Barclays Auth Code

ohdearodear

Really not sure if this in the right section but please bare with me, I recently ordered an iPad 2 from Phones4u with a £229.00 upfront cost. They took the money straight from my account but refused me on the contract for some reason (my credit check is fab). I got intouch with the support team from Phones4u and this is what they said

The time frame is 7-10 working days as it can take this long for the auth code to expire, we dont actually take the money we just generate an authorisation code, the bank then earmark this amount in your account, with the credit check failing we dont follow through with confirmation and when the auth code expires the monies will be released back to your account. This is a normal process with all companies.

Just wondering if anyone can back this up and if so if anyone has got a good time scale on how many days it usually takes.

Thank you, and hopefuly I will have this problem solved!

Gromitt

Pretty normal, the actual amount is usually debited upto 3 days later. Since they'll never claim, the money will be released back into your account within 5 - 7 days.

ohdearodear

Gromitt wrote: »

Pretty normal, the actual amount is usually debited upto 3 days later. Since they'll never claim, the money will be released back into your account within 5 - 7 days.

Thank you for you reply, and oh I see I was hoping for it to be in my account by tomorrow but it was only started on friday so that is a no go . I have seen somewhere that I can get the money off Barclays now 'within 24hours' and then they get the money back once the refund has processed?

Mikeyorks

ohdearodear wrote: »

I have seen somewhere that I can get the money off Barclays now 'within 24hours' and then they get the money back once the refund has processed?

No money will be taken - so there is no 'refund'.

But Phones4u are tying up £229 of funds taken out of your 'available' and :

This is a normal process with all companies.

........ that is a load of rubbish. They can't just tie up funds in your account at a whim if they have no stock / need to do a credit check etc etc. Barclays won't help as you authorised the debit via your Card .. and they don't know it's no longer proceeding.

So if you need to 'free up' the £229 earlier (I think Barclays are quicker than most) get Phones4u to contact the people who do their card transactions (their 'merchant acquirer') and get them to neutralise the hold.

2sides2everystory

ohdearodear wrote: »

Thank you for you reply, and oh I see I was hoping for it to be in my account by tomorrow but it was only started on friday so that is a no go . I have seen somewhere that I can get the money off Barclays now 'within 24hours' and then they get the money back once the refund has processed?

It is a very common malpractice. It is an abuse of the banking system. I see Mikeyorks beat me to it. I am perhaps not so fluent with the systems but I am pretty sure this sums it up:

The banking system permits a seller (merchant) to process a card sale transaction in the full confidence that it will be honored even though it hasn't hit the buyer's card account yet (the authorisation code is part of this above a certain limit).

The abuse occurs when merchants habitually use a payment system not for payment but as an interim ID test/creditworthiness test. These short-term 'earmarkings of funds' create all manner of problems for customers whose bank balance without these "earmarkings" goes almost to zero regularly each month before payday. Worse than that if it goes almost to the limit of an agreed overdraft. The earmarkings (as reductions in 'available' as Mikeyorks explained) can cause DD's and Standing Orders to fail and it therefore causes unexpected unpaid charges to be incurred at the bank and external penalties for non-payment to be triggered .e.g £12 for late payment of a credit card minimum payment.

This widespread malpractice should be stopped and so should Continuous Card Authorities which are also seriously abused by merchants for a different reason. Both are of course abuses to which the banks turn a blind eye. We might well ask why that is?

The assurance that 'it drops off after 14 days' is fine for people who always have more surplus cash than they know what to do with washing around in their current accounts (banks love that of course) but for an ever-growing section of the community this widespread abuse by merchants amounts to a bloody nuisance (and surprise surprise who wins from that ? - the banks again!)

ohdearodear

I have been given a secure trading code to give to barclays, will this help?

Gromitt

I don't know what a 'secure trading code' is, but the company who placed the 'marker' can 'unmark', but in practice they very rarely do it, depending instead on the transaction 'timing out' (so to speak) and the funds returned to you (Well, they were never actually taken, just 'reserved')

Who gave you this code?

ohdearodear

Gromitt wrote: »

I don't know what a 'secure trading code' is, but the company who placed the 'marker' can 'unmark', but in practice they very rarely do it, depending instead on the transaction 'timing out' (so to speak) and the funds returned to you (Well, they were never actually taken, just 'reserved')

Who gave you this code?

someone from their support team, just was on phone to barclays and they said that the payment is still 'outgoing' so they said phones4u haven't cancelled or returned the payment to me.

they take the money instantly out of my account but yet they dont do the same to give me it back.

Mikeyorks

ohdearodear wrote: »

they take the money instantly out of my account .

Phones4u say they haven't taken anything out of your account (your quote at post #1)?

So have they - or haven't they? Has your actual balance been debited by £229 and can you see a transaction for that sum?

ohdearodear

Mikeyorks wrote: »

Phones4u say they haven't taken anything out of your account (your quote at post #1)?

So have they - or haven't they? Has your actual balance been debited by £229 and can you see a transaction for that sum?

my current available balance states the money has been taken but my overnight balance is saying the money is in my account just not available.

ohdearodear

and no there is no transaction on my statement showing the money has gone out