Payment declined for Amazon orders, intermittent issue

  • Nibz's Avatar
    Window shopper
    I have seen at least 3 posts from other Tesco CC customers each having the same problem with Amazon purchases as myself, namely, having clicked the buy now with Amazon I get the e-mail to say the product is ordered only to get another e-mail 7 minutes later from Amazon reporting that the payment has been declined by Tesco CC. This issue started well over a year ago for me but is not a problem with every purchase. Last year I made 40 purchases from Amazon and 25 went OK but 15 were halted due to payment being declined. In the early days I tried reloading the card details but that made no difference so do not bother now, just change payment method for the purchase and it goes through. But the Tesco CC is the default card and works 25/40 times. Have spoken with both Tesco and Amazon and both suggest the issue is with the other party. Bearing in mind my purchases with my other payment methods go through without fail it would appear to be a Tesco CC issue. However, I managed to speak to a Tesco back end support team on one occasion and they waited for me to place an order with Amazon. A few minutes after getting the “order confirmed” e-mail I also got the Payment Declined e-mail from Amazon, yet the Tesco team could not see any payment request message from Amazon!! This would suggest that there could be a time out issue within the Amazon system, or the messaging between Amazon and Tesco. Does anyone have any idea what the issue could be? What am I missing?
  • 8 Replies

  • KevinC's Avatar
    Employee
    Hi @Nibz, thanks for that information about using your card for Amazon purchases. It would appear to be an error on Amazon's side. If there are no blocks or restrictions on your card from Tesco Bank side and you are able to use your card for other online or in-store purchases, then the issue is with Amazon. If your card was blocked from our side, then that would affect either all online transactions or both your online and in-store purchases. We wouldn't be able to put 'blocks' on specific companies or stores. I would tend to agree that there could be an issue with the Amazon system but cannot say for sure what exactly that is. If we are not seeing a 'payment request' on our system from Amazon then it looks like the request is not reaching us as such - Kevin
  • AmyM's Avatar
    Your Community Manager
    Hey @Nibz 😊

    Have you got this issue resolved?
  • Nibz's Avatar
    Window shopper
    AmyM, no I've not got a resolution as yet. I was hoping that someone else may have had the same issue and had it resolved. I'm sure it is an Amazon issue but they refuse to acknowledge it, at least to me. My wife can buy via Amazon, using her Tesco CC (Joint account so essentially the same as my card details) and she has no issues, so it points to an issue with my Amazon account when paying with Tesco CC as my other payment methods never fail!!
  • AmyM's Avatar
    Your Community Manager
    Thanks for getting back to me @Nibz 😊

    Can you try deleting the card from your Amazon account and then adding it back on?
  • Nibz's Avatar
    Window shopper
    I've done that already, many times to try to sort the issue but still the same problem. Bizarre thing is, the wifes card is exactly the same as mine, just a different initial and her purchases go through fine through her Amazon account. I guess that is something to try now, use her name/card for purchases on my Amazon account. This is just infuriating as I've made separate purchases on the same day before where one goes through but the other gets declined. Has never happened to me with other payment methods/cards but I see from this forum that others have suffered the same issue with Amazon purchases using Tesco CC so there must be an issue somewhere.
  • KevinC's Avatar
    Employee
    Hi @Nibz. There are currently issues with some customers trying to use their credit cards with Amazon. If you are able to use your card for other online purchases without any issue then the problem would be with Amazon. We would not block individual companies or merchants, if there was a block on your card, then it would affect all online purchases and possibly in store purchases too. Have you received a new card recently and removed the old one from the Amazon account? If you have the latest version of our mobile app then we would send a push notification there to allow you to authenticate the purchase. If you don't have the mobile app, then we would send a one-time passcode to your registered mobile phone by SMS - Kevin
  • Nibz's Avatar
    Window shopper
    Kevin, thanks for your input. I'm 99% sure the issue is with Amazon or the method they use to push payment requests to Tesco. I managed to speak with one of your backend support guys once who advised me that Tesco had not even had a request for payment from Tesco yet I'd already had the payment declined e-mail from Amazon. I have tried talking to Amazon support who at first say they are aware of an ongoing issue but then just get back to me with the fix being to delete and re add the card, which doesn't work. It is impossible to talk to anyone on the Amazon side who has a real clue as to what or where the problem is. I had hoped that others may see this post on the Tesco forum and be able to shed some more light on the issue.
  • AmyM's Avatar
    Your Community Manager
    Very strange @Nibz!

    Especially since your wife's account and as you say, identical card, is working fine!

    I know my Tesco CC was declining transactions for a while, but it was across all online merchants/websites and it was because I had blocked my 3Dsecure whilst updating my Tesco Grocery order multiple times in one day. But if all other merchants are working fine for you, I'm at a loss as to what this could be!

    Keep us updated though as if there are any other customers on Community who are struggling with this same issue, your resolution will certainly help them get to the bottom of it!