Walmart pay stuck on pending?

TyrannicalDuncery2 — Wed, 21 Feb 2024 02:39:26 GMT

I have a Walmart pay transaction that is stuck in a pending* state, but my card has been charged. Has this happened to anyone else? If so, how did you resolve it?

*Transaction is pending in the app, I'm not talking about the pending charge on my card. This is different from the usual behavior I get from Walmart pay, where the transaction completes but the charge is still pending on my card for a day or two.

I'm going back and forth with Walmart, they are escalating but it is weird to them as well. Here are the details:

I used Walmart pay today in a US store.
My card was charged, but in Walmart pay the transaction did not complete (I was unable to take my items).
Instead, the Walmart pay app showed me a popup message telling me that the transaction was pending, please wait. The card-swipey checkout thing also told me that there was some kind of error. That lasted about a minute, then I closed the app and gave up.
I cannot reproduce the error message now, and I can't find any record of the transaction in Walmart pay. However, Walmart customer service confirmed that the charge was still in a pending state several hours later, and the charge appears as pending on my credit card interface.

Here's what I've done to diagnose the issue:

Ongoing interaction with customer service. They said they would have the technical people call me back. I will update this if I learn anything useful.
Considered other possible causes, in order of how likely I think they are (most to least):
- Suspicious activity. I was trying to buy a Visa gift card ($50), and this may have triggered some kind of fraud flag or something. However, I think there is still significant doubt about this and I don't think it is the full explanation:
  - My credit card (the payment source for Walmart pay) was charged (see below).
  - I am aware of many recent cases where people have been able to buy much larger Visa gift cards in Walmart pay with no issue.
  - I am also aware of a few cases where people have been unable to do so. In the cases I know of, this never led to the underlying payment source being charged, and never manifested as a "stuck in pending" state. The cases I know of led to the app freezing or to the transaction being declined by Walmart pay or by the payment source. Of course, things can vary. It just seems weird that they would charge my card. I guess it could be a hold or something that they set up before doing the rest of their validation steps.
  - In my uninformed opinion, I don't have any pattern of past suspicious activity. I've never bought a gift card, used money services, or received a refund from Walmart.
- Set up incorrectly. I think this is possible. I have made many large and small Walmart pay transactions, including recent ones, using the same phone and the same payment source in the same store around the same time of day. However, my Android version (7.0) became unsupported for Walmart pay during the past few months. I have been able to make Walmart pay transactions since this happened, but maybe some things don't work. I took another look after the failed transaction, and some minor features in Walmart pay are not working. I also have never used human checkout until this failed transaction.
- Fluke. I have not checked this cause yet. I haven't tried using Walmart pay again since this happened. I'll update if I do.
- Declined by my credit card company. I am 99% sure that this was not the cause. My card was charged. I spoke to my credit card company on the phone before the transaction, to let them know that I was about to make the purchase. I also spoke to my credit card company after the transaction; they said that it had gone through and there was nothing unusual about it. Sometimes my credit card company sends me an email or text to notify me of suspected fraud or ask me to authorize a transaction. I did not receive any such message. I did receive a text message immediately, telling me that my card had been charged.

Re: Walmart pay stuck on pending?

pizzadude — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 21:29:38 GMT

Moving to Credit Cards forum for better visibility

Re: Walmart pay stuck on pending?

CorpCrMgr1 — Wed, 21 Feb 2024 00:22:15 GMT

Not with my WM store card.

Re: Walmart pay stuck on pending?

TyrannicalDuncery2 — Wed, 21 Feb 2024 02:40:08 GMT

@CorpCrMgr1 wrote:
Not with my WM store card.

Thanks @CorpCrMgr1 !! Are you saying that you've never had the pending state, or just never on your WM card?

Re: Walmart pay stuck on pending?

CorpCrMgr1 — Wed, 21 Feb 2024 02:43:04 GMT

@TyrannicalDuncery2 wrote:
@CorpCrMgr1 wrote:
Not with my WM store card.
Thanks @CorpCrMgr1 !! Are you saying that you've never had the pending state, or just never on your WM card?

Never on WM store card or other Cap1 cards. On Comenity CCs the posting and payments take an extra day or two.

Re: Walmart pay stuck on pending?

TyrannicalDuncery2 — Wed, 21 Feb 2024 17:38:35 GMT

On Comenity CCs the posting and payments take an extra day or two.

Sweet, thanks! With those Comenity cards, are you able to pay in store with Walmart pay and leave with your items? Do you getting a pending message in the Walmart pay app?

For me, I just got a pending message that lasted about a minute, an error message on the little checkout card-swipey thing, gave up, closed the app, and didn't leave with my items. The charge is still pending on my card 3 days later (normal), but as far as the Walmart pay app is concerned, the transaction never even happened. Only Walmart customer service can see my transaction, and they can tell that it is still stuck in a pending state.

(Mind you that's only after I basically had to defeat 3 customer service reps in single combat to get someone to look at that. No shade on them. They're great, hate the game not the player.)

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