Hello. Last week, I purchased a few downloadable instruments to add to my Special Edition with great success. Last night, I attempted many times to purchase Epic Horns (with 3-4 different cards) to no avail, as I kept on getting an error code ("check your input -1"). Anyway, I was contacted by one of your reps via e-mail (on his way to NAMM, I think), and I did what he suggested (last night) to get an order processed quickly using e-mail and password protected documents so that VSL can process a "backoffice" payment. I haven't heard back, and I guess I just wanted to ask if anyone's around today or tomorrow to process it quickly (or if I'd have to wait until Monday), as I was really hoping to start working with the Epic Horns right away. Please let me know, and thanks so much.
-Daniel Barnaba
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Please help: Attempting to purchase downloadable instrument..
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Issue temporarily resolved, and purchase made; thanks so much, guys! I'm still concerned about the web-store, however. If I ever decide I want/need to get an instrument in a pinch, I'd love if I could rely on it to work instantly the way it did last week. As mentioned, I'd tried 3-4 different cards on Friday night (and tried again Saturday afternoon), but still received the error code, so this leads me to think it wasn't my cards or card companies. Will the store ever be revised in any way, or will I have to purchase via e-mail/fax in the future? Anyway, thanks again.
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unfortunately there is not too much we can do to revise the process ... at least in europe payment solutions need to be certified, which means at a first glance certified by the credit card companies and finally by financial regulation organisation.
more unfortuantely but somehow understandably credit card companies are not too well communicating their internal security requirements and processes, in many cases the confirmation if a payment is accepted does not even come from the credit card company directly, but from the card issuing bank - keep in mind the system is not designed to be as convenient as possible, but as secure as posssible.
a few circumstances we had to find out the *hard way*:
- VISA and MASTER are not accepting international (= cross continental) payments if the card is not at least enrolled either for verified-by-VISA or MASTER card secure code
- a significant number of cards enrolled in US is generally locked for payments initiated from europe (and need to be explicitely enabled for such internet purchases)
- norwegian and swedish bank pages now and then do not meet the (formal) standards credit card companies have internationally agreed to
- UK banks often limit their authorization process to office times (haha, very funny for internet purchases)
- AMEX and DINERS are even more restrictive publishing any information and have not enough payments to estimate a rule
on one hand this is very inconvenient for the honest customer but on the other hand considering the huge number of stolen or snooped credit card data during the past year i can fully understand the restrictions from credit card companies and banks aiming to protect their customers and themselves from fraudulent use ...
christian
however: we are considering to add an additional step (at least of information) if such a transaction fails and i'm actually more worried about the next round of security *features* which are already in discussion - eg. the chipcard based authorization of payment which would even require a secure card reader on your desktop to initiate a payment
and remember: only a CRAY can run an endless loop in just three seconds. -
All understandable. Definitely best to be safe. I just found it odd that I had no problem at all the week before, but then the same card (+3 others) wouldn't work the week after. I wonder..has Paypal been considered as an option? I think there are some small fees to accept payments if they're by credit card, but I'm honestly not sure. I'm not a huge fan of them in general, but I have to admit they're extremely convenient and generally trouble-free.
