Overspending due to online purchasing balls up. Advice please?

Nine_Lives

Just doing the monthly figures & i got to the gf's credit card with AA & it has her down as having overspent by £7.01. Real unusual, especially as i note down all figures so she knows exactly how much is remaining on the card at all times.

Anyway, the transaction is pending & we've worked out that it's a Debenham's purchase which must be the pending one.

To explain...

Her friend recently had a wedding & she chose a gift from a pre-selected list from Debenham's.
She then got a letter through saying:

Thanks for the purchase, but the order has been cancelled by our sister company Debenhams Direct, as they've been unable to fulfil this item for you. Having checked our store stock, we regret that we also are unable to fulfil the item.

If you'd like to contribute to the couples wedding gift list, you can either go online to the couples gift list, into any of our stores to choose alternatives or we can charge your method of payment for the item and credit the bride and grooms gift card to allow them to choose alternatives.

If you have any questions, please give us a call. Please note that no payment has been taken for these items.

So as she couldn't buy that item, she opted to purchase another item from the couples list.
She can't remember the exact prices, but they were approx £25 each. One was £26 something she reckons, but lets say roughly £25 each.

Based on that, it looks like she's been billed for BOTH items, as the amount pending is £50.60.


As it's pending, it's still yet to show through on the statement, but if it is 2 lots that she has been billed for, is there any way to get this sorted? To clear any overpayment charge etc?

dzug1

The probability (but not certainty) is that the 'wrong' transaction that is pending will never go through.

But it might go through and get refunded, which doesn't help a lot.

Valli

So what you're saying is it looks like she has been billed for both an actual purchase and an item she (or the happy couple) never received?

Well, it looks like you have a paper trail (what with being so organised and all - bows down in awe) so IF she has been double billed a VERY strongly worded letter to Debenhams is called for and a request for reimbursement of both the charge they shouldn't have made (due to the out of stock situation) and a claim for out-of-pocket expenses should be incorporated into that letter.

If it were me I would also be suggesting that their billing systems are altered so that people aren't billed, in the future, for items they were informed were out of stock.

I had a similar issue where I ordered an item in store, the order was deferred (can't remember the exact reason but it was £74.99) and then re-ordered and I ended up being charged twice. I went ballistic but very nicely - no bad language - got a refund AND an ex gratia IIRC. It was Littlewoods by the way - no longer trading (where's the rolleyes smily when you need it?)

PeterJohnson

I wonder if it is worth making an extra payment now to avoid charges etc then dispute the problems?

Nine_Lives

I did that for her as some sort of 'backup'. Soon as i spotted it i fired off £50 (as it was only £7.01 over, i was figuring this would cover the overspend, plus any charge).

lee1985

I went £7 over exactly with capital one about five months ago. The account was run flawlessly prior to that for the 8 months that the card had been held. The month before, I had even received a recent increase of 300% due to good account conduct.

I emailed them stating that I went overlimit £7 for only a couple of days and immediately sent a payment of £40 as soon as I realised (one or two days later) and I also mentioned about my recent limit increase as evidence of my good account conduct and flawless history prior to that.

They got back to me within 24 hours stating that they had refunded the charge, no questions asked. They did it immediately and it appeared a few days later, just like that.

I understand all lenders are different and some are just out to make as much money as possible hence little or no refunds but there are some genuine people out there whom can be nice and understanding about things, and I'd say that you ask the same. The worst that can happen is they say no, and it doesn't cost you a penny or hardly any of your time to ask.

oki25

AA (if with MBNA) will only charge a default if she is still over when statement prints, if its only pending it won't be included anyway

JaymesKenin_2

If it's a pending transaction your "real balance" will be higher than your "available balance", sort of like when you request your balance at an ATM, it's there, you just can't have it yet/it's not gone yet.