Changing payment method during active WoW subscription

Support Customer Support
1

Hello,

I was due to get charged for new month of WoW subscription tomorrow but my old credit card expired so I wanted to update my payment method to a new one.

I did that from Battlenet Account > Payment Methods > Add A New Payment Method… I followed all steps and I saw few notifications telling me I won’t be charged until date that I was supposed to be charged for the next month of subscription.

What happened is that I got immediately charged (even tho my WoW subscription expires tomorrow) and my Account page doesn’t have that purchase nowhere to be seen. Games & Subscriptions still says “Next Billing Date: 25 Sep 2023” and Transaction History page doesn’t have this purchase that happened when I added a new payment method.

Just to mention, I have one Battlenet/WoW account, so this is 100% not an issue of “you used wrong account” or something similar, I also followed all steps properly to do this payment method update.

So what happened here? Why I got charged even tho I was told I won’t be until tomorrow because I have playtime active? Why is there no information about this purchase to be seen on my Account page?

Will I get double-charged tomorrow? Do I need to make a ticket? I don’t mind I got charged today even if I was told on two different pages charge will come when my current time expires, it’s just that I am afraid I will be double-charged tomorrow or be unable to play after my previous subscription ends tomorrow.

Thanks.

2

It’s normal when you add a new payment method to get charged the sub fee. It’s just part of the authentication process with your bank to vaidate your card and funds. The payment is temporary and should be automatically refunded within a day or two, if not before. (My bank refunds it within 5-10 minutes but some banks are slower).

You will be charged again as normal on the 25th to renew your sub after which your account will show an updated expiry date.

1 Like
3

Thanks for the answer mate.

That’s fine, I don’t mind that if funds will be refunded EXCEPT what happens if I have only 13 Euros on the card I wanted to use for WoW subscription? Just checked and bank still didn’t release my funds from charge earlier today, so I am at 0 Euros balance atm and have to pay for next month of WoW subscription tomorrow.

I wish this situation would’ve been communicated more clearly. I already got charged 1 Euro when I added new credit card (I guessed 1 Euro was to probe if card is valid) but why on top of that I got temporary charged 13 Euros? :confused:

4

Make a support ticket, there is a payment and billing part there. Explain what happened, and be ready to show billing from your account through screenshots (that admit bank details, but show balance movement and datestamps that are relevant), as it could be requested to clear up datapoints.

Blizzard are slow when it come to customer service in all but when it comes to payment issues. Do know they take these things extremely seriously, as messing with someones money can cause very big legal headaches.

So best of luck getting this fixed, likely it will be done within a few working hours :dracthyr_heart:

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5

Little update on my situation.

I was indeed charged twice, well 3 times if you include 1.00 EUR charge. My bank statement looks like this:

24-Sep 1.00 EUR, Blizzard Entertainment - this charge happened when I added a new payment method. It doesn’t show in Battlenet Account Transaction History page.

24-Sep 12.99 EUR, Blizzard Entertainment - this charge happened shortly after I added new payment method and confirmed the same WoW subscription plan. It doesn’t show in Battlenet Account Transaction History page.

25-Sep 12.99 EUR, Blizzard Entertinament - this charge is the only expected one, I was due to pay for WoW 1-month subscription. It shows in Battlenet Account Transaction History page and order status is “Complete” as expected, everything seems fine and I can play WoW.

I googled a bit, even found Blizzard’s Customer Support article mentioning those temporary pre-authorization holds but from that support article it looks like it shouldn’t apply to my case - I didn’t change my WoW subscription plan (it was 1-Month Recurring and I confirmed it to stay 1-Month Recurring), there was no promotion or discount on my to-be WoW 1-Month subscription purchase or anything similar (which support article mentions could be the reasons for pre-authorization holds). On top of that my payment change was just a newly issued credit card (old one expired), credit card of the same type from the same bank connected to the same bank account and with the same card holder name (me).

Reason why I am writing here instead of calling my bank is fear of bank’s support incompetence and possible misunderstandings that would result in them initiating a refund and most likely cause my dear day 1 vanilla WoW account suspended or banned.

