Frustrated trying to extend service by 1 year!!! AGH!!!

techfreak · Post by **techfreak** » Fri Feb 13, 2009 9:22 pm

Ok, my magicjack service expires on Feb 19 so I went to my local gas station here in Canada to buy a prepaid $25 Vanilla Mastercard because of my paranoia about credit card fraud and the fact that some people on here are complaining that they've been billed twice. And yes I took the exchange rate in consideration $19.99 American equals $24.69 Canadian. So I go to my.magicjack.com to extend my service and I fill out the credit card information and billing address and select enter Canada as my country but when I click on the state/province drop down box it only contained States not Canadian Provinces. Maybe against my better judgement I selected California for the state as it didn't specify that the state/province drop down box was optional and assumed it was mandatory.

When I submitted all the information I get this error:
FAILED add_renewal_plan SQLERRM: ORA-20020: add_years: Auth Failed Code: DECLINE 51

And I also checked the balance of the Vanilla Mastercard and found out that I've been charged $1.25 for nothing and this is what I saw for the Vanilla Mastercard account history:

02/13/2009 06:58 PM MAGICJACK 561-594-2140
MAGICJACK 561-594-2140
WEST PALM BE , FL
Reference: 000000000xxxx
360100 POSPreAuth POSPreAuth:Checking:NoAccount

So ok, maybe that was a stupid moving puttin Cali in the state/province and maybe it was against my better judgement I proceeded to fill the credit card information and billing informatino the second time but this time I left the state/province box blank and submitted the information again and got the same results. I got the same error message and refreshed the Vanilla Mastercard Account History...this time no charge....

...Ok I said to myself, I'll try again but this time since prepaid cards are bought at the store and can be bought by anyone and are basically an anonymous credit card I changed my billling addres on the card to an American address. Resubmitted the credit card informatin with the American billing address on the my.magic.com website and got the same error message. I checked the Account History once again and got charged for the 2nd time and 3rd time I tried to submit and extend my service. So, I'm down $3.75.

I tried chatting with tech support but they didn't seem to know what they were doing.

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Please wait for a site operator to respond.

You are now chatting with 'Grace'

Grace: Hello, how may I help you?

Me: Hi, I'm trying to extend my service

Grace: Okay.

Me: and i'm from Canada and I can't find my province in the dropdown box

Grace: May I have your MJ phone number please.

Me: 6507398298

Me: the drop down box only shows states for the USA and I've selected Canada for the country

Grace: Are you referring to the registration or extend your service.

Me: extend your license

Me: i selected extend by 1 year and i clicked next

Me: and then there are boxes to enter credit card info

Me: and below that it says "Please enter your cred card billing address"

Grace: May I know if you have the redemption code?

Me: I don't have one

Grace: I see, that means that you are on the process of ordering the 1year service Me.

Grace: Please enter your credit card information to make the transaction went through.

Me: yeah but after I enter all the credit card information and my billing address it is rejected

Grace: Please try another credit card for your order.

Me: it won't work because my province won't show up in the drop down box

Grace: I see, and you are Canadian Credit number, is that correct?

Me: yes

Grace: Okay.

Grace: One moment please...

Me: and i've already been charged $1.25 even though the charge didn't get through

Grace: May I know where did you placed your order of your MJ, online of through phone.

Me: onlline through http://www.themagicjack.ca/

Grace: okay.

Grace: Please log on to ma.myagicjack.com

Grace: using your email address and your password.

Me: ok, i am

Grace: Okay,

Grace: Please click that button extend my service.

Me: ok, i did

Grace: Then click on the extend your license button again.

Me: ok i did

Grace: Please scroll down and click the arrow down and select your MJ phone number.

Me: done

Grace: And the click the "Extend by 1 year - $19.95 " option.

Me: done

Grace: And also check if that the last and the first four of your credit card is correct?

Me: it's correct

Grace: okay.

Grace: Please click next button on the bottom
(2nd try with province/state blank)
Me: ok, it says processing request

Me: it says confirm your information

Me: FAILED add_renewal_plan SQLERRM: ORA-20020: add_years: Auth Failed Code: DECLINE 51

Grace: Okay, please click confirmed.

