A bit miffed

plasma123

Ok,

I have a John lewis Mastercard credit card, which I beleive is underwritten by HSBC.

I am the main account holder, my partner is a named card holder.

Every month on the 1st, I call up, go through security and then pass the phone to my partner, who then uses her debit card to pay off the balance in full. We have done this for the last 5 years with no hassle, nor have we moved house, or bank etc.

I called them last Thursday to pay the full balance, whi8ch was £1700. They processed the payment from my partners card, but she was told it was declinded due to an address miss-match. So we ended the call, check her statement, her online statement to those of last months, and all was the same, nothing had changed. So, 30mis later we called again, and was advised it was defo declined due to an address mismatch. Thinking it was a system glitch, we tried to make a payment again for £1700, but again it failed.

So my partner called her bank of friday morning, they could see that they atempted to take the money but it was declined. They too confirmed it was due to an address missmatch, and they agreed to check it out their end. They got back saying nothing has changed, as per my own investigation and gave my girlfriend ther authorisation codes for the two failed transacations. So in summary her bank are happy for the payment to go, but the card co wont take it.

So, we called again on friday, explained this to them, and they advised that is wasnt their problem!!! We tried one final time to make a payment, again for £1700 but it failed. I asked them to confirm that all 3 payments had been declined and they would not be taking them. They confirmed this.

On monday i had my partner call her own bank and to transfer the cash to by bank, then i would pay it using my card. However, the bank cant transfer the cash as apparantly the credit card co have ringfenced all 3 payments, so almost £4500 and wont 'release' it until 7 days are up. I called the credit card co and they confirmed this!!!

Why are they refusing us access to our money, when they have confirmed that they wont be taking it!!!! IN practice we have £4500 which we cant use until tomorrow at the earliest!

What regulation allows this? Is this normal practice?

tomsco

plasma123 wrote: »

Ok,

I have a John lewis Mastercard credit card, which I beleive is underwritten by HSBC.

I am the main account holder, my partner is a named card holder.

Every month on the 1st, I call up, go through security and then pass the phone to my partner, who then uses her debit card to pay off the balance in full. We have done this for the last 5 years with no hassle, nor have we moved house, or bank etc.

I called them last Thursday to pay the full balance, whi8ch was £1700. They processed the payment from my partners card, but she was told it was declinded due to an address miss-match. So we ended the call, check her statement, her online statement to those of last months, and all was the same, nothing had changed. So, 30mis later we called again, and was advised it was defo declined due to an address mismatch. Thinking it was a system glitch, we tried to make a payment again for £1700, but again it failed.

So my partner called her bank of friday morning, they could see that they atempted to take the money but it was declined. They too confirmed it was due to an address missmatch, and they agreed to check it out their end. They got back saying nothing has changed, as per my own investigation and gave my girlfriend ther authorisation codes for the two failed transacations. So in summary her bank are happy for the payment to go, but the card co wont take it.

So, we called again on friday, explained this to them, and they advised that is wasnt their problem!!! We tried one final time to make a payment, again for £1700 but it failed. I asked them to confirm that all 3 payments had been declined and they would not be taking them. They confirmed this.

On monday i had my partner call her own bank and to transfer the cash to by bank, then i would pay it using my card. However, the bank cant transfer the cash as apparantly the credit card co have ringfenced all 3 payments, so almost £4500 and wont 'release' it until 7 days are up. I called the credit card co and they confirmed this!!!

Why are they refusing us access to our money, when they have confirmed that they wont be taking it!!!! IN practice we have £4500 which we cant use until tomorrow at the earliest!

What regulation allows this? Is this normal practice?

John Lewis have declined the payment, even if you do give them the authorisation codes, they have no need to take it.

As far as your bank can see, these payments have been authourised.

You need to see if your bank and John Lewis can communicate as if John Lewis state to them (possibly only by fax) they won't be claiming the funds, your bank may be able to release the money for you.

This is indeed normal practise. Your bank (or the authoriser) can't just cancel the authorisation as any Tom, !!!!!! or Harry could just call up stating the merchant/payee advised trans was declined.

meer53

Sounds like whoever input the details at John Lewis mistyped your address details when taking the payment. If you have a transaction declined it's wise not to try again too soon but to pay by some other means

plasma123

thanks for the replys guys.

I was told it would take 7 days for the funds to be released. Can someone confirm if this is accurate? WHat is the actual technical term for this kind of action?

Regards.

Miss_Spendalot_2

plasma123 wrote: »

thanks for the replys guys.

I was told it would take 7 days for the funds to be released. Can someone confirm if this is accurate? WHat is the actual technical term for this kind of action?

Regards.

I agree with Tomsco, I had a similar thing with a company that I purchased something from, they processed the purchase twice and my money was ringfenced by them.
I called them up and they said that they would fax the bank to say that they would not be collecting the money but it would drop off in a couple of days anyway so as I was not in any rush for the money I just left it to drop off. Point is try calling and ask them if they will do this for you, it can't hurt to at least try:-)

Good luck and hope that they sort out their mess asap