Credit Card Processing: A Model X Reservation Issue ....

[NigelM]

All right guys, let's not have a pile-on here. Seems pretty clear that the OP is frustrated but his CC company who he's always dealt with isn't helping him; kinda natural (rightly or wrongly) that he would think that Tesla should be doing something.

 

[stopcrazypp]

1) If you recall my original post, I called my CC company the day this happened. As far as they were concerned the transaction went through and was authorized (although they would not give me any kind of authorization number or confirmation with which to confront the vendor). There was nothing more they could do for me.

That's unusual. Every CC I use have a reference number for every transaction. And since my CCs have online management I can immediately see it online. And even without an online account, it's in the statement, and surely the credit card company has the number in their own database. Of course things may be different in Canada.

 

[Mayhemm]

Don't rock the boat. If you make waves, you'll be thrown overboard...

No, it's not normal. I got an immediate on-screen confirmation that I could print and keep plus a follow-up e-mail shortly thereafter.

See, that is what I was expecting, just like every online transaction I've done in the last 10 years. It should either go through, or not go through. There should be no third option, yet I seem to find myself in one. Thus, my confusion.

Sure you are blaming Tesla. Give it a rest.

So, if I want to say "Tesla is awesome!" I should feel free to post as much as I want, but if I have a different experience I should just shut my yap and go away?
I wasn't aware that was the policy of TMC.

All I said was my first impression was soured by the experience. Is that it then? I'm public enemy number one?

Tell me, when you have a bad first impression of something, do you immediately cut and run, or do you give the party in question a chance to improve and hope the second impression is better?

I didn't realize TMC was such a volatile hornet's nest. Say the wrong thing and you immediately get swarmed, stung, and driven out. You'd think we were talking religion...

- - - Updated - - -

All right guys, let's not have a pile-on here. Seems pretty clear that the OP is frustrated but his CC company who he's always dealt with isn't helping him; kinda natural (rightly or wrongly) that he would think that Tesla should be doing something.

You seem to be missing the point of my initial post. I don't think Tesla should be doing anything. All I wanted to know was if my experience was the norm or if others experienced similar delays. Perhaps Tesla was updating their website that day, I don't know.

It seems pretty clear from your last post, Nigel, that there was no problem with Tesla's website and that my experience is abnormal. Thank you for answering my initial questions and not using this as an opportunity to snipe and make wild accusations.

I believe the appropriate action would be to make further inquiries with my bank as to what occurred.

 

[ToddRLockwood]

Please allow me to shed a little light here. Many of us who have been active on TMC since last summer have seen "problems" such as this one taken out of context and used as the basis for online articles, usually with the express purpose of questioning Tesla's financial integrity and thereby benefiting those who regularly short Tesla's stock. In this age when anyone can be a "journalist" for a day, it is indeed possible to harm the company, at least temporarily, with stories that take an insignificant event and make it significant.

As a result, the TMC community sometimes discourages posts that could be misconstrued and would be more appropriately communicated directly to Tesla. Broadcasting a problem is not always the quickest route to a resolution. As most owners will attest, Tesla is generally very good about addressing customer concerns.

 

[orangem]

Totally my speculation but it could be the OP credit card simply was authorized for the transaction but the transaction hasn't gone through (or confirmed in cc speak). It is like going to a gas station pay at the pump kiosk. You swipe the card and the pump authorized for an amount (say a 100), and that would be an authorizing transaction on credit card. Next when you finished pumping, that will confirm or finalized a final amount (say 60). Same thing happens when you do online orders with any merchants. They authorize an amount first then make a real charge when they ship the product.
Perhaps, your credit card reservation only completed the first step but not the second step. If is indeed a 2 step transaction, without the second step, there will be no real charges. Just bear in mind this is my speculation though.

 

[vfx]

.... It is like going to a gas station pay at the pump kiosk. You swipe the card and the pump authorized for an amount (say a 100)....

What's a gas station?

 

[ksdprasad]

you should blame paypal. i came to know that tesla processing all the deposit payments thru paypal.

 

[AMPd]

Has this not been resolved yet?
Id love to see what ops reservation number is

 

[Mayhemm]

Has this not been resolved yet?
Id love to see what ops reservation number is

Heh heh. So would I.

For those curious, my reservation payment was stuck as "pending" with my credit card company (Scotiabank) since I first attempted to make payment on March 25th. Upon calling them, I was assured that this was a successful transaction and that it would be "posted" within a few days (as is normal).

However, as of yesterday morning, the payment amount was returned to my "available credit". In other words, my reservation did NOT get sent to Tesla after all. Scotiabank was apparently just stringing me along for a week.

The good thing is I now have my money back so I could hypothetically make another attempt as reserving my Tesla. However, I am a bit hesitant to do that without stopping in to my local bank branch to see if they can do something to pre-authorize the payment. Trying this by phone proved unreliable last time and I don't want a repeat of this farce.

The bad thing is that a financial institution with which I've had no previous issues has shown some pretty sketchy behavior here. Depending on how my trip to the local branch goes, I may just have to make a direct payment for my reservation rather than using my credit card. I would have got five free movies with the points from this purchase though. :redface:

 

[NigelM]

@Mayhemm: Thanks for letting us know the outcome and sorry to say I'm not surprised it was your bank at fault. It would be good if we could update the thread title to reflect that the issue is resolved - any suggestions?

