Need some advice... GL and credit card issues

Ok, I won two lots of .223 brass out of San Antonio. No problem.

So I fill out my EUC (I've done an EUC in the past) send it in. The EUC lady dealing with my event notes a correction needs to be made and sends it back. I correct it and send it in and she sends it on to Battle creek.

All that took about 3 or 4 days.


Fast forward to Tuesday 7/14. I get an automated email saying my credit card was declined. Turns out USAA automatically declines charges that are above your normal range of usage as a fraud prevention measure.

Ok, no problem. So I call USAA and straighten it out (same day), leave a message for Arana Wholin (govliq employee handling the event) on email and voicemail. I need her to go ahead and make the charge again.

I've called multiple times every day since then and have been unable to get ahold of her. No replies to emails or voicemails. Doesn't matter what time I call. And I have to keep calling USAA every day to pre-authorize the charge (they'll only disable the security feature for 24 hours).

Deadline for paid in full is wednesday, the 22nd. Counting the 22nd and not counting saturday and sunday, that leaves only 3 days to resolve this.

Advice? I've made plenty of e-mails and I've already called the main govliq office number a couple of times... is there any reason why Arana Wholin has to make the charge? Can't someone else in that office do it?

For this sale, I'd get on live chat at GL and raise and raise the issue. Also, call their Customer Service Department at (I think) 480-367-1450. I've found that getting more than one GL employee involved will get you quick results.

For the future, there should be someone at USAA who can approve a permenant extension to the time limit. I had similar issues with M&T Bank and got a time extension. they also raised the dollar amount at which they would decline a transaction where the card had not actually been swiped at the point of sale. That has ended the problem at the bank.

Lastly, with a call to the GL customer service folks you can have your account permanantly noted to pay by means other than a credit card. They still want a card on file but will invoice you after the sale with 5 days to get them the payment. I still use a credit card or debit card after getting the invoice but it gives me control of when I pay them and prevents surprises.

Good luck.

Lance

PS-I also send all EUC faxes to the customer service department. I get a comfirmatory email within minutes and they hand carry it to the EUC department to get it processed. Nothing sent that way has fallen through the cracks.

They called me back a minute ago. Decline again.

So I called USAA. The pre-authorization ran out an hour before govliq tried to charge the card again.

After this mess is over with, I'm done with USAA.

You just need to start charging higher amounts more often.

The same thing happened to me..only the once-only email their mindless computer spits out hit my spam box or the twilight zone and I never got it. The result was that I did not know my credit card had been declined until GL locked my account.
My ECU status said "sent to Battle Creek" and I took that to mean all is well.
Once notified I tried to pay on the spot with my other card but NOOOOOOOO....you have to wire their bank the money once your first payment has been declined.
GL demanded that I pay a $750.00 default fee that I managed to bargain down to $300.00 when I threatened "Tim" with a congressional inquiry into GL lack of customer service.
(gee thanks...I get to pay for the privilge of doing business with a monopoly).
These people have a racket with their "fine print in the contract" scam.......in my case they got to sell the trucks again and fleeced me out of 300 bucks.
GL HAS NO CUSTOMER SERVICE......none, nada, nil...they will listen to your complaints and make a small effort to solve your problem...but if will not benefit them don't hold your breath.
When you call Foggy Bottom West your call will be answered by a human firewall that will direct you to send an email to what passes for Customer Service (they are far too busy to address your lowly issue immediatly). Eventually you may or may not be called back by an actual human being.
They have the customer by the short hairs and they know it.
My suggestion is to call you congressman NOW and have one of his aides call one of the GL toadies in Arizona and put the fear into them.
My congressman has already been informed.
The next time the contract comes up they may not slide by so easy.

Jeez.

Yeah, I'm watching this situation like a hawk.

This is a 9300+ dollar plus invoice. default fee would be $2,300

If Monday doesn't work, I'm going to drive to Arizona (about 1500 miles) with card and cell phone in hand and personally watch Ms. Wholin charge the card after she watches me call in the pre-authorization.

3 or 4 days round trip plus about 240 dollars in gas is worth it to avoid that kind of charge. And no, I won't be a happy camper if it comes to that.

Hah... they ended up charging my card twice yesterday (Monday)... which resulted in an automatic "pending status" because they ran over my credit limit with a x2 charge.

So after clearing that up with USAA, the charge has gone through and the invoice page still says "Awaiting payment in full"

Hm.

Thanks, I talked to Heidi on the live chat.

Everything worked out ok. Got the Paid in Full invoice in my email this afternoon. Whew.