Me: is their a senior tech support or can I email the owner

Grace: Okay. on this matter please check your account personally..

Grace: And check your bank if you authorized us to process and amount with credit card.

Me: it's a prepaid credit card so the amount is there

Grace: And have you authorized us to process an amount?

Me: yes

Grace: Okay.

Grace: Thank you for your patience. I will transfer you to a higher level of support. Please hold while I transfer you.

Me: thank you

Please wait while I transfer the chat to the best suited site operator.

You are not currently in a chat session.

You are now chatting with 'Lalie'

Lalie: Hi Me are you? This is Lalie and I will be assisting you today.

Lalie: Please give me a moment to review your previous chat so I can assist you better.

Me: Hi

Me: Ok

Lalie: Thank you for waiting.

Me: no problem

Lalie: How did you enter the expiration date of your credit card?

Me: 072012

Me: it says valid thru 07/12

Lalie: Are you using a Visa or a Master card?

Me: mastercard

Me: i'll show you a picture of the state/province drop down box, it doesn't have Canadian provinces http://i39.tinypic.com/2gy7kn9.jpg

Lalie: I see. Is it the same card you used to order magicjack?

Me: no

Lalie: Is there a way you can use the same card to try?

Me: I cancelled that credit card

Lalie: Please try using a different credit card to see if it will still have the same message.

(I got frustrated)
Me: I have to go. I'll try again later. Thank you. Bye.

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I was probably in the wrong trying to submit with a Cali for the state/province and probably should have tried submitting with the state/province blank and probably wasn't accepting my payment since the $19.99 US was more than the $23.75 CAD I had on the card after my first try but this is really frustrating. Why didn't they say above the field that that field wasn't necessary if you live in Canada? So I'm down $3.75 and not only that, add the $3.95 activation fee for the prepaid card I'm down $7.70. Now my options are to buy another Vanilla Mastercard with a higher balance or use my own credit card and risk being charged twice or buy another magicjack from the Canadian website I bought it from.

This sucks.....

I forgot to mention I emailed Dan so I'll see what he has to say about it.

TimSH · Post by **TimSH** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 9:30 am

I know people who've had lots of problems and issues with prepaid cards. They don't work quite the same way as the real thing. Online merchants often can't take them at all because there's not way to verify a billing address with some of them. Also, authorizations work differently with some of them. Some can't be used in restaurants or at gas stations because of the way they are processed.

I've given them to my daughters for birthdays and such for a few years because I don't want them walking around with cash and we've hit a few bumps along the way.

I'd never give MJ the number for my Visa debit card, but I wouldn't have a problem giving them my credit card number. Disputing problem charges is easy.

mberlant · Post by **mberlant** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 11:56 am

techfreak,

On the bright side, you were not charged anything yet by MJ. They asked for, and got, a pre-authorization for US$1.00 (CA$1.25). MJ is first checking to see if the credit card is any good. They test by asking for the pre-auth. If it is good, then they will go back with the same transaction code (360100) and convert the transaction into a sale for the full amount.

This is just like what happens when you use your credit card in a restaurant. If your bill is for $25.00 the restaurant will ask for a pre-auth of about $30.00 in anticipation of as much as a 20% tip. After you have written the tip on the slip and signed it, the transaction is converted to a sales transaction for the exact amount.

On the dark side, though, it seems unlikely that you will ever clear the security check because the drop-down list does not have province names and because you can't figure out how to get them to understand this fact.

az2008 · Post by **az2008** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 11:58 am

There is a billing number in the wiki FAQ's "how to contact" question. Maybe that would help.

Mark

couch-potato · Post by **couch-potato** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 3:03 pm

I don't think the state selection had anything to do with it.

I think the mistake might be in purchasing a $25 prepaid card.

You calculated the exchange rate to equal $24.69, but you don't know what exchange rate the credit card company was using at the moment MJ tried to process the purchase. What if it came to $25.12?

neo2121 · Post by **neo2121** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 4:00 pm

its because there is a 1.00 processing fee so you are 1.00 short that's all I use prepaid visas all the time