Patrreon Payment Issues

[SorcererHeidi]

Hi All -

Been a monthly Patreon member since October 2016, and get billed/pay automatically every month, using the same card - never a problem.

Today I got a "your payment was declined" message from Patreon. I tried re-entering the card info several times, and always came back declined. I contacted Capital One, the card supplier, and was told no issue with the card, doesn't expire until next year, and MORE than enough funds to cover. They do show the "declined", and said it would have resulted from a "card misread" - weird, since been using the same card all this time, OR the vendor was flagged as an "online gambling site" - HUH??? They suggested to contact Patreon, as the issue is definitely on their end.

I then tried to add ANOTHER card, and "transfer membership", then "retry", and several others steps, numerous times, but it's coming back on the new card as "failed".

Unfortunately, Patreon does NOT have phone Customer Support (like so many other places these days - HATE not being able to SPEAK to somebody, as this usually turns into MANY MANY emails, TRING to explain!!!!) and am waiting for answer. I've also communicated to them that I am VERY upset and disappointed there is an issue with a creator 've supported for almost 6 years!!! If anybody at the DIS is reading this, please take note, don't want you to think I dropped long-time, loyal support all of a sudden. I did honestly intend to move down a tier, but can't even be recognized as a MEMBER, let alone establish a TIER.

Is anybody else having similar issues? Thanx for listening.

 

[GAN]

Hi Heidi! I didn’t have that issue but about 6-months ago I noticed I hadn’t been getting email notifications for several weeks -I honestly could go a month before checking out content sometimes. But when I went in to check, my subscription had been dropped. I never asked for it to be dropped it was just not active anymore(and I hadn’t been charged). I just re-activated it and things have been normal since. Sure hope you get that straightened out! Maybe @Ryno can figure out what’s wrong …good luck!

 

[SorcererHeidi]

Hi Heidi! I didn’t have that issue but about 6-months ago I noticed I hadn’t been getting email notifications for several weeks -I honestly could go a month before checking out content sometimes. But when I went in to check, my subscription had been dropped. I never asked for it to be dropped it was just not active anymore(and I hadn’t been charged). I just re-activated it and things have been normal since. Sure hope you get that straightened out! Maybe @Ryno can figure out what’s wrong …good luck!

Thanx, my friend. Glad you got your issues sorted out. Still waiting to hear from Patreon. And still aggravated at companies who have no phone #, or human to speak with when problems arise. I know - more cost-cutting. Is Chapek working at Patreon now? Did I stay that out loud?

 

[SorcererHeidi]

Still haven't heard from them, but they lost NO time in cutting me off. Tried to watch some content last night (the 1st, the day payment is taken out monthly) that I had saved in my email, and couldn't. After almost 6 years of automatically paying every single month. Wow!
One part of me wants to wait for them to get back to me, another wants to try cancelling my membership all together, and re-enter everything as a "new member", but then that kind of lets them off the hook, and releases their responsibility as far as explaining what happened, and fixing it, so it doesn't potentially happen to anyone else.

 

[GAN]

Still haven't heard from them, but they lost NO time in cutting me off. Tried to watch some content last night (the 1st, the day payment is taken out monthly) that I had saved in my email, and couldn't. After almost 6 years of automatically paying every single month. Wow!
One part of me wants to wait for them to get back to me, another wants to try cancelling my membership all together, and re-enter everything as a "new member", but then that kind of lets them off the hook, and releases their responsibility as far as explaining what happened, and fixing it, so it doesn't potentially happen to anyone else.

Sorry to hear their “Community Happiness Team” hasn’t reached out yet Heidi!

 

[SorcererHeidi]

Sorry to hear their “Community Happiness Team” hasn’t reached out yet Heidi!

Yeah - Community Happiness Team my caboose!! (Directed at them - not you - the emojis from the menu are not on since the latest update, so I can't chose a "sarcastic-looking face")

I'm even more upset with them now. NO contact with ME - the CUSTOMER - but they DID manage to charge the ORGINAL method of payment (the one they listed as "declined") this morning, at 9:15 al.ml. - so - on a weekend, when they're supposedly not even open. And guess what - the ORIGINAL card, at the ORIGINASL, higher tier (which is OK because it supports the creators I love, but NOT fine in the middle of this business transaction travesty).

TERRIBLE "customer service". Unless what Capital One is telling me turns out to be a total fabrication, or something else "went wrong" after 6 years of everything being just fine, they NEEDED to reach out, rectify the situation, and apologize to me FIRST, not just charge what you claimed caused the problem in the first place, with NO contact with me. I am NOT a happy camper at all, and I feel pretty justified in that. If it wasn't supporting the DIS, and it was just "me and Patreon":, I would definitely IMMEDIATELY drop ALL support.

