Paying for Premium: Oops, seems your card or payment provider is having a bad day

[robsawyer]

**********************************************UPDATE**********************************************

(I wanted to include the most recent info (from April 9th, 2015) so folks can easily find it on the first post - the original post is below)

Update - It seems that Support has identified the issue. According to Spotify, they had encountered fraudulent attempts to use my credit card to subscribe to Spotify, which temporarily prevented it from making payments. I still don't understand why this stopped me from paying with my other Credit Cards though.

I am happy to have a solution.

Below is the update from Support:

Hi there,

Your case was passed to me to follow up on the message you sent us on Twitter. 

I'm sorry to see you've been running into these issues however I'm pleased to confirm that you should now be able to subscribe as normal with your credit card. It seems the issue here is that some fraudulent attempts have been made using your card by an unauthorised third party and so it was temporarily prevented from making payments. To ensure that his doesn't cause further issues for you I would recommend reviewing your bank statement and notifying your bank of the problem...

Please let us know if you run in to any further problems.

Kind regards,

Joe

Spotify Customer Service - Cambridge

Follow our customer service team @spotifycares for all things Spotify

 **************************************************************************************************

I know there are other posts regarding this issue - just wanted to share my situation incase I am able to help others:

I received messages via my Spotify App (OSX) stating "We've been unable to renew your subscription becuase of a payment problem. To keep your subscription, please update your payment details." I also received a corresponding email with the subject "Please check your Premium payment details" requesting that I update my payment info.

I logged into Spotify, using Google Chrome on my mac running OSX and attempted to update my Credit Card info using the form found at https://www.spotify.com/us/payment/change/

I entered my current VISA credit card info (which had not expired - so it was the same info as Spotify currently had on file) and attempted to submit. I received the following error after submission: "Oops, seems your card or payment provider is having a bad day. Don't worry, no money has been charged. Try again or use another payment method."

I immediately contacted my Credit Card company (in this case, VISA) and spoke with a service rep who was able to confirm that:

1. There was no issue regarding my card (in fact, I used the card earlier that day and continue to use it with no issues).
2. VISA had not denied any attempted charge to my account from Spotify.
3. VISA had not received any attempted charge from Spotify against my account on that day.

At this point, I curiously returned to https://www.spotify.com/us/payment/change/ and attempted to update my credit card info with an entirely different AMERICAN EXPRESS card. Much to my surprise, I was greeted with the same error: "Oops, seems your card or payment provider is having a bad day. Don't worry, no money has been charged. Try again or use another payment method."

Once again, I picked up the phone and called the American Express help line where I was able to confirm that:

1. There was no issue regarding my card.
2. AMERICAN EXPRESS had not denied any attempted charge from Spotify.
3. AMERICAN EXPRESS had not received any attempted charge from Spotify against my account.

At this point in time, I figured that this must be a platform or browser related issue. As I mentioned prior, I had attempted to update my info using Google Chrome on Mac OSX. As a test, I then tried to update my payment info using:

- Mac OSX - Google Chrome in Incognito Mode

- Max OSX - Safari

- Mac OSX - FireFox

- Windows 7 - Google Chrome

- Windows 7 - FireFox

- iOS version 8.1.2 - Safari

- iOS version 8.1.2 - Google Chrome

I was able to replicate the same error on all platforms and browsers.

After all of my attempts to find a fix for this on my own, I filed a support case. I quickly received the standard "No-Reply" reply message and replied to that email to ensure that my case was viewed by a support specialist. I included a detailed summary of the error that I was encountering, including screen shots and information gathered from the credit card help lines. I also sent a tweet to @SpotifyCares requesting assistance. @SpotifyCares replied back and informed me that they would take a look "backstage."

This morning, I recieved a support case reply from a Spotify Customer Support team member telling me that my transaction was refused by my credit card company, and that I would need to contact my Credit Card company again. This felt like a standard boiler plate reply, but I did as they requested and contacted the Credit Card company again. I was able to re-confirm that I have no blocks on my account which would result in charges from Spotify being denied.

As a last ditch test, I attempted to use an entirely different credit card this morning (the third card I have attempted to enter) and, much to my surprise - I received the same error: "Oops, seems your card or payment provider is having a bad day. Don't worry, no money has been charged. Try again or use another payment method."

Summary:

1. Spotify informed me that they have been unable to charge my credit card and asked that I update my payment info.
2. I attempted to update payment info with VISA card and received the  "Oops, seems your card or payment provider is having a bad day..." error.
3. I contacted VISA - no issues with account and no attempted charges from Spotify.
4. I attempted to update info with VISA card across multiple platforms (OSX, Windows 7 and iOS) and browsers (Chrome, Safari and Firefox) and continued to receive the same error.
5. I attempted to update payment info with new AMERICAN EXPRESS card and received the  "Oops, seems your card or payment provider is having a bad day..." error.
6. I contacted AMERICAN EXPRESS - no issues with account and no attempted charges from Spotify.
7. I contacted support using the online form and by contacting @SpotifyCares.
8. I received a reply email from support once again claiming that the error was on my credit card's side.
9. I recontacted both Credit Card companies and re-confirmed that both accounts were good, there were no issues that would lead to Spotify charges being denied.
10. I replied to support explaining what I was once again told by the Credit Card support specialists.
11. As a last ditch effort, I tried an ENTIRELY new credit card and received the "Oops, seems your card or payment provider is having a bad day..." error AGAIN.

I will update with information as it becomes available...

rob

[kidcarlosuk1]

I have this issue,  also coupled with the NUS student registration issue.

What a joke of a set up..  Working with support now, but not convinced ill get thie resolved anytime soon.

[southpaw83]

same here

[Rorey]

Hey everyone. We believe we've fixed this issue now. Please let us know if you're still experiencing this. Otherwise, we're going to close this thread shortly.