Need urgent help to get my money back

angelnurse

Hello, everyone,
I have found myself in a terrible situation and need your advice, please.
(I am sorry for the long post)

On Friday I was booking the tickets for holidays for me and my family (5 people altogether) online with Ukrainian International Airlines.
I have entered my debit card details and pressed Make a Payment button.
I expected to be redirected to Visa Secure as usual when I make payments online but it did not even happen.

The next page contained a message about technical error instead of the expected confirmation details. I have immediately checked my bank balance and have discovered that the money has been already taken off my balance (£852).
I have called the airline's phone number in UK and they said that we are not in passengers list, and as all online payments are processed in Ukraine I have to contact them in Kiev.

I got in touch with the head office in Kiev and they were looking into the matter. Their final response on the same Friday was that my transaction has been cancelled by my bank and I have to sort it out with my bank as they do not have my money.
I have called my bank and they gave me an authortisation number for the transaction and said that the transaction have not been cancelled.

I have asked them to stop it but they said it was not possible as it has been authorised and pending. They could not see the name of the receiver as yet.
The bank staff also advised me to contact the airline and ask them to send them a fax mentioning my account details, authorisation code and the amount informing them they do not require those funds so that the money can be put back to my account.

I have contacted the airline and communicated the bank's message to them.
Their reply was that they did not communicate with banks but they have sent me an email confirming that they have no intention of taking this amount of money from me and they also included a printout from their system showing that the transaction has been authorised and cancelled after 2 minutes. They included their own reference numbers, my name, amount, times, etc, reassured me and asked me to forward the email to my bank. They also mentioned the reason for technical fault being 'too many passengers' names'.

I have called the bank again, and they were asking me why the airline does not want to send fax to them but anyway if it is their practice then fair enough, in this case I should print out the email and fax it to them as they do not use email for such matters.

I have printed the email and faxed it to my bank on the same day (Friday).
On Saturday I have checked my balance and it was still the same. I have contacted the bank and they said the same thing. The transaction has been authorised, they can not see the name of the receiver as yet. And if I sent them a fax I should wait for a week or so, they will look into the matter. When I mentioned that I have not filled in Visa Secure during the payment process asking them how could my card transaction been authorised they just repeated the same thing.

Today is Sunday and my money is still missing.
I am so angry and feel that I have been robbed.
I can not book other tickets as do not have the money.
The children are so disappointed as they were waiting for this holiday for a long time. I have worked really hard for this money and don't know what I can do now. My heart is aching.

Please, please, could you kindly advise me.
Thank you.

ferf1223

It can take time for an authorised and then cancelled transaction to fully process...it's not usually an instantaneous thing...it may be pending for awhile and then resolve itself. I would personally give it a few days and check again - I know it's easy to say when you're not counting on having the funds available to book a holiday...but it sounds like you have done all that you can at the moment and the process just needs to complete itself. I would try not to worry too much at the moment.

rapunzelz86

Please dont worry, you havent lost your money. Your post could have been me talking about asda back when we had all that snow.
Confusing as it is, your money atm is in limbo. Neither the bank or the airline actually have it, and it will re-appear on your balance within the next few days. It took mine 6 working days to "drop" .
An inconvienience, yes, but you will get your money back, and your holiday

angelnurse

Thank you so much, Ferf and Sadeelisha, for your encouraging words.
This gives me hope. I feel so much better now.

abacab

This happened to lots of people ordering the sat navs/hard drives a couple of weeks back from orangeaccesories,although the amounts involved were a lot smaller.
The money sits in limbo until it bouces back.
A lousy system in these days of instant money transfer and I feel for you.

angelnurse

Thanks, abacab for this info.
At least there is a hope of getting the money back.
I was so scared that I have lost it forever.
Now I will never buy my tickets online rather will call airline reps based in the UK.
If something happens they will be able to help.

Donnie

angelnurse wrote: »

Thanks, abacab for this info.
At least there is a hope of getting the money back.
I was so scared that I have lost it forever.
Now I will never buy my tickets online rather will call airline reps based in the UK.
If something happens they will be able to help.

Use a CREDIT CARD. That way it's not your money that is in limbo. The bank will deal with it and you can get on with your life.
I fail to understand why people use debit cards online for anything.

angelnurse

Hi,
Just wanted to thank you guys for your help.
I have received my money back a few days after my original post (a transaction was not even registered on the bank statement).
I have also had my holiday since.
Thank you so much!!!!!