Anyone else not able to pay for Tidal's subscription?

Hey folks, fellow music enthusiast here. I’ve been using Tidal’s Hi-fi subscription for a year between Dec 2018 - Oct 2019, when I had to change my banks, and with that, of course, my cards.

I was very satisfied with their service, so I never had the need to reach out to their support team, until I had to interrupt my subscription briefly, while I switched banks and cards.

Upon trying to reactivate my subscription with the new debit MasterCard issued by the largest bank in my country (I live in a country that is in the European Union, so no shady stuff lol) I kept getting a pink error on Tidal’s checkout page, saying that the transaction cannot be completed, and it gave me a few general reasons as to why that may be, like incorrect card details - not applicable in my case, restrictions by my bank - also not applicable, they confirmed that there are no restrictions on their end and actually the transaction request from Tidal doesn’t even reach them.

At this point I realized that during my payment process on Tidal, I never saw the 3D secure popup, the one that sends you an SMS from your bank, and you have to input it. So from what I was able to gather, Tidal’s checkout is not 3D-secure compliant.

I also tried paying with PayPal, something which I was able to do for other online payments without a hitch. But on Tidal’s page, a PayPal payment attempt returns a dry error text “There was a problem with PayPal payment.”

I also tried with a VISA debit card from the same bank, but with the same result.

At this point I tried to reach out to Tidal support, to ask for help. And that’s when I discovered how terrible their support really is. I believe they are outsourcing their customer service, because I got in touch with them several times, and every time I had a strong feeling that they do not care too much about Tidal’s image to customers - having worked in customer service for a few years myself, I know that outsourcing your customer service to another company is the mother of mistakes, and a sure fire way to ruin your reputation, because you have no control over the quality of customer service rendered to your clients.

The first person I was in touch with, asked me if I tried to restart my subscription, after I explained in painstaking detail that I did, and how I did, in my initial message. After I’ve repeated that I have, and explained everything all over again, he said that he forwarded my feedback to their product team, and then I never heard back. Their product team did nothing about it too, because moths after our conversation, the issue persists to this day on their checkout page.

The second person I was in touch with, told me that “we cannot reverse this decision, very sorry”. I asked her what decision she was referring to, because to my knowledge there was no decision that I was aware of regarding my account.

I received a response from another person next, who told me that the payment is being rejected (something I was painfully aware of by now) and that I should contact my bank (even though I mentioned in my email that I have, etc.)

At this point, I am 6 months after my Tidal subscription was suspended, and basically ran out of options to try and send Tidal money. I have briefly considered Spotify but cannot reconcile with the fact that they stream 320kbps so I don’t really want that. Tidal in a way is unique, which is why it really f****g sucks that I cannot pay for their service.

One thing is for sure, this is the first company I begged to give them money, only to be met with total indifference and a complete lack of empathy.

Has anyone else had this problem with them, and if so, were you able to resolve it?

4 Likes

You don’t use a VPN, do you?

1 Like

I’m seriously sorry if my following question is ingorant since i’ve yet to use a streaming site. but i assume like most sites you can change your payment method? would it be possible to switch card and pay thru a family member’s card? and then just forward them money each month?

I use a VPN :slight_smile: tried to connect from a different country tonight, and was not able to pay… with either method. Then I logged out, and created a new trial account.

At first it said that in my country Tidal is no longer available (even though it’s listed in the countries list in their FAQ).

Then I tried again with a UK IP and it let me create a new trial account, and to select my subscription. It even let me add my payment method (PayPal - because debit card still didn’t work).

Then I canceled that subscription and tried to create an account via my country IP and this time it worked. And it also let me add a PayPal payment method on it - this time it didn’t say anymore that it’s not available in my country.

By now you can probably gather that Tidal’s website is highly confusing at times. For now, I can use the service for another month, and I hope that when the time comes to renew, it will take money from my PayPal balance and that it just continues to work. But I won’t hold my breath.

2 Likes

No worries :slight_smile: I tired that with the VISA I mentioned in the initial message… it’s my dad’s card… issued by the same bank as mine. No luck, same result.

1 Like

ah right, well i meant if possible a diff bank card. could be worth a shot

Yes… I don’t have anyone else in my family with a different bank… but I have considered this option as well… like maybe even opening an account with another bank to have a debit card that I refill with cash periodically specifically for Tidal. Silly, I know.

