Credit Card Processing down?

M

mcrc

Well-known member
Hi, I just got this mail, wanted to confirm it real before I double pay via PayPal.

Code: 
I'm very sorry, we can't process your recent order because our credit
card processing service was abruptly closed yesterday.

We've just spent about half an hour on the phone trying to figure out
what went wrong and why out account was closed without notice.

 From web server logs and uncompleted transactions, it looks like
someone used our website yesterday to attempt a purchase with many
different stolen card numbers, maybe using a script to automate the
process. All were rejected. We think our credit card processing company
took notice of so many declined transactions and closed our account.
Amazingly, even though we've used this service since 2011, they are
absolutely unwilling to reopen the account, or even cancel all the
outstanding transactions with funds reserved but not yet charged. We
were specifically told the only solution is to wait until banks
automatically void all the transactions.

There is no sign any hacker broke into our server. All signs are that
someone simply used the website to try submitting the same order over
and over again with many different card numbers. Your personal
information has not been compromised.

When you clicked the button to place the order, the site looks like it
would send everything to PJRC, but in fact your browser sends your card
number and some of the order detail directly to the credit card
processing company so we never see your credit card number. An
authorization hold is then placed on your credit card. This means that
the funds are deducted from your available balance, but you do not have
an obligation to pay your credit card company for the transaction and
PJRC does not receive the funds. When we process the order we capture
the funds. This is when the authorization turns into an actual charge on
your credit card statement and PJRC receive the funds.

Because our merchant account has been closed we are unable to capture
the charge to process your order nor can we void the authorization hold.
If we don't find a solution, and so far everything we've been told is
there is no other solution, your bank will automatically cancel the
transaction in about 1 to 2 weeks. Your available credit limit will
return to normal and the end result will be as if no transaction was
made. We are incredibly frustrated by this situation.

The best option we can offer you right now is to buy from any of our
authorized distributors, or we can accept payment via PayPal.

The list of distributors can be found here:
https://www.pjrc.com/store/

To pay via PayPal

Just send payment to XXXXXX@pjrc.com - the total of your order is $XX.XX
Please be sure to include your order ID number in the Paypal comment, so
your payment can be matched to your order.

Again, I'm really sorry your order got caught up in this mess. We're
still in a state of disbelief they would close our account without any
notice and without any way to at least process or cancel the outstanding
transactions. But that's where we're at today.

Thank you for your understanding.

-XXXXX
 
Yep its down - Paul mentioned that in another thread and last I heard he was working on it. He didn't mention when it would be up again.
 
Yup, it's down. :(

On Monday afternoon we were told they would reopen our account after we made some changes to the website. You'll notice the cart page now has the reCaptcha2 "I'm not a robot" checkbox, which is the main thing they wanted. But on Tuesday we called and got only to a pretty unhelpful call center support person, who supposedly sent the request, after walking us through a bunch of new account setup stuff which seemed unnecessary. We'll call again tomorrow and hopefully get the service back. But it's really outside of our control at this point.

Robin & I are looking at switching to a different company soon, even if they do restore service tomorrow or later this week. But starting service from anyone else will take time to set up, and time to convert the website over to their API.
 
Okay. I sent the money via PayPal, be glad if you still ship it fast. I can pay for express if needed, really need it a bit fast.
 
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mcrcl, You wait for bank to get off there lazy butt and repost fake money credit to your account.

" From web server logs and uncompleted transactions, it looks like
someone used our website yesterday to attempt a purchase with many
different stolen card numbers, maybe using a script to automate the
process. All were rejected. We think our credit card processing company
took notice of so many declined transactions and closed our account.
Amazingly, even though we've used this service since 2011, they are
absolutely unwilling to reopen the account, or even cancel all the
outstanding transactions with funds reserved but not yet charged. We
were specifically told the only solution is to wait until banks
automatically void all the transactions."

I hope you drop them like a bad habit as fast as you can. I have always hated our crooked banking system and I hope this can be resolved as in not happen again.
How sad for your trouble.
 
I'm really sorry for the inconvenience. It really is a pain.

This will all be resolved soon. Please understand we've only regained access to do anything for a matter of hours.

Robin has canceled (called "void" in banking lingo) all the transactions where Paypal was used. For this to take effect, first the card processing company has to update (called "settlement" in bank-speak), which happens once per day. My understand is this happens around 3pm Pacific time, so we're about 21 hours away from the next update. Then your bank has to update on their end. Most banks process "void" transactions quickly. It's "refund" where banks usually drag their feet, but this case only needs "void" because the transaction was only at the "authorize" stage.


mcrc said:
I double paid now, with credit card and Paypal afterwards. What now?
Click to expand...

