Who's at fault here?

nikkiuk

Last night I tried to order my Son's school uniform off the Trutex website. When it came to payment, I inputted my card details and their payment page said that there was a problem with my card and to try again which I did as I knew there were sufficiant funds in the account. Once again it said that there was a problem with my card and once again asked me to try again, which I decided not to do, but to contact my bank this morning to find out what the problem was.
I phoned my branch this morning, and the first problem we discovered is that when my husband went in a few months ago and filled in the paper work to change our address it was never processed and so they had the wrong address, because we don't have postal statements we hadn't realised.
I wasn't too worried at that point, but then I checked my online banking and realised that my balance and my available funds didn't add up so I spoke to my branch again and it turns out that they had authorised both payments last night and so £180 (2 lots of £90) was taken off my available balance. My bank said that because it was authorised, they could not return the funds to my account, but yet Trutex were insisting that they could not find any evidence of my order and hadn't taken any money. My bank are saying that if Trutex don't make any further request for payment within 5 working days that it will be returned to my account. So I am £180 out of pocket and without any uniform on the way!
To add insult to injury, whilst I have been writing this post my husband has phoned the order line to order the uniform once again using his card, his details and using our old address as the payment address and new address as the delivery address and they have declined the payment again, the reason given that there was already a payment authorised for this order!! I've just checked my account balance and available balance online and it looks as if they have taken a 3rd payment despite them once again saying it was declined. This time for £100 because the bloody school jumper has gone up by £10 overnight.
I am so angry right now, I am now £280 out of pocket-I know I will get it back, but we now have very little money to get us over the bank holiday when we should have had plenty and no school uniform!!
Who do I need to get mad with, my bank, Trutex or both?

madgagoo

Trutex are at fault here. Your bank has authorised the payments as you have requested.

If you can get the authorisation codes cancelled (which trutex can do but your bank cannot) then the money will become available to you again. It has not actually left your account at this point, it has been reserved by the authorisations - assuming the payments are not completed by trutex then the funds will never leave your account.

nikkiuk

Thanks for your reply. Trutex are being so unhelpful it's unbelievable! I've been passed from pillar to post and they are still insisting that there is no evidence of my order/payment, despite the reason for the last payment being declined (or supposedly declined) was that there was already an authorised payment.
Head office is now closed until Tuesday morning and so I can't do any more until then. I'm just mad that we will now have to alter our plans for the BH due to lack of funds. I know we will get it all back, but I obviously can't draw it out of our account. I budgeted £90 for the uniform and so far Trutex have taken £280 with no sign of an order confirmation!!

stclair

nikkiuk wrote: »

Thanks for your reply. Trutex are being so unhelpful it's unbelievable! I've been passed from pillar to post and they are still insisting that there is no evidence of my order/payment, despite the reason for the last payment being declined (or supposedly declined) was that there was already an authorised payment.
Head office is now closed until Tuesday morning and so I can't do any more until then. I'm just mad that we will now have to alter our plans for the BH due to lack of funds. I know we will get it all back, but I obviously can't draw it out of our account. I budgeted £90 for the uniform and so far Trutex have taken £280 with no sign of an order confirmation!!

The pre authorisation hold with drop off in afew days DONT PANIC !

nikkiuk

Thanks. we have enough money to get us through till pay day and/or the money is returned so I'm not panicking as such. I'm angry more than anything. We should have been able to use the £180 to treat the kids and have a few days out over the weekend, but are now unable to.

coolesticeking

What has happend is when you clicked on 'Submit' after you input your Card Details they do a Security Check to see if the address you input as the Billing Address matches the one held with your bank.

Of course, as you have said they bank have not Updated the address so it's come back as they are not willing to accept the order due to the security issue of the address being wrong.

The only way they can do this is try to take the amount of the Order in full and it's why it's only pre-authorised at this time i.e looks like it has been taken by your banks available balance but not showing on your account as a transaction as yet.

Sadly, this is one of the donwsides to using a Debit card for Internet Orders as it could mean you may be out of pocket until the funds are released back in your account which takes 3/5 working days.

My advice would be 1) Do not try this order again until the bank has confirmed they have updated your address and then leave it an extra 24 hours for it to be updated on the central system 2) Obtain a Credit Card or use one if you already have one for the next order because it means at least if they do any more pre-auths then it's not your money you are missing out on.

Hope this hels you! :T

Azrael_1701

madgagoo wrote: »

Trutex are at fault here. Your bank has authorised the payments as you have requested.

If you can get the authorisation codes cancelled (which trutex can do but your bank cannot) then the money will become available to you again. It has not actually left your account at this point, it has been reserved by the authorisations - assuming the payments are not completed by trutex then the funds will never leave your account.

Actually, I know of at least one bank where the consultants can remove auths.

madgagoo

Azrael_1701 wrote: »

Actually, I know of at least one bank where the consultants can remove auths.

Which one?

So you're trying to tell me that I can go to Sainsburys, get £200 worth of shopping and then get my bank to cancel the authorisation before Sainsburys are able to take the money?

Seriously, if a bank was able to cancel an authorisation on the request of a card holder then the whole debit/credit card system would fall to pieces as it would not be a guaranteed form of payment. Only the merchant can cancel the authorisation.

Azrael_1701

madgagoo wrote: »

Which one?

So you're trying to tell me that I can go to Sainsburys, get £200 worth of shopping and then get my bank to cancel the authorisation before Sainsburys are able to take the money?

Seriously, if a bank was able to cancel an authorisation on the request of a card holder then the whole debit/credit card system would fall to pieces as it would not be a guaranteed form of payment. Only the merchant can cancel the authorisation.

They cant 'cancel' the payment, they can however release the funds back into the account. I did this myself for a customer today. Halifax / Bank of Scotland. The following scripting is also read:

"I am going to release the funds just now. If the retailer comes into your account and claims the funds, they will be allowed to do so, and we will not be responsible for any fees incurred."

Admitedly, I could have worded that better, and I apologise for that.

maplegirl2011

the co-operative bank have also unwitheld my money on a few occasions too. but they do say that the retailer can still take it and i will be liable etc if they do.

jen245

When I banked with A&L, I tried to pay for some flights with my debit card, but the transaction was flagged as suspicious, so they declined it, and called me to confirm that it was me making the payment. I tried it again and if went through, thought no more of it until I went to the cashpoint and it wouldn't give me any money. I checked my online banking and the 2nd payment had come out and was on my statement, but there was a hold on the same amount, from the declined first transaction. Called A&L and they removed the hold on the declined transaction, so it definitely can be done. The bank did say that if the airline tried to take the payment it would go through, but they had already had their money, so I knew they wouldn't try to take it again