debit card problems

Bumblebee83_2

I purchased a pair of shoes on saturday using my visa debit card, and after i put my pin into the machine the assistant advised the card had been declined. She said to a colleague the screen was advising to request an authorisation code, her colleague then said to me, it wont go through. I paid with cash, and didn't think anything of it. I've checked my bank this morning and it looks like the £9.99 is due to be taken from my account - why is this? If the payment wasn't authorised, how long will it be before the 'pending' amount is removed (i.e. no longer shown as pending, and not taken from my account)...
I called the shop this morning and they said they'll look into it...

:mad:

YorkshireBoy

The only time this has happened to me (at Morrisons supermarket) it took 7 days to fall off.

never-in-doubt

It could have been shadowed. Give it a day or 2 until it drops off. When the transaction came back as declined, did the shop give you a copy of the declined receipt from the PDQ?

They should have done.....

Bumblebee83_2

no, i didn't get a reciept. to be honest i dont think the sales girl knew what she was doing!

lindsaygalaxy

I have co-operative 'visa debit' (but think its still coming up as electron)and I have had this problem all weekend. First in WHsmiths it accepted it for a purchase but refused to do the refund (could put pin in and was accepted but then declined), then same happened in Homebase, but worked fine in Tesco. Very confusing.

binaryuniverse

If a card has been declined then no receipt will have been printed as the transaction hasn't gone through.
I wouldn't worry about it, you shouldn't be charged.

never-in-doubt

binaryuniverse wrote: »

If a card has been declined then no receipt will have been printed as the transaction hasn't gone through.
I wouldn't worry about it, you shouldn't be charged.

But they should issue a receipt - you get it for cancelled and time-out errors and my mates shops give them to declined customers when asked:beer:

binaryuniverse

Depends on the size of the operation I guess. Small independents that use things like the Barclays would print off a "failed" receipt. But in large companies it's all done "online" so it never gets to the receipt stage.

stclair

never-in-doubt wrote: »

But they should issue a receipt - you get it for cancelled and time-out errors and my mates shops give them to declined customers when asked:beer:

Yeah all retailers should give the customer a copy of the decline receipt.

Ideally if the transaction was declined it shouldnt be pending

Eydon

Bumblebee83 wrote: »

She said to a colleague the screen was advising to request an authorisation code

Ok, so this doesn't sound like the transaction was declined at all - it sounds like it was referred. What the assistant should have done was phone their acquiring bank's authorisation department, who then phone through to the issuing bank (your bank), who then ask some additional security questions before either authorising or declining the transaction. It's perfectly normal and doesn't necessarily mean there is something wrong with your account. When I worked in the industry, 20-30,000 transactions a day were referred for various reasons (for one card issuer). Too often though, either through poor training, or because they can't be bothered, assistants don't follow the correct procedure.

The authorisation amount should drop off in a few days, however, you may find that your debit card will get referred again the next time you use it, because in effect there is an unsatisfied referral (i.e. your bank asked to talk to you and they haven't been allowed to).