Fix the payment issue

[ArthurL683529]

I can't be the only person with payment issue I have tried several times and I get the same error

it does the same when I try to pay with PayPal  too! 

there's nothing wrong with my card

[JonH127034]

This issue has been going on for years (Google it)... I joined only for this gift card program and now I find out that there are SO many issues.  I need these cards asap and 3-5 days will be too late.  AARP had no issues accepting the same credit card for my membership fee, but now it doesn't work for the gift cards???

[AARPConsumerCare]

@JonH127034 I'm terribly sorry for the issues you're experiencing on the Rewards site, Jon. Please send us a private message here on the Community site, chat with us: https://aarp.info/2ThqJxO or give our Rewards team a call at 1-866-451-6305, so we can look into your account and get to the bottom of it.  - Janelle M.

[1protect1]

I've been trying for months on different devices and browsers...haven't been able to purchase a gift card in a loooong time.

[AARPConsumerCare]

This is certainly not the type of experience we want our customers to have. I apologize for the frustrations this has caused you. I'll be sending you a DM, so we can look into this together. - Daniela R. 

[JonH127034]

Are you really going to contact me? I doubt it, but it looks good on a community post. Wow.

[MichaelM313697]

Hahah, Daniela sees 2 years worth of people complaining about this, knows it won't be fixed but makes a post anyway.  Who knows, may she knows or will take action that no one else has.  These kinds of things make me lose faith in all the other services an organization offers and I end up just ignoring them and finding an organization that supports their members.

[JonH127034]

No one cares at AARP... that's evident in the way this is mishandled. Try calling me **********... I won't hold my breath

[JonH127034]

Right...lol

[SherriC695020]

It seems to continue to be an ongoing issue that just can't be resolved. I've tried several days with numerous different cards to purchase gift cards through the AARP rewards and the same error message shows up every time. 

[Rhodonite]

I'm having the same issues. Nothing but problems trying MasterCard, visa, discover, chrome, edge, Firefox, duckduckgo, brave, computer, cell, WiFi or not...nothing works. :(...my thing was supposed to be escalated as of 9/8 as well did you get a resolution?

[AARPJanelleM]

@SherriC695020 Hi Sherri, I reviewed your account and I see a purchase was processed today! You can expect to receive that email within 24 hours. Your escalation for the payment error was created on Sept 8 and our team will reach out to you with a resolution within 3-5 business days. We're always here to help if you need anything!

[AARPJodeeR]

@SharonK501528 That message typically means there is a billing mismatch detected. Please verify that the name and address you entered at checkout match your payment card's billing statement. The Name and Address displayed at checkout must exactly match the credit/debit card billing statement, or click EDIT and modify the name and/or address to match. Common discrepancies include missing building or apartment numbers, and P.O. Boxes and ensure that there are no missing characters or misspellings. Thanks!

[djziesmer]

You may be dismissive of others, but as a technical expert I can professionally advise that you clearly have a technical problem, and it is not something to casually dismiss as an end-user issue.  I too receive either a generic failure error when attempting to use PayPal, and the MSS48 error when entering credit card information directly.  I have attempted to renew my membership using

1. Multiple computers (including an Android phone)
2. Multiple browsers (pre-cleared caches with all of them)
3. Multiple source IP addresses
4. Multiple payment methods

My name and address are current and correct.  I even make sure to authenticate to my account prior to starting the transaction, just in case it's an internal authentication problem.  All name and address information is consistent across AARP, my credit cards, and PayPal.

There is no difference.  Perhaps your credit card processor is playing games on the backend, but then I am not sure how you are interfaced with PayPal payments, as those also generate errors.

In fact, every time I attempt to process a PayPal payment, PayPal fully authorizes the payment (I end up with a PayPal verification e-mail for each attempt)... it is *YOUR SYSTEM* that rejects that handback following approval and fails to complete the transaction.  Stop blaming the user.

The really sad part is that, as long as you continue to be so blatantly dismissive of people who have problems, you will never determine root cause, have no idea what the problem really is, and are likely losing potential new and renewal memberships with no appreciable awareness as to what level of potential customer loss you really have.

But hey, why should you care?  A complaining customer who "goes away" just improves your customer response satisfaction score after all, right?