I want to say again that I successfully paid for WoW 1-Month subscription and purchase of it is labeled as “Complete” in Transaction History page - my Battlenet Account seems fine, I can play WoW and everything looks good. It’s just about those -14.00 EUR I got charged BEFORE the expected WoW 1-Month subscription payment.

If someone from Blizzard’s Customer Support could look into my case and confirm to me that 1.00 EUR and first 12.99 EUR charges are indeed “temporary pre-authorization holds” and not an actual payments and that those funds will be released by my bank in upcoming hours/days, I’d appreciate it a lot - because as of me writing this my bank statement still shows hold on 27 EUR (combined from those 3 charges) while I expected it to be simply 12.99 as it was the case months and years before.

Also, consider communicating this situation better to your customers. During the whole process of payment update on Battlenet Account page I was never told about these temporary pre-authorization holds, on contrary I was told TWICE that I will NOT be charged while my WoW subscription is active and before I am due to be charged for the next month as expected.

Thanks in advance and have a great day.

6

I still think it’s likely just a holding payment and you will get it back once your bank releases it. It’s normal for it to show on your statement as it does too but once it’s released it’ll either dissapear or show as a credit. Every bank seems to have a different timescale for holding the payments but most release within a couple of days.

I’m not sure what triggers the holding payments, sometimes i get them, sometimes i don’t. Holding payments don’t show in your Blizzard transaction history.

If your still worried then best thing to do is open a ticket with customer support as you won’t get customer support via the forum. They will be able to check for you and confirm if it’s just a holding payment or if a misake has occured and issue a refund if it is a mistake. I would only contact your bank as a last resort if customer support do not resolve your problem.

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7

Thanks.

Yeah I believe it’s just a “temporary pre-authorization hold” and that’s why it doesn’t show at Transaction History page but still would like confirmation as my funds from those holds are still not released by the bank.

Google showed me there were cases when Blizzard’s Customer Support answered payment threads on this sub-forum, usually with not much info - just basic check-up, and cases that needed further help where pointed at support ticket system. I just need confirmation that those are not actual payments but temporary holds and it would be nice to know WHY it did happen in my case, as from everything I read about it - it shouldn’t have happened.

And indeed, I won’t be calling my bank unless it’s super necessary - don’t want them to screw something up. :slight_smile:

8

I’m not sure if Blizzard have any control over it or will be able to say why it happened - but certainly no harm in asking. I think it’s down to your bank when this happens and is part of the security check or something. I know other companies it happens with too where a subscription (recurring payment) is set up with a card, so it’s not exclsuive to Blizzard.

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9

In case of “pre-authorization hold” and WHEN funds will be released - yeah that’s on my bank and Blizzard can’t do anything about it.

BUT in case of reason/type of payment initiated it’s only on Blizzard to know and explain why it did happen, they are the ones who initiated payment or “pre-authorization hold” because of my payment method update.

As I said, I just would like to be confirmed it is indeed “pre-authorization hold” and not an actual payment and why it did happen.

It may sounds trivial to some, but for us on tight budget who already pay for WoW subscription as a luxury it’s a bit unfortunate to be unexpectedly charged or have funds held due to some processes not explained to a customer and without prior notification, -14 EUR (on top of expected -13 EUR) this situation caused to me wasn’t a pleasant experience. But it is what it is. Happy that I still can play WoW! :slight_smile:

10

I completely undertsand that and i’ve been in that situation in the past too so i know just how inconvient it can be, even more so if your were relying on the funds that are on hold. I also agree it should be better explained while your setting up the payment, a warning of some sorts that it could happen.

Anyway, hopefully it will all be sorted for you soon :slightly_smiling_face:

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11

Hi there,

So it looks like most answers are already accurately identified in this thread, and you found the support article where this is explained:

I think the only point of confusion is what constitutes “modifying your subscription”, which I can clarify does include changing the payment method, so that would be the reason for the hold in this case.

I hope the funds are released again soon by your bank anyway so you can access them again.