Samsung pay won't verify cards

[userVdWMY1WK8S]

Hello all,

New owner of a Gear S3. I have not been able to get Samsung pay to work at all. Note, I am not using a Samsung phone so have never used pay before.

I have tried numerous times. The device registers just fine, and I get the email that it's registered. I try to enter the card and the card information populates from the photo just fine. I enter the rest of the info and hit "next" and it starts with "Validating your card info, please wait.." 

It does this for quite a while, then times out with "gear not responding, try again later"

I've tried a visa from B of A, Debit card from Wells Fargo and an AMEX card. Same thing. I've searched here for solutions and haven't found anyone with my exact issue. Most have had Pay working on the phone, but can't get it to work on the S3. Mine is not an LTE.

Model SM-R770

Tizen 3.0.0.1

Software R770XXU2CQL1

Knox version 2.2.0

I called customer service and they gave me the number to Samsung Pay (844-726-7297) and I spoke to someone overseas. She had me try a few things, to no avail. She said she was going to "escalate my case" and would call me back, which never happened.  Does anyone have any idea what might be my issue? I've tried un-installing Samsung Gear app, re-installing, resetting the S3, and nothing works.  Thanks in advance for any assistance or advice.  Really disappointing after having the Fitbit Ionic which setting up fitbit pay went without a hitch. I figured Samsung would have an edge over Fitbit which was why I returned the Ionic and bought this instead.

John

[userVdWMY1WK8S]

Nobody has had this issue but me?

[userVdWMY1WK8S]

Bump!

[KLHN1986 · Accepted solution]

Hey there!

So, Samsung Pay has occasionally had an issue with new users... I believe it's some sort of server issue... I have seen this happen before with phones, and I believe the problem could happen with a gear S3 watch. I can't remember if I have actually heard of it happening with the watch but I'm sure if the problem can happen with phones, it can happen to the watch as well. 

I have experienced this before when I first started using Samsung Pay. It's pretty easy to fix. 

Completely uninstall Samsung Pay from  your watch through the Samsung Gear App on your phone or if possible, delete it from your watch. I have a Gear S2 so our operating systems on our watches does vary slightly.

Turn your watch on and off/ restart your watch.

Re-install Samsung Pay.

Re-enter your cards and info into Samsung Pay and follow the prompts. Samsung Pay may sometimes ask you to call a specific phone number to your bank/card service. Certain banks/cards will not be verified until you call your bank. I have had 2 of my cards require this extra step. 

I know you tried resetting the watch and the app, but it couldn't hurt to try again. 

Usually, the first transaction or two with Samsung Pay on a new device (phone or watch) can have a glitch. I recommend using the watch somewhere that Samsung Pay will definitely work, like a 7-11 or grocery store or somewhere with newer card reader machines. I love that Samsung Pay works at 99% of the point of sale machines. Sometimes the first payment will not go through and it might take about 24 hours for the servers to update after adding your cards.

I have had a problem where none of my cards worked or were verifiable after switching from my Samsung S5 to my S7 and after I uninstalled and reinstalled then added the cards again, it worked fine. I'm assuming this is similar to what you are experiencing on the watch. 

 Also, did you receive any type of confirmation email from Samsung to activate your Samsung Pay account? I don't remember if you need to do anything to validate a Samsung Pay account the first time you use it... like clicking a link from an email or what have you. 

Sorry I can't be of more help.

I think your best bet might be to DM the SamsungPayUS twitter account. 

[KLHN1986]

So a theory I just came up with...

If your Wi-Fi is having small interuptions, it could be preventing the cards from adding. Have you tried seeing if they will add with just Bluetotth, having the Wi-Fi on your watch turned off? It's a possibility.

Though I doubt it (because your watch is the wifi version and not an LTE version) a carrier could disrupt "short code" which would cause verification messages within the app to not run and then the card would not be able to be validated either... buuuuut your watch is a wifi and not LTE watch so that theory is out... 

Also, are you using an iphone? Specifically, if you use Apple Pay and don't have apple pay disabled, I have heard there can be conflicts... The Gear watch does work quite well with Apple and generall Samsung Pay works, unless you're simultaneously using both payment services.... or at least from what I've heard...

If you live near a BestBuy I always recommend going to the Samsung Experience kiosk in the store. Those guys are super knowledgeable. 

[userVdWMY1WK8S]

KLHN1986 helped me a lot. She had me try several things but none worked. Yesterday my Samsung Gear app was making my phone vibrate like crazy (LG V30) so I deleted it completely. I then re-installed it, and it prompted me to reset the Gear S3. I went all the way through the process and once finished, when I would try to open the Gear app, the phone would vibrate like crazy again, and the app would crash. I uninstalled it again, reinstalled and got the same thing. Then I tried setting up Pay by using the watch. It then prompted Gear Pay to open in the phone and proceeded with the setup (putting passcode in, etc) When it got to the point where it wanted me to add cards, I tried again..It went further this time, asked me to agree, then went on to get th bank to approve it. This time it  said my bank declined it. Okay, well now we're at least getting to the bank.  That was my Wells Fargo debit card. So then I moved on to my B of A Alaska Airlines card.  Did the same thing.. Declined by the bank.  Third card up, AMEX. This one's application process was different. It asked me for my name and address. This one approved and is now in my watch!  Just too bad it's not a card I use regularly..So now I just need to figure out how to get the bank approval. KLHN1986 gave me the number she used for BofA so I'll start there.

Just wanted to come back and tell what happened. So many, once they get the solution, they don't share the result.

Cheers, John

[SamsungGill]

Hello John, sorry that none of the Moderators have reached out to you yet.

I would recommend giving Wells Fargo as well as Bank of America a call just to let them know that you're trying to set up Samsung Pay. From my personal experience, American Express is a bit more lenient regarding set ups of this sort.

When you call the banks, ask to speak with their Digital Wallet team, they will be a bit more informed and may be able to see any requests that have come to them. A lot of banks will deny access automatically to prevent fraudulent activity. 

[KLHN1986]

My guess would be initiating the process from the LG phone (could have been something stopping short code in the phone from the carrier, carrier specific actions can be buggy)  instead of from the gear watch... I'm glad you got the cards added. I imagine it might have been difficult to verify the cards over the weekend because banks are closed. Let me know how much progress you've made and I'll help where I can. 

[userlVJZuVc4W5]

This worked for me but I had to reset my S3 and not upgrade to the latest Pay version. 

[userLykoex1GpP]

I am have the same issue but I can not unistall Samsung Pay from my watch. The uninstall button is greyed out.