Charged for a Decline Payment by TFL

PicDOP

Hi Guys.

This is my first time here, however, I have an issue with an unauthorised(?) charge.
On the morning of 3rd of February 2020, I tried topping up my Oyster with my weekly travel card using my debit card. The first machine I tried it decline my transfer, therefore I decided to try the next one. Everything went good the second time. However, upon checking my bank statement it says that I was charged double, meaning I was charged for my declined transaction as well. I tried rining tfl (no help) as well as opening an enquiry with them. Afterwards, I contacted the bank, explained the situation and them to cancel the first payment. The first payment was cancelled (disappeared from pending) until today. Today tfl took the money from my account for the correct payment as well put the declined payment on hold again.

I decided to call tfl, this time I managed to talk with an operator which told me not to worry cause the payment was declined, therefore they will not take the payment from pending. And if by Friday it does not disappear or if it takes my money (not in pending anymore) to contact them. Afterwards, I contacted my bank (Halifax) to ask them how many days will my money be in pending if TfL does not connect them. Upon contacting them and explaining the situation they pretty much said that the transaction reappeared when TfL tried to access the money in order to take them from my account. Therefore what I have to do right now other than wait for them to take the money from my account and afterwards dispute it, is to contact them again and ask them to contact my bank to cancel the transaction or the authorisation code for the transaction. Tried calling TfL back, and I was passed from one department to another until they decide to close the call.
Any idea what should I do in order to get my money back? The Tfl guy that I talk with said that the reason that is in pending again is due to them having it appear in pending as well in their system, so it got activated back (or something like that), however, they will not take it from there. However, the lady from the bank that I talked with told me that the reason why is in pending after it was cancelled is that Tfl tried to access it, to take the payment from my account. Those two contradicts, Tfl seems useless right now and I do not know what to do. I don't want to have to dispute it as this will mean way more time for me to wait.

Thank you!

born_again

You will just have to wait and see if they both debit. You can't dispute payments that have not debited.

Auths can only be cancelled by the retailer or their merchant bank.

So you will have to keep monitoring for 14 days to see if they both debit.

molerat

Wait a few days to see if it is taken or not, that is how the bank system works. TFL asked your bank for the money so the bank held the money for them. For whatever reason there was a failure in TFL receiving that reply authorising the transaction which means the transaction failed. Nothing to worry about unless they actually take the money. Lady from bank is talking rubbish, all she can see is TFL asked for money.

PicDOP

born_again wrote: »

You will just have to wait and see if they both debit. You can't dispute payments that have not debited.

Auths can only be cancelled by the retailer or their merchant bank.

So you will have to keep monitoring for 14 days to see if they both debit.

I know I cannot dispute it yet. I guess monitoring will be then. It is whoever annoying at I don't even have the guarantee it will not be taken from my account, I wanna avoid the disputing as that seems like a hassle. I will try and call them Friday as they suggested it if it is still going to be in pending by then.

Thank you for your reply!

PicDOP

molerat wrote: »

Wait a few days to see if it is taken or not, that is how the bank system works. TFL asked your bank for the money so the bank held the money for them. For whatever reason there was probably a system failure in TFL receiving that reply authorising the transaction which means the transaction failed. Nothing to worry about unless they actually take the money. Lady from bank is talking rubbish, all she can see is TFL asked for money.

Thank you so much for your reply! I seem I will wait and if it does not disappear contact them on Friday (as they said). The lady from bank pretty much said "We previously cancelled the pending transaction (which is true, they did cancel after I asked them to cancel it on Monday) so the money were no longer on hold, however Tfl tried to access the money today to take them from your account". The transaction that was not declined was taken from my account today as well, while the pending one reappeared.

My confusion comes from the fact I asked them both why did the transaction reappeared after being cancelled and received two different answers. Tfl said the cause is still pending on their system, but they will not access to take it out. Bank lady said cause they tried to access it to take it out. So now I'm not left just without my money, I'm left confused as well.

In case they actually take the money what should I do?

BooJewels

I made a debit card purchase a few days ago and they always do a 1p test transaction too. The full proper payment cleared the day following, but the 1p pending transaction is still there - they often sit there for a week after the actual purchase, before they vanish. So your pending one will perhaps follow the same sort of pattern - they're just a bit slower than successful transactions to disappear.