I know this whole thing is annoying, but on an accounting level, you haven't actually paid on the credit card. Only the first step which reserves funds has happened (called "authorize" in banking jargon). It does reduce your available credit limit, which can be really inconvenient if you need to make other purchases. I'm really sorry for that. It's also pretty concerning. The way many banks show activity to consumers doesn't make a clear distinction between reserving the funds versus actually completing the charge (which banks call "capture"). That last step, which actually charges your card and causes money to leave your bank, hasn't happened. No money has actually moved anywhere (except on Paypal).

We've canceled from our end. But we can't communicate directly with your bank. It has to go through the credit card processing company, which processing everything in a batch once per day. Right now we're about 21 hours away from their next update. I can't say how quickly your bank will process the "void" which cancels everything and restores your available credit limit, but usually they're pretty quick because money didn't actually leave your bank.

Please be patient. The transaction should fully cancel soon.
 
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Well Paul everyone should know by now it wasn't anything you did.
The sad thing is the Fed Reserve system is so corrupt we should be kicking then out of the US and instilling a National Banking system which would make the US prosper immensely. JFK introduced the US note, 10 Billion worth I think which was backed by silver and gold stockpiles. it eroded the interest payments to the Fed Reserve and six months later her was dead. The 10 billion was destroyed except for a handful in private collections.
It can get better, lets all hope someday it will but it will take the actions of everyone not just one dead president.

Regards,
Marathonman
 
@mcrc - Quick followup, did the card transaction fully cancel?

@Marathonman - Of all possible places on the internet, this thread about short term card processing issue, on a forum about electronic projects, is probably among the least effective locations to talk of politics regarding national level monetary system and JFK conspiracy theories. I don't have any particular opinion to express on those matters, only my opinion that this really isn't the place to discuss those matters.
 
Not fully, it still shows in my bank account (as processing). So I guess I will wait.
 
Final followup here. By now the voided transactions should be long gone.

Intuit's servers seem to go down (that we hear about) about once every few weeks, but the outages don't result in stranded authorized-but-can't-void transactions, just unable to place an order for an hour or two.

Eventually we'll need to switch to a better service. But right now dealing with chip shortages and catching up to backlog when we do get the chips is taking pretty much all our effort.
 
I just received spam from this thread in my email so I deleted it and the subscription alert for the thread. It was a prepaid credit card. What I am wondering is how did they get my email address from here.

PJRC (Teensy) Forum <paul@pjrc.com>
To:xxxxxxxxxxx@yahoo.com
Tue, Jun 13 at 2:49 AM

Dear Marathonman,

Linaginger has just replied to a thread you have subscribed to entitled - Credit Card Processing down? - in the General Discussion forum of PJRC (Teensy) Forum.

This thread is located at:
https://forum.pjrc.com/threads/70364-Credit-Card-Processing-down?goto=newpost

Here is the message that has just been posted:
***************
I opened a WestStein prepaid card (https://www.weststeincard.com/private/features/online-account/) for myself, now you can easily transfer personal funds there. It is safe, and you can use it for personal purposes, pay for everything without any extra problems. Opening such a card does not take much time, anyone can do it for themselves.
***************


There may also be other replies, but you will not receive any more notifications until you visit the forum again.

All the best,
PJRC (Teensy) Forum
Click to expand...

Any idea how this could happen getting spam from here! Was this site compromised in any such way?
 
The spammer (probably) has no idea of your actual email address.

They just registered an account here on this forum, which is no small feat for spammers, as it involves getting through spam-o-matic's block list, our custom IP block list, Google's recapture "I am not a robot" check, and they managed to keep an email account working long enough to reply to the forum's activation email.

But after all these automated anti-spam measures, we have a great community that reports spam quickly. So by the time you came back to the forum, the spam message was already gone (or more accurately, moved to a moderation queue where almost nobody can see it).

So it may look like the spammer somehow sent you an email. But really all they did was get past all the automated anti-spam measures and post a message to a thread you were still watching. The forum then sent you a notification email, as it would for any normal reply.
 
There was a SPAM post to this old thread and the USER was banned - but because the post was made it sent out the 'post' alert from the BBS for the thread. Only the BBS knows your email address ...

opps - crosspost - typed it out and didn't post across phone calls ...
 
Thank you Paul and Defragster for taking the time to confirm this as a false pos. I am so glad your system and you both are on top of things. It is so hard to believe there are so many creepy human hiding behind the net.
Thank you so kindly.
MM
 
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