With a hard-earned fantastic FICO score, I do not mess around with my credit, and they should definitely know better customer service than this. Yes - mistakes happen - granted - but again - you reach out and apologize/explain FIRST, or even simultaneously, NOT just charge and say NOTHING. That's unprofessional, and actually rude, IMHO. Point blank. Sorry, but I've been "upset" all along with this, now I'm just pissed.

 

[FCDub]

Good luck, Heidi

 

[SorcererHeidi]

Good luck, Heidi

Thanx. Now it's just a "wait and see game" if they get back to me, since they already charged me, so I have access again. And lets'see what, if anything, their approach, explanation, and apology are.
And I can't help but wonder what's going to happen NEXT month. ;(

 

[trompettecon]

Same on the TA side. Tried to reach a few agents by email. Never wrote back. Went with a TP agent. Responded within 2 hours.

 

[SorcererHeidi]

Same on the TA side. Tried to reach a few agents by email. Never wrote back. Went with a TP agent. Responded within 2 hours.

I'm so sorry you were having issues, but glad you got it figured out with someone else.
That being said - not sure what TA is (travel agent, I'm guessing?) and not sure at all what TP is. However - I'm thinking you might have been talking about a travel agency, maybe even Dreams?
I just want to clarify - my issues have not been with The DIS, Dreams, or any other business under "the umbrella" - the DIS Unplugged is who I have been, and was trying to continue t support for the last 6 years. All of my issues, upset, and frustration is directed at Patreon, since THEY are the ones who caused this whole issue, and continue to NOT be in contact with me to explain and/or apologize, as of this morning. I wanted someone from The DIS to be aware of what was happening so they didn't think I was trying to totally drop my support after all this time, and in case their numbers started going down, if this is happening to anybody else. Or maybe it's just me? I can only hope so.

 

[SorcererHeidi]

OK - I FINALLY heard from Patreon, and I am still very disappointed with their "customer service". The error with my credit card must have been on THEIR end in the first place, since it went through no problem. And the comment "I'm sorry you were running into trouble with your payment" is like apologizing to someone by saying "I'm sorry you feel that way" - TOTALLY invalidates their feelings, or the fact that you had anything to do with causing them. Also the suggestion to read their "help guide" falls on my deaf ears as well, as I tried several of their "solutions" and nothing worked - THEY eventually solved it, by re-processing the ORIGINAL form of payment. And as I've said before, I have NO idea what's going to happen next month, as I've now entered another card. I'll have to hold on, and wait.

Sorry if I seem offended and upset over this, it just seems like in this era of "no live agents to speak with", and "we'll GLADLY take your money, and that's what we call customer service", I am not a bit placated, and besides being upset and having wasted time on this whole incident, it makes me sad to see non-existent customer service rear its ugly head yet again. Sigh. As someone who worked on "the other side of the counter" in many different positions for years, I DEFINITELY would have addressed this differently, and better, and taught many other to do the same. And as I've also said, as someone with hard-earned excellent credit, I take any questions to that extremely seriously.

The only GOOD feeling I have out of this entire experience is that - at least THIS month - I am STILLL supporting the DIS, as I always have been.

Sorry for taking up so much time on this - I just hope it doesn't happen to anyone else. I guess the generalized personal attention, and goof customer service has taken its toll on me, and they were just the latest in a long line, and I'm grumpy, although I should not have to apologize for feeling "less than" when none of this whole ordeal was caused by me. Thanx for anyone that's been "listening". If not interested, I hope you have felt free to just scroll past, and I'm humbly asking for no flamers, please. I DID say "please". Just needed somewhere to vent with what I hope are "like minds and friends" who would hopefully understand my frustration and disappointment.

ETA:
Was going to copy/paste their actual response, but it kept on including links to my Billing Page, and Account, and I couldn't figure out how to delete those, and the response to still be coherent. Their response was I guess trying to assume a friendly-enough tone (from their self-named "Community Happiness Team":. but was very obviously cut and pasted boilerplate. Lackadaisical and lukewarm at best at actually being personal, helpful, or reassuring this won't happen again to me, or anybody else.

Basically - the response said they're sorry I was running into trouble with my payment, which the agent verified had eventually gone through (DUH!!!!!). It also told me if I have any further problems to reference their help section to walk me through any problems with declined payment issues. It also offered to support me further. (when I feel no support at all right now, and have no security this won't happen again in a few weeks, at the end of this month!).

