American Express payment method falsely declining card

[tjg]

Hi,

I sent in a contact form earlier today. I'm kind of surprised there is no auto-reply set up with it to confirm receipt of the message. Anyway, spotify.com is declining my AmEx with both the front and back CVV/CVC codes (only thing I could think of). I tried last Friday and also today. I also tried both IE and FireFox. I called AmEx and they report no holds on my account and confirmed the purchase should go through.

Please let me know can be done.

If this is a standing, can you please provide an Upgrade code in the meantime so that my phone app will work until you get the issue(s) resolved?

Thanks,

Tom G

[ohnoes]

Sam, thank you for your response. I do not mean to come across as having a very short fuse or being an unpleasant individual, but when you are spending 11 hours a day at work, it really does not leave a lot of time for trying to sort out issues like this one, especially when an issue doesn't seem to be escalated to the correct channels.

If you require additional information from me let me know.

[ohnoes]

Still, like talking to a brick wall.

Was suggested that I try a different browser and clear my cookies and cache. To humour support, I tried their suggestion and was met with the same error (surprise surprise!)

Their final advice?

Hi There,

Thanks for your email to us at Spotify.

Sorry your are still having these problems, the other suggestion I have would be to register you Amex through PayPal.

Hopefully this helps.

Spotify- you either accept AMEX or you do not. Please explain to me why I have to use paypal to pay with a payment method you (supposedly) accept directly?

The quality of the support I have receieved is shocking. Your agents don't seem to know what to do or who to escalate to. How can I highlight there is an issue on your site to you? Feels like I would be better off hitting my head against a brick wall.

If you do not want to fix the issue on your site just tell me and I'll leave it alone, but please do not avoid my questions regarding this problem!

[ohnoes]

And no more help since then.

Disgusting, unacceptable and darn right stupid customer service.

I've cancelled my subscription and do not plan on renewing solely because of the replies I got from support. Nobody cares I have a problem, much less how they can fix it.

[jcdang]

@ohnoes

Have you tried getting a Visa and putting an Amex sticker over the Visa logo?  I believe there is an exploit in Spotify's system that will allow you to use an Amex card if you select the Visa option and the sticker technique.

Honestly though I've been using Rdio without any issues.

[ohnoes]

Quality mate, thanks for the tip about rdio. Am having a look now. Seems to do the job so far!

[gtrain]

Same problem here - Amex works, not expired, in same issuing country, etc.

Haven't heard or Rdio but now considering giving it a go.

[BigPussyCat]

My old AMEX worked fine now as it expired I have a new card and it gets rejected instantly, I doubt its even making it to AMEX at all. I would guess they have some flawed verification going on.. 

Well if they don't the money then thats there problem..

[simleon]

I have he same problem with my Amex.... 

[Barmybuckle]

I'm getting the same problem, any update Spotify?

[simleon]

I think it's incredible that company like Spotify has such a terrible customer support.

I have the same problem with my Amex... I wrote to the customer support and this is what I got:

Hi there, 

Thanks for getting in touch, 

Sorry to hear you've had problems with paying for your Spotify account.

Please check the following requirements that need to be met for a payment to be successfully made:

1. Your card must not have expired. If you have received a new card, please update your card details on your Subscription page: https://www.spotify.com/account/subscription/

2. The country set in your Spotify account profile must match the country where your card is registered. If you intend to use a payment method in another country, you can make this selection on your Subscription page (We can only accept payment from our launch countries).

3. Your card should be enabled for e-commerce transactions (Verified by Visa/Mastercard securecard card).

4. Your card must be open to be used for foreign purchases.

5. There are some banks that require other security authentication, the most common being 3DSecure.

Once you have checked all of the above, please try again to subscribe from the subscription page of your account.

Let us know if you still have trouble

Best wishes

Spotify Customer Services

Cambridge

They didn't even look at what I wrote in my email... and they sent a standard email template. After this email, I had no reply at all when I replied sayng I checked each point but still my Amex isn't working on their system. Crazy! I will use Rdio, Spotify doesn't deserve our money!

[simleon]

Many other users are still having the same issue with AMEX... including myself. Can you please help us?

[user-removed]

I previously had a subscription running from an AmEx card (UK bank, Lloyds TSB) and it worked perfectly.

Now I have a new AmEx card (direct from them - not through a bank), and the new card will not register on Spotify.

Judging by the terrible support and general lack of interest on this issue that Spotify have been displaying, I won't be holding my breath for a fix...

Time to bust out the old Visa debit card.

[timmas1]

same thing with me... my card worked the first time of purchase now it doesnt work and i still have money in there. They should really do something about this! D;

[Creation02]

I've been trying for months now I was using spotify premium everyday to listen to music while working and I tried switching my payment method to my AmEx Bluebird card and neither the cvs/cvc codes work so guess I'm done using spotify

[sidetalker]

so I guess AmEx is not supported....doesnt work for me either. any help?

[bguerreiro82]

Hi,

I had tried to change my payment method to use my american express a few months back but I kept getting an error.

I ended up using my paypal account instead.

Today, AMEX sent me an e-mail saying that they are giving £9.99 cashback when paying spotify premium using an AMEX card.

I tried a few times to change the payment method from paypal to AMEX but it fails all the time.

How can I add my AMEX card successfully?

[Sam]

@bguerreiro82 I can delete your payment details from here if you'd like, it may kick start things into gear. Would you like me to? 

[bguerreiro82]

Amex is offering a £9.99 cashback for users who use their AMEX to pay spotify's subscription.

I find it a bit weird that AMEX sent this cashback promotion.

[jr10003]

I just got an offer from AMEX for spotfiy premium and the bloody card will not be accepted!

This seems to be a long standing problem. I am letting Amex know that their promotion is bacfiring rather badly.

[thisisjames]

Same problem here. My card is being declined for an unspecified reason.

"Could not update payment details

Sorry, we could not update your payment details.

Go back and try again or go back to your subscription page "

That's a really unhelpful error message, by the way, Spotify.

Anyway, I assume Spotify has arranged this promotion to secure more customers.  Pretty awful bit of PR if those new customers can't actually sign up.  I've spoken to AmEx who tell me it's a Spotify problem. 

Spotify: please confirm what is being done to fix this.