Fix Payment Issues In SmarterQueue
There are a few easy steps to resolve the most common payment issues.
đź“Ś In This Article
- Why Was My Payment Rejected?
- Common Payment Errors
- What Can I Do To Resolve A Payment Issue?
- What If I See A "3D Secure Verification Failed" Error?
- What Can I Do If My Payment Still Fails After Following Your Steps?
- How Long Do I Have to Fix This?
Why Was My Payment Rejected?
How Our Payments Work
All SmarterQueue subscription payments are securely processed by our payment gateway, PayPal Braintree. The gateway collects your credit card details directly from our secure form and sends them to your bank or credit card provider for verification and authorization. SmarterQueue does not have access to your payment details.
For new cards, the payment gateway may attempt to pre-authorize a small charge (between £0 and £1) to confirm your bank will approve payments to SmarterQueue. These verification amounts may appear on your statement (converted to your local currency, e.g., $1.38) but will be removed within 2–3 business days.
If your bank rejects the authorization or payment, it will return an error code and message, which we display directly to you. In these cases, it’s your bank—not SmarterQueue—that has declined the transaction.
Where To Find Transaction Error Codes
Payment failures can happen in two places:
- when you go through the checkout to start/change your subscription
- when our payment gateway attempts to renew your monthly/yearly subscription
If your payment fails during checkout, you'll see a message displayed at the bottom of the checkout page, showing the response that your bank returned:
Common Payment Errors
| Issue | Possible Fix |
|---|---|
| Insufficient Funds. | This means that your credit card has reached its limit, or for prepaid cards, there are not enough funds on the card balance to process the transaction. |
| Call Issuer. Pick Up Card. | This usually happens when a replacement card should be used instead of the current card. |
| Issuer or Cardholder restriction. | This error usually occurs because the bank (or the customer) has set rules on what payments are allowed. Sometimes international payments are blocked, which returns this error. SmarterQueue is a UK-registered company, which is what may cause international payments to be blocked if you are outside of the UK. |
| Incorrect Postal Code. | Even if you’ve successfully used that card and postcode before, the bank may still send a “Postal code does not match (N)” response along with the payment approval. First-level support will likely confirm that the payment was approved and the postcode is correct, but our fraud-prevention settings will reject any payment with this response. You'll need to contact your bank’s Level 2 support to find out why they returned a postcode error despite the correct postcode being used. |
Other errors:
|
These can happen for a variety of reasons. Call your bank’s Level 2 support to find out why these payments were rejected. |
What Can I Do To Resolve A Payment Issue?
To resolve a payment issue, start by calling your bank or credit card provider.
Ask to speak to Level 2 support, as regular call center agents often don’t have access to the details needed to resolve payment issues and may simply say your card is working fine. Speaking to Level 2 support is essential to understand why your payment was rejected.
Explain to your bank that you attempted to make a payment to SmarterQueue, a UK-registered company. Provide the date of the payment attempt and the exact error code or message you received. Ask them to clarify why the payment was declined and what steps they will take to prevent it from happening again.
If the bank claims they have no record of a failed payment, don’t accept this at face value. The bank definitely received and rejected the authorization request from our payment gateway. Insist that they check their logs for the rejection response and provide an explanation.
Once your bank confirms they’ve resolved the issue - whether by lifting a restriction or changing system settings - try completing the payment again from the SmarterQueue Pricing page.
What If I See A "3D Secure Verification Failed" Error?
3D Secure (3DS) is an extra layer of authentication for online card transactions, designed to confirm that you’re the rightful card owner.
When you make an online payment, 3DS technology assesses whether additional verification is needed. If so, you’ll be directed to a 3DS page and asked to enter a password, PIN, or another form of payment confirmation. At the same time, your bank may generate a one-time PIN and send it to your phone via SMS, or it may ask you to approve the payment through your banking app.
What If I get a 3D Secure Authentication error?
When completing your SmarterQueue payment, you might see an error related to 3D Secure verification. This can happen either when the 3D Secure pop-up fails to appear or after you’ve completed the verification steps.
To resolve the issue, perform the following:
- Make sure that you’re following the instructions correctly.
- If a code is required, double-check that you’re entering the correct one from the right source.
- If you’re using a pop-up blocker, it may be preventing the 3D Secure window from appearing, so try disabling it or switch to a different browser or incognito window.
In some cases, the bank may approve the payment without asking for a verification code but still reject the transaction afterward. If this happens, you’ll need to contact your bank for support in resolving the issue.
What Can I Do If My Payment Still Fails After Following Your Steps?
If you’re still encountering payment issues after following the steps above, try a different credit or debit card if you are able to. Alternatively try to pay via Apple Pay, or a PayPal account.
Check our steps on how to "Add Or Update Your SmarterQueue Payment Method".
How Long Do I Have to Fix This?
We understand how stressful payment issues can be and want to ensure you do not miss a post.
SmarterQueue provides a 14-day grace period to resolve payment issues. During this period, your subscription will remain active.
If payment isn’t resolved within 14 days, your subscription will be canceled.