 

[GAN]

No question ”service “ is down the tubes, Heidi. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that you don’t have similar issues next month!

 

[SorcererHeidi]

No question ”service “ is down the tubes, Heidi. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that you don’t have similar issues next month!

Thanx again, my friend. I'll come back and update. Will be interesting for sure.

 

[chipndaleluver]

Thanx again, my friend. I'll come back and update. Will be interesting for s

I can't get into Patreon today. I didn't receive the email link I receive every week with the link to the show. I cannot get into my account. No one helping. Any ideas?

 

[SorcererHeidi]

I can't get into Patreon today. I didn't receive the email link I receive every week with the link to the show. I cannot get into my account. No one helping. Any ideas?

Wish I could help, but I don't even know if my situation is going to occur again at the beginning of next month. Just wanted to say I'm sorry this is happening to you. I did get an email with the link for today's show, but don't want to share it, just in case it would be against the rules or something - hope you can understand, and that someone from here, or Patreon reaches out to help you SOON.

 

[chipndaleluver]

Wish I could help, but I don't even know if my situation is going to occur again at the beginning of next month. Just wanted to say I'm sorry this is happening to you. I die get an email with the link for today's show, but don't want to share it, just in case it would be against the rules or something - hope you can understand, and that someone from here, or Patreon reaches out to help you SOON.

Ok, thanks. I sent a Tweet to Ryno to check into it. There has been no response from Patreon at al so far. I'll have to ask if it's against rules.

 

[SorcererHeidi]

I promised to update, so here it is. It is the 1st, and even though the charge is still "pending", it appears Patreon charged the new card, at the lower level tier, even though there was nothing ever wrong with the card that had been on there for years. I found out after I posted here originally that Patreon had triggered "security concerns) (possible gambling site, or crypto currency) by putting through 2 charges - 1 for $.00, and another for $.01 - why - I have NO idea, and it has never been explained to me by them (I found out through Capital One, the card's supplier), and ONLY charged me the correct amount AFTER my writing to them and inquiring. But again - NO word to ME, as the affected party, when it was CLEARLY their mistake, beyond a "sorry you feel you had a bad experience", and was clearly boilerplate, and did not address their part in this whole experience.

I think this is lackluster customer service at best, and I am disappointed. I know it's not the biggest problem going on in the world right now, but I also feel the more this happens, and no one speaks up and says' "that ain't right" the more it will keep happening, and even getting more rampant. And there should be more attention paid when it does happen, and be a teachable moment to "do better next time". At least acknowledge your mistake. Goes a LONG way, Hey - mistakes happen, I get that. I would have been willing to "forgive and forget", had the mistake even been admitted by Patreon, but it was not. Sorry, but that is not acceptable, IMHO.

Thank you for letting me vent, and share, and I hope this might help if anyone else ever experiences an issue. And I'll take this all as a sad omen that it was the right time to lower my tier support anyway.

 

[disneyland_is_magic]

I have no experience with Patreon but I know someone else who had a decline issue with Patreon, (for an artist not the Dis) after having had no problems for years. I think my friend ended up suspecting it was possibly an expired card but they never knew for sure. I do know they ended up actually letting it go because of the bad taste it left, they mentioned how there was no real communication and they rolled their eyes about how quickly they were booted.

Obviously, if someone doesn't pay they should be booted, but it seems like when you are collecting donations, it's better to take a customer recovery angle, with a grace period and communication about what happened.

I only share that to reassure you my friend, you are not alone.

 

[SorcererHeidi]

I have no experience with Patreon but I know someone else who had a decline issue with Patreon, (for an artist not the Dis) after having had no problems for years. I think my friend ended up suspecting it was possibly an expired card but they never knew for sure. I do know they ended up actually letting it go because of the bad taste it left, they mentioned how there was no real communication and they rolled their eyes about how quickly they were booted.

Obviously, if someone doesn't pay they should be booted, but it seems like when you are collecting donations, it's better to take a customer recovery angle, with a grace period and communication about what happened.

I only share that to reassure you my friend, you are not alone.

Thank you, it DOES help to know "it's not just me". Much appreciated.

 

[SorcererHeidi]

Thank you, it DOES help to know "it's not just me". Much appreciated. And I can agree - cut-off, after paying faithfully, month after month, for 6 years, was instantaneous. Not even a reach out first, and probably wouldn't have heard ANYTHING if I hadn't reached out for THEM. And I hate to reiterate, but I will - not even MY fault!!! That's the part that's sticking in my craw!!!