Bought App, stuck at "authorizing purchase"/can't refund?

[Cudda]

Hey all,

I bought Homerun Derby 3D yesterday night (A game I know, but I don't think it matters if it's a game or an app), and it's been stuck at "Authorizing Purchase" even until now. My card has been charged 5 bucks, and I can't refund it because I get an error every time I try to.

I have a Stock Froyo N1. I've had the demo for a long time so I don't know why it's not letting me compete the purchase. How do i go about either completing the purchase or refunding? I'm stuck in an endless loop here and out 5 bucks.

I went to the devs website and they say it's up to Google to deal with purchase problems. So how do I go about fixing this?

 

[wmtoandroid]

Hey all,

I bought Homerun Derby 3D yesterday night (A game I know, but I don't think it matters if it's a game or an app), and it's been stuck at "Authorizing Purchase" even until now. My card has been charged 5 bucks, and I can't refund it because I get an error every time I try to.

I have a Stock Froyo N1. I've had the demo for a long time so I don't know why it's not letting me compete the purchase. How do i go about either completing the purchase or refunding? I'm stuck in an endless loop here and out 5 bucks.

I went to the devs website and they say it's up to Google to deal with purchase problems. So how do I go about fixing this?

I'm in the same boat. It's been almost 24 hours now and I can't download the app that I paid for yesterday. The app developers don't have a working phone number and haven't replied to the last two emails I sent them.

Not cool.

 

[Cudda]

So how in the hell do we get out of this? It's ridiculous.

 

[wmtoandroid]

So how in the hell do we get out of this? It's ridiculous.

I wish I knew. I've purchased two other apps before without a problem. I was really excited to test this new app out too and now I'm just frustrated about the entire thing.

I sent Google a support ticket and got back a canned reply "After purchasing an application on Android Market, the application will immediately begin to download to your phone." Of course, it's SUPPOSE to do that, but it's not

 

[UrbanMuppet]

No longer a contributing member. Account pending for deletion.

 

[Nodders]

One solution that sometimes works is to log into another Google app such as Buzz or Talk or something. I think that makes the phone realise that it is logged into your account and authorises away.

 

[wmtoandroid]

I've done it all:

- cancelled and restarted the download
- cleared caches of various android components
- restarted the phone
- removed the battery
- ran gtalk
- tried to download other apps (free, and they work fine)
- tried clearing my credit card and shipping address in the Google Checkout and entered it back in (apparently this worked for a few people)

My refund period is up and I'm willing to bet that it will start downloading shortly...

 

[morpheus2n2]

Try here Contacting Support - Google Checkout Buyer Help

 

[Tre Lawrence]

I had to deal with this. Restarted, cancelled, tried WiFi and more and eventially it worked. I googled for about a half hour with no solutions.

Try this. Using wi-fi may work, IIRC.

 

[mandophish]

I've successfully used the phone restart / opening another google service method.

 

[dntesinfrno]

This happened to me once, actually the only time i bought anything from the market but it seem to be more of a processing delay than anything (just so happened the dev was from overseas, probably had something to do with it). Even though your card has been charged the devs. cc processor hasnt completed the transaction to 'unlock' the download. Atleast that what happened in my case, after a day or two it worked like a charm.

 

[wmtoandroid]

This happened to me once, actually the only time i bought anything from the market but it seem to be more of a processing delay than anything (just so happened the dev was from overseas, probably had something to do with it). Even though your card has been charged the devs. cc processor hasnt completed the transaction to 'unlock' the download. Atleast that what happened in my case, after a day or two it worked like a charm.

This is what I figure, but then again, I've purchased a game that was from Italy and was able to download it instantly. Also, now that my refund period is up, what happens if this $5 app doesn't work for me?

I suppose if developers are the source of the delays, Google needs to change the purchase policy.

 

[Cudda]

I've tried everything short of returning my phone to factory defaults. Somehow I don't think that would help anyways. I just sent an inquiry to Google Checkout so they can look into it. We'll see what happens. wmtoandroid, can you let me know if you happen to resolve this issue?