[JessicaC370460]

I had planned for over five years to join AARP on my 50th birthday.  It was the right of passage I couldn't wait for.  And since June 21st, 2023, I have been trying and have spent at least 8 hours trying to join.  As stated above, I am getting notifications of a reauthorization, and all my addresses are current.  I have used a PC, an Apple phone, an Amazon Fire tablet, and a brand-new laptop.  I have used Safari, Bing, chrome, and Edge trying to make the payment.  And due to an inept and apathetic response by your IT department, you have lost untold millions and thousands of memberships, which is unconscionable as one of the principles that make this a breach of trust is this organization is supposed to be a bipartisan group that advocates for senior citizens.  How can you support when you blame the user for your failure to accept payments?!?!?!?!  Are you intentionally trying to soften and extinguish our voices?!?!?!?!

As I look through the messages on this site, this has been an issue for over two years, and your canned response is to lay it on the user.  How dare you!  I may be a GenXer, but I am 40 years younger than some of your members who are not left out in the cold.  As if this is not enough of an insult, you send the issue to your "escalation team," who will get back to you in 3-5 days.  The Oxford Dictionary defines "escalation" as "a rapid increase."  If that is a "rapid" increase in speed, I now understand why this issue has been ongoing for over two years.  An organization collecting money from seniors and cannot supply the back end to keep the programs the users have paid or tried to pay for is not only unjust, but it may also be criminal.  As a non-profit, you have stringent guidelines to follow.  How can this be following the guidelines when there is a willful attempt to circumvent a process you have installed?  I have read of customers spending $2500 on gift cards through your portal only to be told it didn't go through, yet they were charged.

The ball is in your court, AARP!!!!!  Are you the organization I always heard you were, or are you as numb as you appear?

[AARPJanelleM]

@JessicaC370460 Happy belated birthday, Jessica! We can't wait to have you in our family. Are you attempting to join AARP membership or purchase a gift card on the AARP Rewards site?

You can join AARP online using our secure form here: https://aarp.info/3kIDnh5 Or if you prefer to call us, we will be happy to assist with your AARP Membership when you call toll-free 1-888-OUR-AARP (1-888-687-2277). 

[ThomasM936755]

Heard this before."You're almost there, but your payment could not be processed. Please reenter your payment information and resubmit. Thanks! "

[djziesmer]

And as a follow up, the credit card company shows a pre-authorization approval for each attempt as well, and then a pre-authorization credit-back after the transaction is rejected by your end.  Sop this means the user is doing their due diligence, and the payment sources are authorizing the payment... and so all we have left is your site and whatever middleware/intermediary processors you are using.  But yeah, let's keep telling the user to make sure their address is correct.

[amennenga]

I receive this same message more often than not when I attempt to purchase e-cards.  In my case, the amount does go to my credit card for a hold, but the purchase doesn't actually go through and after several days, the hold is released.  I've had this experience several times over the last year or two, and it takes weeks to be resolved as it is escalated through the help desk.  Nobody has ever been able to tell me what the problem is, so I'm not able to actually troubleshoot to resolution on my end.  Usually I just end up waiting a few weeks, then try again until it works. I wonder if anybody can tell us how to fix the problem on our end so we can actually purchase the gift cards when we want them . . .

@AARPJanelleM do you have any ideas for actually resolving this ourselves (other than the standard Tier One suggestions)?  Thank you so much for your help!

[AARPJanelleM]

@amennenga @RobertaP271304 Thanks for reaching out. Here is some troubleshooting information for this issue: 

1. Does the NAME displayed in the shopping cart exactly match the name on the credit or debit card billing statement? 
   • If not, you should click EDIT and modify your name showing on the AARP website to match your billing statement.
2. Does the ADDRESS displayed in the shopping cart exactly match the address on the credit or debit card billing statement? 
   • Common discrepancies include missing building or apartments numbers, and P.O. Boxes.
   •  Ensure that there are no missing characters or misspellings in the address you entered 
   • As needed, you can click EDIT and modify the address to match for check out.
3. Do you have ad tracking blockers on your browser settings?
   • If so, we recommend that you try to disable it and try again. If you need details for disabling ad blockers, just let me know which browser you are using!

