Velocity points redemption payment error?

[Monya Meow Meow]

I have been trying for the past hour to redeem some reward flights from Singapore to Seoul on the website.
Everything seems to be working fine right up to the payment page.
After I enter my card details for the payment surcharge, I keep getting this annoying error...



Has anybody encountered this issue before and if so, is the only solution to call them up to book?
I have already cleared my browser cache and used a different browser for this.
Thank you.

 

[im.daniel]

Worst case scenario, call VA up to assist with the redemption and ask them to waive the phone assistance fee (because of how cough their website is).

 

[Monya Meow Meow]

Worst case scenario, call VA up to assist with the redemption and ask them to waive the phone assistance fee (because of how cough their website is).

Yep tried this morning and had the same issue so I just rang them up.

Didn't even need to ask to waive the fee as the operator said she would do it FOC, seems like it might have been a known problem *shrugs*

 

[Amanad78]

Try using a different credit card if you have one

 

[Monya Meow Meow]

Try using a different credit card if you have one

Tried 3 different cards, all failed so not a card problem.
All have been used yesterday and today at different vendors.

I should have asked the operator what the real issue was...

 

[andye]

Not wishing to be alarmist but I have had this error before with phantom availability. Maybe worth checking to see if the same flights are available on krisflyer (you'd expect them to be)

 

[Monya Meow Meow]

Not wishing to be alarmist but I have had this error before with phantom availability. Maybe worth checking to see if the same flights are available on krisflyer (you'd expect them to be)

Yep available and I did check ExpertFlyer as well, many seats left.
So who really knows what's going on with Velocity

 

[AgentDCooper]

I was in that situation a few months back and ended up booking using the App on my phone. Maybe try that?

 

[Thhhza]

I faced a similar payment error yesterday trying to book a SIA reward flight from SIN to BLR. First tried the app, then Chrome, then Chrome in incognito mode and finally different cards. All gave me the same error.

Ended up calling up and booked the flight over the phone without any issue. Didn't even have to ask for the assistance fee to be waived.

 

[JetSetJake]

Long-time lurker, first-time poster.

I first faced this issue back in March when trying to redeem an award seat with SQ. No matter what I tried, (Debit Card, Credit Card, etc) it failed payment. Didn't work via desktop, app or phone either. In the end, called them up and redeemed that way - thankfully they waived the fee.

This evening, redeemed another flight, same issue. Clearly there is an ongoing underlying issue with how some seats are being redeemed online.

What makes this time less pleasing was when I spoke to the agent via call, they questioned the error online, indicating I'd mentioned the same thing last time (so clearly they note this down). It felt like they were accusing me of fibbing. They even reiterated the call was recorded.

Eventually they waived the fee again after some perseverance and the agent did apologise.

I know it's a first-world problem, but VA need to obviously sort out this bug in the system. I don't fancy having to explain myself each time with a phone call to be potentially accused of making it up. And, I do feel sorry for the agents though because I'm sure it's annoying on their end too.