We have had multiple customers complain that our refunds, which we have done as "Refund by Reference" where possible, have gone to cards that they say have been cancelled. Windcave says that the refund by reference should be clever enough to be transferred to a new card (new number or expiration date) connected to the same account (i.e. bank), but these customers claim that they have cancelled the cards in question and closed their accounts with the bank in question. It's entirely possible that the customers believe that they have cancelled the cards but haven't, either in error or because the bank in question is being sleazy, but I don't know what tools we have to research this, and we can't ask our customers to do so (indeed, many of them likely lack the wherewithal). Has anyone else come across this issue or have any tips?
Hi everyone,
I’d like to provide status and clarify further what is happening in the cases that we’ve researched for members reporting this issue.
When the refund is requested and the patron has cancelled the card being targeted by the refund, the card's issuing bank is responsible for appropriately responding to transaction requests against that cancelled card, such as refunding a payment by reference. Refund by reference is a security measure to ensure that funds can only be processed back to the original card used for the transaction, as noted by Tami in her post.
In the cases we researched, even though the patron has cancelled the card, the issuing bank accepted the refund request instead of declining and reversing it so that the funds can be sent to an updated or different card. Tessitura and the Payment Providers, such as Windcave or WorldPay, do not oversee the cancellation of the card, and cannot obtain information about the status of the card before requesting the refund by reference.
We have had extensive conversations with our Payment partners to discuss what options there are, and unfortunately the issue rests between the patron and their card issuer. Patrons will need to contact their card issuer directly to obtain their refund.
If you believe your patrons have experienced this problem, or any other issues with refunds, please submit a support ticket to hello@tessituranetwork.com so that we can thoroughly investigate the problem.
Many thanks,
Chris SzalajProduct Owner, Business Facing ProductsTessitura Network
Does this apply for refunds processed via the payment screen in a ticket order?
Yes: that's generally what we were discussing.