New Sephora Credit Card Declined at Store! Embarrassing😫

[SandraMaria3]

I got the sephora card with a $500 limit and made a $268.68 purchase at the store with the card. I tried making an early payment of the full amounts but the site kept giving me "there's already a payment scheduale on this date" so i thought maybe splitting up the amounts was okay, so I split it and payed a $100.68 & a $168.00 payment. A couple days later I tried using the card for a $450 purchase at the store, where it declined over 7 times (leaving me with a lot embarrassment and not enjoy the things we got to the fullest 😖). My guests had to pay after a long attempts to pay with the sephora card although I wanted to give them an enjoyable experience and pay using my card. I called customer service and they said that it declined because my payments* where $100 so if my purchase* was $100 or less then it wouldn't have declined. That the card "shield' itself because of "unrecognized payment* method amount" of $450 at the store....is that something normal with new cards? When does that end? If i continuously buy under $100 & make those $100 payments when can I use the card with the $500 limit?