South African debit card not working

[guitarshredda15]

Plan

Premium

Country

South Africa

Device

Galaxy S9+, Windows PC

Operating System

Android, Windows 10

My Question or Issue

Good day,

My old debit card expired that I was using for premium subscriptiont. I am trying to update with my new debit card but I keep getting an error message. I contacted my bank (First National Bank, South Africa) and they told me it is set up for online purchases and recurring online billing, so it's an issue from Spotify side. My partner also has the same card and cannot join Spotify at all.

I know this card works for online recurring payments as I have a subscription with Google.

Trying to update my subscription

[Maxim]

Hey @guitarshredda15 ,

Thanks for reaching out.

I'd recommend making sure that you're entering the right payment details.

You can also check out this support article for some more steps that you can try.

Let me know how it goes. 🙂

[guitarshredda15]

Thanks for the response. I have tried everything, Spotify does not accept this card. My partner also cannot join Spotify either. I am very confused as my old debit card from the same bank worked flawlessly for many months. 
Is there no one from South Africa who can advise on this? Surely other people must be having the same issues with these debit cards and Spotify subscriptions?

[Maxim]

Hey @guitarshredda15 ,

Thanks for letting me know.

Can you please try the following steps:

• Try again in an incognito/private window in your browser
• Try updating your payment method from a different network
• Try with a different device

If you're still having troubles after that, please try the following steps:

1. Cancel your subscription.
2. Wait for your account to revert to Free. You can check this on your subscription page.
   Tip: You won’t lose any music or account settings by reverting to Free, but you will need to redownload anything you’ve made available for offline listening once you’re back on Premium.
3. Resubscribe to Premium.

Let me know how it goes 🙂

[guitarshredda15]

Hey! I have now tried all that you have suggested. Even cancelled my subscription and tried to resubscribe. Still does not work. 

[Maxim]

Hey @guitarshredda15 ,

Thanks for letting me know.

After cancelling, did you wait for your account to revert back to Free before re-subscribing?

Let me know 🙂

[guitarshredda15]

Yes I did wait for it to revert to free. I got fed up and used a different card to subscribe as it still did not work with the original card. My partner who has the same card as I have is still unable to use the card for her own subscription.

I also called my bank again and they are 100% certain the issue is with Spotify. Surely there must be someone handling subscriptions in South Africa who will know why FNB cards do not work on Spotify? 

[Maxim]

Thanks for letting me know.

If you've followed all the steps listed in the support article, then it's best to wait a few days and then try it again. 🙂

[guitarshredda15]

I already waited many days as did my partner, she hasn't been able to subscribe to Spotify for months now. I have exhaustively followed every step, this chat hasn't really helped us at all to he honest. It would really help if I could speak to someone from the South African dicision of Spotify.

[Maxim]

Hey again, @guitarshredda15 ,

I’d recommend reaching out to Spotify for more help with this. You can find some more info here on how to do this.

Thanks 🙂

[frogmanhk]

Did you ever get this sorted out, i am having the same issues.

[leegee23]

I have exactly the same issue, and it has persisted for a good few months. I am failing to understand how there are multiple forum threads addressing the same issue, yet the standard response is to 'Please ensure the details are correct' or telling users to 'check the help articles'. 

This issue has been raised, not only on the Spotify Community, but on other external sites, including Reddit, where users are complaining about the same card payment failures for certain South African banks. It is not that South Africans have a shared misunderstanding of how to enter their card details correctly. It is an issue with the payment process.

I have follow numerous steps, if not all, that I have found on the web:

• I created a brand new account. This, too, was unable to process payments.
• I waited a few days, over a month to be exact, and retried this process - the issue remains the same.  
• I have ensure that I am entering in the correct details. These details work on other online payment sites.
  
• Changing the subscription plan to pay using a mobile account does not help, as only one of the five main service providers are listed as an option (Vodacom).
  
• The only other payment option that are available to choose from, is a gift card. There is no option to pay using PayPal, as the help articles suggest.
  
• Changing to incognito mode and attempting to use a different browser yield the same errors. The payments are not failing because of cache. 

I apologise for sounding frustrated but, I feel the support provided needs to go further than just telling everyone to read a help article, or try again in a few days. Contact Adyen and see if they can provide more insight into the matter? Perhaps it turns out to be an issue on their side, which means they are losing you business. Even information about why payments will not be possible would be better accepted than the 'try this article approach'. 

I look forward to your response, and hope that you can assist us in getting our much-wanted premium music experience on the go.

[Petya]

Hey there @leegee23,

Thanks for writing here and providing more info with screenshots! 

You should be able to pay with Visa or Mastercard for Spotify in South Africa. 

Does your card allow foreign purchases? You can check with your bank if this is the case. 

If so, and all else fails, feel free to reach out to support.

Keep us posted!

[guitarshredda15]

I never got it working. I decided to use a different card, a Virgin credit card. There was no winning with the FNB Debit card, both my girlfriend and I could not get it working, we phoned FNB on many occasions and they clearly stated the issue was with Spotify, NOT WITH FNB BANK. Spotify haven't a clue as to what the problem is, thats why they STILL HAVE NOT provided a solution to this. 

[guitarshredda15]

Unfortunately, your response is useless and not helpful, its the same stuff repeated over and over by Spotify admin and mods. I had to use a completely different card because FNB Debit cards just wont work on your system, clearly I was not alone on this problem. 

[Peter]

Hey @guitarshredda15,

Thanks for getting back to us.

I know it's frustrating, but since you've tried all the troubleshooting steps we've provided, the best thing to do is to reach out to our Customer Support team via the link @Petya provided.

You can let them know which troubleshooting steps you've already tried, and they will be able to take a look at your account and see if there's anything unusual happening with the payments.

Do let us know how you get on - we'll be here in case you have any further questions.

Take care for now!

[BlueSuede2000]

Frankly, I find it hilarious that Spotify's customer service here refuses to actually engage with the issue at hand (i.e. problems with accepting FNB cards) and just throws it back at their clients eat every step.
It's obvious that the payment problem resides on Spotify's side, so how about finding a solution or at least figuring out why it doesn't work? Telling customers a hundredth time to make sure they put in their cc details correctly or to deconnect-reconnect isn't going cut it any longer.
 
Btw, I also have a FNB cc and it doesn't work with Spotify. Same problem.
 
What's the endgame here? Looking at the first posts on this issue, it's been going on unresolved for a year now.
Spotify reps, you want to forego all potential clients from South Africa's largest consumer bank?