[JerzyK499309]

The problem appears to be associated with using Google Chrome card management. The work around is to use and alternate browser and put in your card details manually. This is not just a problem for AARP is related to the card processor and Google. I speculate that the card processor does not like being navigated to Google and back, but at this stage it is not clear what is blocking the transactions since it appear to go through on Googles side with the $1 preauthorization that verifies your card. Hope this helps. The address and name thing appears to be a red herring. 

[JohnP366062]

The issue has been fixed. You will get the error if you submitted a claim as not only does aarp block your card but also the credit card company. The ceo apologized to me last year or whatever year it was and gave a $50 credit. However 2 of my cards are blocked so have to use a different one.

[RussellP197074]

This is the first time in a long time that I have come back to the Community page.  I somewhat gave up on this issue a while back and started getting my Carnival gift cards elsewhere. Actual cards and not e-cards, by the way.  It does cost me 59 cents to ship them so it's not exactly the same.  Then a couple months ago I needed one without waiting for delivery and it happened to me again.  I believe the issue is with Hello World! and not AARP. The other program I get the cards from uses the same outfit that AARP used before the big switch a few years ago.  

[RobertaP271304]

Hi,

I tried yesterday and again this morning! Oh, yes trying to buy a Carnival G.C.  Using different payment methods. 
I give up!

[jh78919089]

Tried purchasing gift cards on 1/14/2022 and experienced the same issue and called the number for support which wasn't able to assist and implied their was something wrong with my Chrome setting.  I tried different payment methods and buying just one card then just one other card.  Each time I was met with the same annoying response on the AARP website.  I tried completing the order using incognito mode which didn't yield a different result.  I make several online purchases and have never had any type of problem which leads me to believe this issue is specific to AARP.  The AARP person I spoke with said that a tech would be contacting me in 3 to 5 business days.  Judging from the replies I see here I have no confidence the issue will be resolved.  One has to wonder if AARP just gives the appearance they're able to sell discounted gift cards in an effort to increase membership.  I will come back and update this statement if AARP is able to prove me wrong and is able to resolve this annoying AARP issue that has taken me way too much of my time to try to resolve.

[JoLo49]

For the past 8-9 months, I have had technical issues and errors purchasing the AARP gift cards using my Microsoft Desktop/Firefox browser.  Prior to that time, I had no problems purchasing from AARP, and the error issues started when many changes were made to the AARP site.   Customer service implied that the issues were on my end, however, I have had no issues with credit card purchases on any other online sites.  My issue was escalated to the Consumer Care Ombudsman team, and they were of no help.  They insisted it was not an AARP issue and because no other complaints from other members have been received, it was assumed the issue was on my end.  I gave up complaining, and my work around is to use my Apple desktop instead of my Microsoft desktop for AARP purchases.  It appears there may be a security block purchasing from the AARP site using Microsoft.   The numerous technical changes made to the AARP site has impacted some functionalities of how the site runs, and sometimes not for the better.  JMHO

[JoLo49]

You're not the only one.  This payment issue is still occurring, especially when trying to purchase the popular Daily Deals.  Wish AARP could fix, but it appears there's no fix available.  @AARPJanelleM was suppose to escalate over a week ago, but I never heard back and problem continues.  There is nothing wrong with my credit card, so it's an AARP issue.

[AARPJanelleM]

@JoLo49 Thank you for letting me know you did not hear back from the escalation I created on August 11. I have notified my next level of support for assistance with this concern as soon as possible. Please keep an eye out for an email response. 

[JoLo49]

FYI:   I got the email to contact The Consumer Care Ombudsman team on September 7, 2021 to fix the payment issue.  They were of no help to resolve the payment issue.  I still have payment issues using my desktop Microsoft computer getting the errors, however,  the work around is to use my Apple desktop computer instead.  The person I talked to didn't really listen to the problem at hand.

[j316290s]

Just so you know, I tried to renew a 3 year membership to AARP and I keep getting MSS48 errors. I was a member for a few years then left and was trying to come back but it appears the web site isn't working so I won't bother renewing. 

[AARPJanelleM]

@j316290s We hope you reconsider and decide to give us another try. When you have a moment, please give us a call for further assistance: 1-888-OUR-AARP (1-888-687-2277).