Your payment has been declined

 

Your payment has been declined

Those stark words can create momentary panic, usually quickly resolved. Equally worrying was the message I received this morning – ‘Unfortunately payment could not be taken for your order.’

The delivery driver was at the door, explaining that the goods had not been paid for. I could not believe it! 

Quickly, I went online to rectify matters but had to ‘phone a customer help line. Cue mind-numbing musak and the oft-repeated message about all their operatives being overloaded with customers’ calls and an assurance that my call was important to them.

Meanwhile, the driver was calling his line manager or someone and then handed me his ‘phone, as he had managed to make contact, but reception was poor. Despite being only a short distance from a mast, reception here has always been hit and miss.

Eventually, the driver was given permission to heave the crates out of the van and deliver them to us, because we were ‘known and valued customers.’  

A few weeks ago, my credit card had been compromised and I was sent a new one. I had forgotten to update my payment details with the supermarket, but strangely, I had had deliveries since I’d received the new card. I was most apologetic to the poor driver, who had been significantly delayed by my declined payment. He was very pleasant about it, and we do ‘know’ each other, in a manner of speaking.

I apologised profusely to the support team when I contacted them to pay the bill. Immediately afterwards, I updated my details online. 

All should be well now!