AskNet AG won't take my money... What's up? (SOLVED)

***** I’ve moved this topic over from the Halion forum, because Presales seemed more relevant! *****

I’ve tried several times yesterday ( Sep. 18, 2013) to buy an upgrade to Halion 5, but the purchase failed every time!

I called my bank to see if there were any issues and sure enough, there was a fraud block on my card until I would verify some other transactions on my account. Great! The bank is practicing due diligence …I’m okay with that!

After getting everything straightened out with the bank… I tried again… nope, not this time either!

So, I call AskNet ag to find out what the problem is, (I actually got through!) and she said that if I had tried more than three times the system would lock me out for 24Hrs. Okay, so I try again today ( Sep. 19, 2013) and still no joy!

I fire another call to my bank and they say that they can see the request for funds which was approved by the bank!

AskNet ag keeps turning my card down even though my bank has approved the transaction!

I tried to get in touch with support via MySteinberg, but every time I tried to send a message, the process asks for my permission to send my personal profile… which I would be glad to approve, but the page to make that adjustment doesn’t work!

I have never had such a difficult time trying to make an online purchase! This treadmill is no fun and I want to get off!

If one of the Mod’s can offer help… it would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
Al

ASKNet does outsource jobs for Steinberg, so calling Steinberg isn’t usefull, you have to keep trying ASKNet.

By the way is it possible to pay with PayPal? Maybe an alternative? :arrow_right:

I use PayPal for all my online purchases, including from Steinberg’s shop, never had a problem.

Mauri.

No! I used to have a PayPal account… until they cut me off because I wouldn’t let them have direct access to my bank account! After reading some of the horror stories related to PayPal freezing accounts, over debiting , etc. I decided It was a good idea to limit direct access to my account to just me and my bank! By the way, I use my card for online purchases all the time, and have never had this issue before!

I now understand that the issue happened because of the fraud prevention red flag that happens as the result of an international purchase. Unfortunately AskNet / WorldPay / Bibit 's system will lock you out for 24Hrs if there are three failed attempts to charge your card. There is nothing on the page alerting you to the fact that you will be locked out if this happens! There is however a very prominent button that says “Please Try Again”.

The fact that my bank practices due diligence is okay with me! The fact that Bibit’s system locks out possible fraudsters is also due diligence! The fact that there is no information on the AskNet website about the possible pitfals of the system and what to do to rectify this issue IMO is an easily correctable issue! I’m not suggesting Bibit change their security, but provide an easier source of explanation as to why this issue happens in the first place!

This was absolutely the most irritating online purchase I’ve ever had! My only reason for posting about it here was to see if I was the only one… apparently not Check Here, and to possibly get some help, or even help others with this issue!

I would have just chosen another vender if possible, but I believe AskNet is the only way to purchase upgrades! (Please correct me if i’m wrong).

Thanks for the suggestions!
Al

Hi There,

I do not know in which part of the world you live, but here in the Netherlands we can purchase steinberg upgrades through online webshop such as www.bax-shop.nl or www.thomann.de. If they do not list the halion upgrade mail them I’m sure there willing to arrange it for you. If you are in the USA then mail something like musician friends or similar (often I get a better price then Steinberg offers!!!)

Good luck with your search,
Menoj

Thanks for the head-up! I’ve checked the websites you suggested, and didn’t see the upgrade from Halion Sonic to Halion 5 being offered. I also checked similar websites here in the U.S… I’m in the Tampa Bay area of Florida by the way. I think this issue happened in the first place because I was trying to make a transcontinental purchase.

I will give the AskNet server time to clear my card and give it another shot later!

Thanks again for the suggestions!
Al

Well the good news is that AskNet’s server finally cleared my card! I’m now the owner of HALion 5!

The bad news is that it is crashing (Stopped Working Dialog) about every fourth patch that I load!

I don’t have the energy to track this down tonight, so I’ll work on it tomorrow! Thanks for everyone’s help… I’ll let you know what turns up!
Al

It turns out that HALion 5 may have been crashing because I forgot to restart my computer after the installation! Ooop’s! Anyway… no more crashing, and now on to exploring!

So, just to sum this topic up… It would seem that if you have three failed attempts at charging your credit card at AskNet, the system will lock you out for 24Hrs after your last attempt! So, if you don’t wait the full 24Hrs before your next attempt… the 24Hrs will start all over again! If I had called my bank after the first failed attempt, I would have been approved after the second attempt!

The moral of this story is to be patient, and stay away from the “Please Try Again” button on this site!

Al

Ok, good to hear everything cleared out and you’re rocking halion now.

Go make some music !!!

Cheers,
Menoj

I waited 28 hours and am still unable to submit payment. I’ve tried three different cards, so as far as I can tell AskNet has completely blocked my customer account from making purchases. All 3 cards are, of course, perfectly fine and working with all other vendors. I called to check with my bank and they confirm there are no flags on their end or on Visa’s. So AskNet appears to have arbitrarily blocked my account from submitting payment for some unknown and unexpressed reason. I find no information about this on either AskNet’s or Steinberg’s websites. Of course, neither company offers support on the weekends.

I agree with OP that this is extremely irritating and it’s unfortunate to see that this is still an occurrence 8 years later.