Unable to make online purchases using Verified by Visa

[Smiley_Neil]

Hi,

I was transferred from Virgin Mobile to O2 yesterday, and the phone and texts are working okay. However, today I have tried to purchase something online with my credit card and the payment was declined by my bank when looking to use Verified by Visa. On ringing the bank and giving them the reference number from the declined message, they asked me if I had a new phone or SIM. I have the same phone and SIM but told them I had just been transferred from Virgin to O2. Apparently they are seeing a lot of this from people who have been transferred and told me that I needed to speak to O2 about it, as the SIM maybe isn't registered correctly for Verified by Visa to be able to use it. I tried the phone line but with queues of over 30 minutes (according to the message) I thought I'd try by email (so no luck there!) and then found these forums. I'm hoping that, like Virgin, there are administrators here who can help.

Thanks

Neil

[jonsie]

We’re just customers like you but it sounds like you’ll need someone to access your account which can’t be done from here. If you message O2 using the links below, they should be able to help you with this

or give them a call on 202  or 0344 809 0202

[madasaf1sh]

@Smiley_Neil 

You need the bank to reset the Verified by Visa service, by removing your number and then letting you go through the sign up process again. 

o2 have no control over the VbV or the Mastercard / Amex equivalents. 

[Smiley_Neil]

Thanks, I'll try the bank again and see what they say. TBH that makes more sense.
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Oh man, just customers with troubles and no other O2 support here? 😐 That's a step down from Virgin then. So the only way to get O2 support is to wait on the phone for an hour until they happen to get through to you? Sigh.

Thanks!

[Smiley_Neil]

Spoke to the bank again and they told me that neither O2 or the bank can do anything about it. They said that Verified by Visa put a 72 hour block on accounts when they see a change, including moving from Virgin to O2. They offered a convoluted workaround but I'm patient enough to wait 72 hours and see if it all works then. Annoying and I'm sure I'm not the only Virgin->O2 mover that has/will have this issue.

[madasaf1sh]

And everyone who ports to another network... It never has been an elegant solution from Visa on the customers end or the merchant end ..  and I can only guess the banks are the same..

[gmarkj]

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@Smiley_Neil wrote:

Oh man, just customers with troubles and no other O2 support here? 😐 That's a step down from Virgin then. So the only way to get O2 support is to wait on the phone for an hour until they happen to get through to you? Sigh.

Thanks!

---

You can message on social media, but (at this time) there are no o2 CS reps on the community @Smiley_Neil 

We used to have them, but they were removed recently. They may come back, but who knows...

[Smiley_Neil · Accepted solution]

After multiple phone calls to my bank, O2, and the company I was trying to purchase something from, I finally found the solution.

After transferring from Virgin to O2 the first time you try to purchase something online that uses VISA Secure (Verified by Visa) it recognises that something is different about your phone details and refuses the payment. VISA secure then puts a 72 hour block on you using them, and there is apparently no way to get them to remove that (the bank can't remove it). If you try making a purchase that uses VISA Secure within that 72 hours then your credit card gets blocked by the bank. I've had a week of seeing purchases refused but my bank didn't spot that the credit card was blocked, until I spoke to them again today. They removed the block on the credit card, VISA Secure's 72 hour block has expired, so I was able to make the purchase.

Nothing alerts you to VISA Secure's block happening, so if you have moved from Virgin to O2 and your credit card doesn't work then ask your bank to unblock your credit card, and ask when the 72 hour block started and don't try making a purchase in that time.

[turribeach]

Wow just read this and it's exactly what is affecting my wife's credit card. I spent 1.5hs with 3 different people in Barclaycard and none of them could help. They kept saying the VISA Secure (Verified by Visa or also called Visa 3DSecure) system is a merchant system so they have no control over it. In fact none of the rejected transactions even show in my account since they never get there as they are blocked by VISA Secure (Verified by Visa). However when I tried to buy on the same site my transaction got through after I was sent a text message which identified itself as coming from "Barclays". If you read the help pages on the Visa site it says you need to contact your card issuer if you have any problems with the VISA Secure (Verified by Visa) system. And yet it seems the banks have absolutely no control or even visibility of what happens there. I even spoke with Barclays Fraud which have higher level of access to your account. This is really a f***ed up system where Visa is undermining the banks and deciding to reject transactions on whatever they think it's wrong. While I am not against it as it may reduce fraud how the heck are people going to be able to solve problems when things go wrong if banks have no access to it? Furthermore in my case I remember setting up some merchants as pre-approved so I wouldn't need to receive codes for them. What if I want to change them? Or check my settings? There seems to be no user interface for VISA Secure (Verified by Visa) other than you make a purchase. It's mind blowing really!

Here is the Visa 3DSecure error my wife was getting. Only lord knows what error code BT282 means. I did some Googling and found nothing. 

[turribeach]

After some Googliong even found this Barclaycard page explaining the VISA Secure (Verified by Visa) system:

https://www.barclaycard.co.uk/personal/help/fraud-security/what-is-verified-by-visa

This page then links to:

https://www.barclaycard.co.uk/personal/customer/confirm

Which then says: "It’s important that we have your correct UK mobile number so you can confirm it’s you when you’re shopping online." and also "If someone else has an additional card on your account, they’ll need to confirm their online purchases using a text message or PINsentry card reader. Make sure we have their correct UK mobile number by using Barclaycard online servicing or by calling 0333 200 9090". It's crazy none of the people I spoke with today even bothered to check my wife's mobile phone number record. In any case the phone number is correct but yet they seem to have no idea at all of what this system is and how it works!