 18 years ago, when I was in my late 20s, friends of mine introduced me to a friend of theirs that they thought was a perfect match for me.  We went out on a double date and had a great time. 

 

A couple of days later, I called her at work to see how her day was going and she was having a horrible day.  Since she worked downtown and I lived downtown, I suggested she come over after work and we could go grab dinner and some drinks.  She took me up on my offer and we went to one of my hangouts a block away from my apartment.  We spent 3-4 hours there, had a great time, and she really got to relax after a rough day at work.  After I threw down my debit card to pay the bill, our waitress (who I knew) came back and said "Sorry, it was declined.  I ran it 3 times".  Before I could get my wallet out, my date threw down one of her cards and picked up the check.  I felt like a complete idiot. 

 

I knew I had plenty of money in the account, so I couldn't understand what happened....until I hit up the ATM the next day.  The ATM gave me a PIN error and I looked at the card like "What is going on here?!?".  At that point, I noticed someone else's name on what I thought was my card.  I had been to the same restaurant a few nights earlier and they gave me back the wrong card when I paid.  As soon as I showed up at that restauant, they knew exactly what had happened and had my card waiting for me.

 

As embarrassing as that was, all is not lost.  Flash forward to the present...my date from that night and I just celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary.  She still teases me about that night.


Awwwwee!!!!! 😍😍😍😍😍😍

Message 35 of 44
Gregory1776
Valued Contributor

Re: Embarrassing "your card has been declined" stories


wrote:

Went to pay for gas one day and it told me to go inside to pay. Strange, but I thought the card reader might be out of order, so I went inside. I must've asked the poor cashier to run it three times because I just didn't understand it. I could see exactly how much money I had in my account from the app, and it was well over what they were asking me to pay. In the end, I had to rummage through my car to see if there was any emergency cash and luckily, there was just enough. With the cashier and the other customers around waiting for me, it was just awkward.

 

As soon I got back to my car after paying, it dawned on me. I can block or unblock my debit card at any time from my phone. I use this function any time I "lose" my card and unblock it once I find it in my bed or on my desk or in my couch. Guess I forgot to unblock it. Facepalmed so hard.


It’s happened with me and my Discover card! 😒

Message 36 of 44
Gregory1776
Valued Contributor

Re: Embarrassing "your card has been declined" stories


wrote:

I was at Giant Food with $100 worth of groceries and a $500 gift card at the register with the CSP in hand. Swipe one - "unauthorized". Hmm. Perhaps CSP doesn't authorize purchasing gift cards. Swipe two minus the gift card - "unauthorized".

 

The cashier gives me this look while I give my CSP the good ol' "Ben Affleck's The Accountant" face. I'm nowhere near my limit.

 

 2ywz8z9Cwbcwx2WIAArQ75

While talking to the Chase CSR and verifying my identity, I was asked if I wanted to try the transaction again. I kindly advised them I was already home as I couldn't bare to wait in line, but that I did resort to using my Amex to complete the purchase. Saying the word Amex must've struck the right chord. The CSR went into overpolite mode and assured it would not happen again.

 

In Chase's defence, I suppose $500 gift cards are uncommon.


OH MY MIGHT HAVE TO REMEMBER THIS!!! 😁😁😁😁😁😉😉😉😉

Message 37 of 44
Gregory1776
Valued Contributor

Re: Embarrassing "your card has been declined" stories

My most recent decline was purchasing some ice cream for myself and my brother  at a   Convenience store. Drove to my bank and found out it was a fraud alert and they had shut my card down. 

 

 They printed a new card and went and I got my 🍨😊

Message 38 of 44
Peteyglad
Established Contributor

Re: Embarrassing "your card has been declined" stories

Not a full decline, but more me more a bonehead.

 

My buddy wanted to have his 40th birthday in Vegas this past November. I flew in from Atlanta on a Friday and we hit the strip pretty good Friday night. He had wanted to see Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon so I had rented a car for the next day. Saturday morning we got up and went to pick up the car. Was advised it only had quarter of a tank of gas in it. The lady said just to bring it back with the same amount of fuel in it.

 

So the first thing I do is go get gas. Pull into the pumps and turn the car off to start pumping. Turns out I didn't check the location of the gas door on the car. It was on the passenger side, not the drivers side as I was accustomed. So I start the car up and pull around to the correct side to get gas.

 

So I shove my Venture card into the machine and it gives me a card rear error. I do it again only faster. No dice. I try again only slower. No dice again and the keypad tells me to go inside. I am a little flustered as I have a $32,000 limit on this card with a balance of only a few bucks. As I am taking it out I see that the card had been inserted the wrong way into the mag reader. Doh!

 

So I decided to go to another pump. I pull in and shut the car off. You know the deal, I pulled up on the wrong side of the pump again! Get in the car and swing on by another pump facing the correct direction. Slide the card into the reader and another error message. At this point my friend was asking if he needed to pay for the gas. UGH. So I look and of course I was still putting the card in the wrong way! So I finally put it in the correct way and the gas starts flowing!

 

So it turned out good in the end, but I was pretty embarassed that my friend thought he was going to have to pay for gas!

Chase Sapphire Preferred 20k | Amex Delta Platinum 20k | Amex Hilton Aspire 20k | US Bank Cash+ 25k | Chase Amazon Prime 25k | Barclaycard Aviator Red 40k | Bank of America Alaska Airlines 42k | Chase Marriott 50k | Discover It 50.3k | Amex EDP 52k | Citi Thank You Premier 56K | Bank of America BBR 57.9k
Message 39 of 44
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Embarrassing "your card has been declined" stories

Not a credit card decline but similar embarrassing incident.

One of the benefits that comes with the Chase Sapphire Reserve is Priority Pass access to their airport lounges. They send you a Priority Pass card which looks like a credit card with an expiration date.

I was on a business trip and had met up with a guy friend/business partner at the airport. I suggested we go to the lounge, get some coffee & breakfast, relax before our our flight. "I have a Priority Pass card. We can totally get in for free!", I said.

We get there and the agent swipes my Priority Pass card and it declined....it had JUST expired the month before. I forgot to throw that one away and put the new one in my travel gear.

The card is the only way to get into the lounges (unless you pay). I tried showing her my CSR or giving her my name & account number but she wasn't having it. I was so embarrassed.
Message 40 of 44
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