 

[Krugerrand]

The bad thing is that a financial institution with which I've had no previous issues has shown some pretty sketchy behavior here. Depending on how my trip to the local branch goes, I may just have to make a direct payment for my reservation rather than using my credit card. I would have got five free movies with the points from this purchase though. :redface:

I don't understand the quick jump to such a negative conclusion. If you've had no issues in the past, then why is this suddenly sketchy behavior? Perhaps the person who looked into the issue for you thought the transaction did go through. Maybe it presented itself as normal or they simply made a mistake. I really don't get the whole 'they're stringing me along/sketchy behavior'. People make mistakes. Why wouldn't you give them the benefit of the doubt, particularly considering a good historical record? You're exhibiting paranoid behavior.

 

[AMPd]

Keep us posted op
May I ask why you chose the X over the S?
Do you have any idea of the specs you want?

Living in Canada I assume the 4wd option was what swayed you toward the X

 

[Mayhemm]

I don't understand the quick jump to such a negative conclusion. If you've had no issues in the past, then why is this suddenly sketchy behavior? Perhaps the person who looked into the issue for you thought the transaction did go through. Maybe it presented itself as normal or they simply made a mistake. I really don't get the whole 'they're stringing me along/sketchy behavior'. People make mistakes. Why wouldn't you give them the benefit of the doubt, particularly considering a good historical record? You're exhibiting paranoid behavior.

Please keep in mind that sketchy behavior doesn't necessarily imply conspiracy or something nefarious. It's just sketchy.

Keep us posted op
May I ask why you chose the X over the S?
Do you have any idea of the specs you want?

Living in Canada I assume the 4wd option was what swayed you toward the X

Mostly correct; the AWD option and higher ride height were big factors. The release timeline is also more agreeable to me, since I want to wait for my current vehicle financing to be up. The current 2-4 month queue on the Model S is too soon for me. Plus I'm hoping to reap the benefits of 18+ months of Model S updates and customer feedback.

 

[Mayhemm]

UPDATE: I spent some time at my local Scotiabank branch today and spoke with the manager there. She couldn't really tell me much, but I think I have a better handle on what's going on now. To hear her tell it, when I attempt to make my reservation, Scotiabank releases the reservation amount for use (it moves to "pending" or "outstanding authorization" status). The money sits there for up to a couple days waiting for the vendor on the other end (Tesla, in this case) to claim it. If the amount is not claimed after a set number of days, the transaction "expires" and the money is returned to the purchaser. This is what happened to me last week.

According to the manager, once an amount is released to "pending" status, the bank has done all they can. The rest is up to the vendor. My problem is that, for some reason, Tesla is not accepting the money the bank sets aside for it. There can be many reasons for this; technical problems with the Tesla website, issues with the particular type of card I'm using (though that would be ironic, since Scotiabank is the institution Tesla uses for their financing in Canada), or something I haven't thought of. However, she seems to think that whatever the problem is, it appear to be at Tesla's end. And, for now at least, I'm inclined to agree.

I attempted my reservation again tonight (still unsuccessfully), but she is going to flag/track the transaction and hopefully it will reveal some details as to why this is occurring. Hopefully, I'll know more tomorrow.

 

[AMPd]

That's interesting, tomorrow just got more interesting
we got your issue, tesla motors related announcement from EM and Justified season finale

Once again I say keep us posted.

 

[Mayhemm]

Not much new to report, I'm afraid. Tesla still won't take my money (business must be very good indeed!).

The only advice Judy (my bank manager) could give me was to contact Tesla "merchant services", give them my info, and direct them to my money; hopefully before the transaction expires (again). She seemed to think they would be responsible for claiming a Visa transaction.

Anybody have contact info for that particular department?

 

[ElSupreme]

You don't have another card? Don't want to do the direct draft? I highly doubt that Tesla is not taking money. My guess is it isn't actually getting to them. I got a confirmation in less than 60 seconds in my email inbox.

I used an AmEx.

 

[NigelM]

Not much new to report, I'm afraid. Tesla still won't take my money (business must be very good indeed!).

The only advice Judy (my bank manager) could give me was to contact Tesla "merchant services", give them my info, and direct them to my money; hopefully before the transaction expires (again). She seemed to think they would be responsible for claiming a Visa transaction.

Sorry, IMO you're getting BS from your bank. Merchants don't have to go ask for settlement, it happens automatically; that's why you don't see your problem happening all over the place.

Take a look at how the process actually works here: http://www.authorize.net/resources/howitworksdiagram/ Note in the final step:

The issuing bank sends the appropriate funds for the transaction to the credit card network, which passes the funds to the merchant's bank.

The bank then deposits the funds into the merchant's bank account. This is called 'settlement', and typically the transaction funds are deposited into the merchant's primary bank account within two to four business days.

There are plenty of other places you can see the same thing here and here and here.....

 

[neroden]

Sorry, IMO you're getting BS from your bank. Merchants don't have to go ask for settlement, it happens automatically; that's why you don't see your problem happening all over the place.

You're in Florida, Nigel, and you're describing how the process works in the USA. The original poster who's having the problem is in Canada and the bank settlement procedures are undoubtedly different there.

This seems like yet another example of Tesla not bothering to check out the quirks of local laws and practices.

 

[NigelM]

....you're describing how the process works in the USA. The original poster who's having the problem is in Canada and the bank settlement procedures are undoubtedly different there.

They're the same worldwide (excepting a few rogue countries).