How Should You Handle a Customer's Declined Bank Card Transaction?

[mom2matt]

I need to give a little background, so bare with me here:

I had a show on the 16th of November, a customer placed her order and used her bank card for payment. It took the host way longer than I had planned to close the show (the customer was not aware that it would take this long). Turns out that the customer had accidentally gotten one of my catalogs that didn't have the "temporarily sold out" stickers on the decorator bottle set, I didn't notice it right away and with the holiday and my husband coming home from Iraq I didn't enter the orders in PP right away, so I also spent over a week trying to get a hold of her to change her order (she wanted the free cooling rack so I needed to see if she wanted to substitute an item). Well, I finally talked to this customer on this past Tuesday and got it straightened out. Her order totaled $70 and she said to me that she wasn't sure she would have $70 in the bank until Friday (her order was about the same when she placed it back on the 16th, how was she going to pay for it then?). Anyway, so I told her not to worry about it, it wouldn't go through the bank until Friday. My recruiter had told me in the past that as long as I submit orders in the afternoon, payments don't go through the bank until the next day. Well, as I'm sure you can guess, my recruiter is wrong. I submitted the order yesterday afternoon and last night I got an e-mail from PC that her card had been declined. We're both military wives so I know they got paid today and I can just call PC and have them run it through this morning and it will be paid. But what do I do about the customer? I have honestly never had my own bank card declined so I don't know how this will work with her bank. Will she get charged an overdraft fee? I feel like I should offer to pay the fee for her since I told her it wouldn't go through until Friday. But seriously, what was her plan should the order have been placed back around the 16th like we had planned? What would you do?

 

[jenniferknapp]

I would definately be honest and tell her that you are very sorry, you were told it wouldn't go through until Friday, but since it did...if she is charged anything, show you the statement charge, and you will cover it. Since people don't really keep track of their expenses, she probably just got paid the day before and knew she had more than enough to cover it then...but has used all of her bank account funds up since then since it was the day before payday... a lot of people just pay pay and forget what and who they give their CC info to...and they check the balance and if they have money, then they spend it...

 

[Admin Greg]

First of all, I would apologize to the customer for the inconvenience and confusion caused by the delayed order processing. Explain the situation to her and offer to cover any potential overdraft fees that may have occurred as a result of the declined card.You can also reach out to PC and request that they run the card again when the funds are available, to ensure that the order goes through smoothly without any further issues.In the future, it may be helpful to communicate clearly with customers about the timeline for order processing and payment, so that there are no misunderstandings or unexpected delays. This will also help avoid similar situations in the future.Overall, the most important thing is to apologize and make things right with the customer. Show understanding and empathy towards their potential financial situation and offer to help in any way you can. This will not only help maintain a positive relationship with the customer, but also reflect well on your business and customer service skills.