Unable to make purchases in Pokémon GO

I created a second Apple ID and signed in on an old iPad so I didn’t have to sign out of my Apple ID on my phone. I set it up with my credit card. I was able to make purchases of coins again but when I tried to buy the event ticket it double charged, my card flagged it as fraud and they closed my credit card. I linked PayPal and the charge went through without issue. Huge pain in the butt and luckily I’m only out $12 for coin purchases that didn’t go through on my main account.

Hi sirenmystere. I followed the create new account steps on the other IOS device once I logged out. I didn't mention it in my original post a few other things 1) I used the same CC for this new account that is the same for my main Apple ID. So my theory is that its not an issues with the CC company flagging the purchases. 2) is on other IOS device I logged into Pokemon Go wit my normal GMAIL log in. So my theory is that its not associated to the pokemon Go account. and 3) its some programming bug with Niantic AND that Apple ID. And 4) I was able to play Pokemon Go on my ORIGINAL device. 5) I have NOT (!!!!) tried to buy anything on the original device after this. I am too afraid at this point.

This was the only way I got it to work.

In terms of my refund claim to clear my double Ghastly event charges, those are still not refunded and are still listed in my purchase history.

This above is exactly what i did to be able to use my existing PoGo account with a new Apple ID, except, I used an old iPhone to set up my new Apple ID.

1) I reset my old iPhone so it was completely wiped clean, because i didn’t want to log out of my Apple ID on my newer iPhone - I didn’t want to have to move the newer phone’s SIM to my old phone to get texts and email etc because then I’d have to set all that stuff up again on the old phone.

2) I followed the instructions to set up a new Apple ID on the old phone using a different, new, gmail email account, not the one I used for my PoGo account.

3) I used the same credit card as the original Apple ID account.

4) I then installed PoGo on the old phone with the new Apple ID, and logged into my existing PoGo account with my existing gmail account (that was not able to make any in-app purchases in the shop using the original Apple ID with the duplicate purchases on my newer iPhone)

5) I was again able to make purchases on my Pogo account.

so yes, the bug is on Niantic’s part, in that there is a purchase on that old Apple ID account that is trying to be sent to your pogo account, but it can’t be because of some programming error on Niantic’s part- in my case because it was because a glitch in Niantic’s code allowed a duplicate purchase for an event ticket that was only supposed to be allowed one time per each Apple ID on each Pogo account. This error locks up your Pogo shop.

and yes, Apple denied my request for a refund for a duplicate Gastly day bonus event purchase, and forced me to do this. It is clear there is a duplicate purchase on my device, but Apple doesn’t care. It is a ONE DOLLAR purchase, and I told apple to keep the money and just remove both purchases from my account, but they won’t do it. Even though I was charged for something I didn’t get.

I tethered my old iPhone to my newer one using a the personal hotspot option on my newer iPhone., and took both phones out to GoFest.

all this just to play PoGo and use my GoFest ticket THAT I ALSO PAID FOR. I am so beyond Apple’s support people at this point, Niantic needs to step up and eat the charges for the duplicate purchases, or the ones that didn’t go through, but apparently there is no way for Niantic to see which purchases made it to which pogo account.

I did this and it worked!

I had an old iPhone so I reset it, made a new email and new Apple ID. I then logged in to my normal Pokemon account and it let me make purchases.

That phone sucks so after purchasing a few things I exited Pokemon go and went back to my normal phone, the purchases where there :D thank you!!!!

Depressing indeed. I just bought GoFest tickets for my account and sons. Never got them in account, but Apple ID was billed for both.

Support in app has not been helpful so far and now I cannot buy coins either. Get Error 3 each time.

Don’t give up. Take screenshots of the charges for Niantic and send Apple the conversations showing that Niantic does not have the transactions.

sadly they only answer like once a day, but Niantic not having the purchases should be enough for able to finally refund them. Especially since the error won’t go away until the purchases are removed. :-(

Niantic is aware of the problem and said they were working on a fix, you just need to find the right person to admit it and send that to Apple to get your money back.

Apple may have an issue tracking or refunding coins as there is probably a lot of fraud involved when they cannot see the actual game.

I was lucky getting my issue resolved, but it took several days of persistent yet polite complaining and constant documentation to proof that you are telling them the truth.

Sad that it makes people want to quit playing.

Keep at it, and take screenshots of all conversations and attempted purchases. Sooner or later you should get a helpful agent. Or else Niantic and Apple will end up getting sued over ripping off people.

Hm. Wow. This is happening to me too. Started happening when I got double charged for my GoFest ticket. Now its error 3 all over the place. I looked at what the above poster said about an alternate account, and low and behold, my coins are in that account for some reason. This is an account that has not been logged into for months. Apple wont refund my double gofest ticket or coins. Yay...

Yeah, I was told by Niantic Support to do that in the meantime while I wait for them to try and fix this and while I wait for Apple to refund me (spoilers, they didn’t; they told me to go pound sand)

But now it’s been complete radio silence from both Niantic and Apple! This is 100% highly unprofessional and honestly a complete scam and I absolutely refuse to EVER give money to either company ever again! But more so Apple because at least Niantic told me “Yes, it’s an error on our part and you should be refunded” But Apple is just like “no, absolutely not! You do you do not qualify for a refund so go get bent!” 😡

I tried switching my payment to PayPal and that didn’t resolve the issue for me. The only way I have been able to make purchases is using my wife’s phone with her Apple ID. I login my Pokémon Go account on her phone and then make the purchase and log off when I’m done. Niantic and Apple have been useless.

Hi Ian..

thank you for the response. I will try that. When you did that did it affect your wife’s account at all. I mentioned to my hubby about using his and he’s kind of reluctant since his isn’t having a problem right now and he thinks If I sign onto his account it will mess his up.. Please let me know

thanks

SirenMystere (Andie)

This thread is what solved this for me. After reading through this, i knew that I had also purchased the Ghastly pass. I checked my history and that had gone through twice as two $0.99 charges. I disputed them both and in the descriptions put the same message, that one of them was legit and one wasn't. I also mentioned that others had this same experience and that once the charge was removed it fixed it. After about 24 hours, Apple remedied the duplicate charge. As soon as they did that, purchases go through again.

I wanted to note, I don't think this is an Apple or Android thing. I think this is just something that they are forced to fix for us. So, if you do have to reach out, make sure to explain the situation and maybe even provide a link to this thread.

Same here. Happened while trying to by a second GoFest ticket for a family member. Apple denied me a refund and denied my appeal. WTF - I bought something and didn't get it. How can they deny that? Niantic has been useless too. They keep closing my ticket as a white screen issue which is totally different. On the phone with Goldman-Sachs now to dispute the charge on my Apple card. Will let you know how it goes.

I don’t understand why they approve some people for a refund and deny others when we all mostly have the same problem, it’s complete BS! Ya either refund everyone or no one, none of this selective shizz!!

And Apple don’t seem to be able to tell that the duplicate charge was made by the same pogo account on the same device, or they don't care to look, and they don’t believe me when I say that you can only buy and use one of the bonus event tickets per pogo account. They only seem to see that I bought a bunch of them on my Apple ID, therefore you can buy more than one in their eyes, and they won’t reverse the purchase. I don’t even want the money back!!! Just take the purchases off my Apple account.