 

[kevin@teslacoilsw]

As a developer, I'm often on the other side of this problem. Some information that might be of interest.

There's a few problem cases:
1) Your credit card information is outdated. Google supposedly sends you an email telling you to update it.
2) There's a stall prior to authorizing the purchase. These show to the developer as Order Placed but don't say authorization failed or successful. The user is told nothing of the problem and just sees it as stalled.
3) There's a stall after authorizing the purchase where the developer sees it as fully normal but the user is told nothing of the problem and just sees it stalled.

It sounds like you have problem (3). I know that some of these cases (1 and 2 at least) don't start the refund timer until the issue is resolved, as I see some transactions still refundable even though others placed after them are finalized. I don't know if problem 3 also has the extended refund period.

I hope Google starts paying more attention to the market...

 

[wmtoandroid]

I've tried everything short of returning my phone to factory defaults. Somehow I don't think that would help anyways. I just sent an inquiry to Google Checkout so they can look into it. We'll see what happens. wmtoandroid, can you let me know if you happen to resolve this issue?

Yes, I'll report back here as soon as this gets resolved.

 

[wmtoandroid]

As a developer, I'm often on the other side of this problem. Some information that might be of interest.

There's a few problem cases:
1) Your credit card information is outdated. Google supposedly sends you an email telling you to update it.
2) There's a stall prior to authorizing the purchase. These show to the developer as Order Placed but don't say authorization failed or successful. The user is told nothing of the problem and just sees it as stalled.
3) There's a stall after authorizing the purchase where the developer sees it as fully normal but the user is told nothing of the problem and just sees it stalled.

It sounds like you have problem (3). I know that some of these cases (1 and 2 at least) don't start the refund timer until the issue is resolved, as I see some transactions still refundable even though others placed after them are finalized. I don't know if problem 3 also has the extended refund period.

I hope Google starts paying more attention to the market...

Thank you for the insight Kevin.

There's no problem with my credit card info and I've triple checked it just in case.

This "stall" issue you mention is interesting. Upon reviewing this problem order and comparing it to my previous successful orders, it seems that after the company received my order there is no "charged your VISA" action after it. So it is possible that the card has not been processed by the developer, but then how long do I have to wait? My refund button is already gone from my Market app.

More info: One of my transactions seems to have a delay between the day the developer received my order and the day my card was charged, but the app still downloaded immediately after payment.

 

[Cudda]

Thank you for the insight Kevin.

There's no problem with my credit card info and I've triple checked it just in case.

This "stall" issue you mention is interesting. Upon reviewing this problem order and comparing it to my previous successful orders, it seems that after the company received my order there is no "charged your VISA" action after it. So it is possible that the card has not been processed by the developer, but then how long do I have to wait? My refund button is already gone from my Market app.

More info: One of my transactions seems to have a delay between the day the developer received my order and the day my card was charged, but the app still downloaded immediately after payment.

Yup, just noticed the exact same stuff. Ughhh I just want my game to download lol.

 

[wmtoandroid]

So the order was finally cancelled : ""Order canceled due to internal error in Market."

But, I still want to try this app and when I go into the market, it's still flagged as "Purchased" and I get that dreaded "Authorizing Purchase" again! Is there anyway to cleared the "purchased" status since I have to purchase it again?

 

[wmtoandroid]

Just wanted to give another update. I'm still not able to re-purchase the original app I wanted, but I've been able to purchase two more without any delays or issues.

 

[Cudda]

Yup, in the exact same position as you are right now.

 

[wmtoandroid]

Yup, in the exact same position as you are right now.

Did you contact the developers to see if you can purchase their app another way?

I've sent my dev three emails and tried to call their US office and received no reply. This aggravation isn't worth a $5 app!

 

[tcraig72]

I'm in the same situation with the SkyDroid Golf app. Contacted the developer who told me to try clearing the market cache. Did that and nothing changed. I'm at a loss. Would really like to get this app for the next time I go golfing. Any ideas would be appreciated.