Credit Card Billing System Broken?

Google isn't getting through to the UK bank

[chrisk999]

Hi there,

I'm getting an error saying 'Card declined' on my adwords account.

When I rung up my bank (Barclays UK) they said they hadn't received any requests from Google to charge the account today, and they certainly hadn't declined the transaction, nor would with the present balance currently.

So this must mean that Google isn't getting through to actually billing the credit card?

Anyone else having this trouble today?

Cheers,

Chris

[Shak]

Chris,

Have you tried emailing or calling Google on this yet?

no problems here...

Shak

[chrisk999]

Thanks Shak - I will do. Seems odd though - been using Adwords for ages with no problems. (I haven't changed anything... honest)

Chris

[AdWordsAdvisor]

chrisk999, just saw your post - must have missed it earlier.

Below, I've pasted some info from a previous post on the same subject (plagerizing myself, in this case!) I hope you might find some useful info here:

When you call your bank, don't just ask about funds available. There are a variety of other factors to ask about. For example:

* Is there a limit to the maximum amount for a single charge?

* Is there a limit to the number of times the card can be charged in 'x' number of days?

* Is it OK to use the card to be billed from an Online source?

* Is it OK to use the card for automated billings, or does the bank have to call a real person occasionally to verify the charge?

AWA

[chrisk999]

Thanks AWA - it turns out that there was actually another more unusual problem with the account, which manifested itself by saying 'card declined' when attempting to bill.

Adwords support were very helpful when I gave them a ring, and all it's all sorted now.

Cheers,

Chris

[colinirwin]

If the Google billing is originated from the States then it could be a problem with Barclaycard's systems. In the past couple of months we have had big problems paying people in the USA by Barclaycard. When I spoke to Barclaycard they told me there are 2 problems -

1. That something is wrong with the systems that process card transactions from US to UK. A transaction can be initialised but never reaches the target bank for validation.

2. That something was wrong with one of their systems and that as a consequence many 'suspicious transaction' alerts were being raised for payments originating from the States.

Sounds like you may be suffering from (1) above.
The solution is to ring Barclaycard, tell them you're just about to run a transaction and ask them to confirm a request is received. If it isn't chase them to sort it out for you - it's their problem and it makes you look bad.

Col