Same thing just happened to me, and this is very much not encouraging… been weeks now and I started the process with support, but after this… kinda not lookin up from the swing of things…

One thing I’ve always hated about tidals bugs is how inhouse they keep them. People who review on app store are consistently encouraged to contact support and very, very rarely are issues talked about or solutions made common knowledge on things concerning problems either software or other related…

It’s a really shitty philosophy for QA, trying to pull issues into private rather than publicly acknowledging problems and providing solutions… Makes the person paying pull their hair out trying to figure out whats wrong, I remember many a time when an update for the pc desktop app would be near unusable, finally after searching for weeks and trying various common sense things, I did reach out to qa, and they sent me a beta build which solved everything… and almost as if a point of pride Ive found that while some weeks they update the app automaticly on a bi-daily basis, usually the version that is completly broken is the one where it’s several weeks for an update… lol often one that fixes nothing.

This is a new one for me, kinda taken aback at a company that is so unwilling to take my money.

I tried my wifes card from cashapp… gonna try her visa at some point… WILL NEVER TRY PAYPAL, and f- you tidal for thinking that was an alternative solution to THIS problem… super insulting, kinda creepy even that they would push the conversation in that direction at all… like yall think on that one before you wrote it in the trash useless online support and faq.

Will try my wife’s visa, and maybe, and only because I was gonna anyways, try a separate debit card.

At that point and this kills me, given the library, playlists and general musical world establishment that I’ve had what is at this point I think 3 full years of loyal patronage… but the general principal says I should have killed this honestly when it first happened and I checked the bank, the card and the other card… like btw… my bank isn’t even getting a declined or bounced or flagged tranaction lol… they are just simply, they as in TIDAL are not processing my payments at all… the issue gets as far as the web page which Ive tried on both my phone, pc, wifes computer… I mean that’s all I got… for now maybe I find a raspberry pie in the trash and just pour cement on that dead horse for measure?

But yhea, like DAMN, not cool, kiiiiilllls me that I am in this situation but when companies pull this shit, only way to vote is the wallet I guess… and I’ve given them a mindblowing amount of grace here, but like, why should I even try to PAY THEM MONEY even harder at my expense, time, effort, frustration and dissolution, (kinda the worst one here really).

If they would acknowledge problems and provide support to those things, especially when a problem occurs from an update or change… rather than drag it to the shadows as if nothing is wrong, ladeda, see no hear no speak no evil… but ohhhh Sorry YOUR having an issue, just you for anyone near by in case your ears pricked up… contact support so that we can help you with YOUR issue, just you… no one else the program is perfect nothing could be wrong ladeda…

f- you tidal, and f-you for even creating a proprietary convoluted opaque as a black void qa and support culture that treats customers as if they were retarded children making a scene… If I have to leave I will… that kills me, so many levels… but I won’t come back again, I shouldn’t even be bothering at this point…

If anyone has had any success or a positive outcome from this let me know please, cause like Mulder I want to believe so badly!

3 Likes

Hi Root9065,
It happened the same to me yesterday night.
The credit card was renewed (by the same bank) and the plastic is a new one with different number.
Also, when I tried to add the new one a pink message appears. I tried with other credit cards and happens the same. I contacted the bank and they confirm that the card is not receiving any request, so I don´t know what is.
Could you solve it?

BR, EdW

I realize this is an old thread but maybe you’ll see this, or someone else with the same issue.

So I’m having the same exact problem right now. Did you ever get back on Tidal?
I’m so frustrated right now because I have big playlists that I’ve spent many hours on, that I can’t get access to to transfer to another streaming service.

I’m getting no response from multiple inquiries from Tidal.
Wondering if Tidal suspends accounts for arbitrary reasons.

Same problem here, did you ever get satisfaction?
I’m wondering if they don’t get butthurt when they get complaints, and just suspend accounts in this manner instead of just communicating what’s going on.
I have huge playlist that I can’t get access to that I’ve spent many hours on that I can’t transfer.
Unbelievably uncool.
So pissed at them right now.

How about trying some third-party tools to get Tidal music? Athame Tidal Downloader?

I don’t subscribe to Tidal, I just use DRmare Tidal Downloader to download my favorite songs for offline listening.