I tried to order a final gift online on Monday and my BS&L card was rejected by the web site. The site told me to re-enter my info, so I did, and it gave me the same error.
I had been doing this quite easily for the last few weeks, with items of similar prices, so I knew it wasn’t my card. I assumed the web site had errors.
So, while I liked the price and location of the original store in New York, I went to a different site in a different location and it worked. I ordered my item without a problem from a different place in Tennessee.
Unfortunately, after ordering, that store owner called me to tell me he was out of stock and didn’t expect a replacement until September.
Oh, well.
I got a refund and decided to call the store in New York again, since I knew they had what I was looking to purchase. They took my card info manually, bypassing the website, and all was good. They had it in stock, and had my information.
A few hours later I got a call and an email from the store in New York, saying my card was declined.
I called BS&L and asked them why it was being declined. No, it’s not over $1000. No, it’s not an overseas order. “Is the order from New York? Ahh, that’s the problem.”
The bank lifted their block on the order and I got back in touch with the New York store. They tried again, and it was declined again. Aargh! We’re now 2.5 days into this order.
I called BS&L again. They had lifted the block on the card but had entered the wrong dates. They lifted the block again, with proper dates this time.
I had to ask about the error. “The store told me it was error code #200. What does that mean?”
“It shows the order is from New York.”
So?
“New York has the most fraud. We flag everything there. Almost always, if there is fraud, it involves New York.”
I sent off this new information to the New York store and today, the 4th day of trying to make the purchase, it went through. Because of the holiday, though, they’ll ship it next week.
Problem solved.
…
The good news, other than the successfully completed order, is that BS&L takes fraud very seriously and works hard to protect us from unwanted charges. And, as I noted, all of my other seasonal purchases have transacted flawlessly.
I share this to let other know that code #200 exists, as I did not know about it until this week.
I have had similar
I have had similar experiences with my BS&L card. It happened a few times over the holiday season when i was ordering gifts from New York businesses and again when i was visiting my son in NYC around Thanksgiving. My card was declined at the Lego Store at Rockefeller Center and again at a smaller vendor at the Union Square Holiday market. I used a different card the first time but called the bank after the 2nd decline and was given basically the same information that you were. I did ask them if they could take the hold off my card for purchases in NYC for the 3 day time frame I was there but they were not able to. It meant either having to call them each time or using a different card or….gasp..cash.
Good to know they are vigilant but mighty annoying just the same – particularly when traveling.