Iceland pending payments multiplying

Barniferous

I tried to place an online order with Iceland, got to the checkout and it said there's an error with my card try again. So I did and same again. I assumed the website is having problems and gave up.
Checked my online banking and as expected 2 payments of £80 were pending, and also a third. I phoned Halifax to make sure there wasn't actually a problem with my card, and they said no there wasn't and to contact Iceland to stop the payments.
I've had similar happen before so thought I'd just ignore it and in a few days theyll disappear from my account...but now there's a fourth pending payment for the same amount. Iceland can't be contacted by phone at the moment, there's only an online form, which I filled in but, as expected, it says it'll take longer than normal to reply.
I'm worried that they'll keep taking more and more pending payments in addition to the 4 (£320) already. Is there anything at all I can do apart from wait?

jonesMUFCforever

No in today's exceptional circumstances you will have to wait.
You don't state if you used a debit or credit card - if its a debit card your money will be tied up until the pending transactions drop off - if you used a credit card it should not inconvenience you unless you are at, or near your credit limit.

Barniferous

Debit card. Was hoping maybe there was something I hadn't thought of, or if there was something Halifax could do to prevent further pending payments appearing. A fifth pending payment hasn't appeared yet so hoping that means it's stopped for now. Thanks for the response 

wizzywig27

I'm pretty sure that in 'today's exceptional circumstances' as people may be struggling with finances you'd be able to contact them and ask them to remove the multiple authorisations - they should be able to on the basis that IF Iceland claim all four and you go overdrawn then you will be liable for any fees incurred.

sasha20

I'd wait to see if the pending transactions actually come through. Usually your pending transactions will show all auhorisation attempts against your card. If your online purchase did not complete, Iceland may well never actually confirm the authorisations so the money may not come out.

Card payments have two stages - the first is the authorisation request where Iceland sends your bank a request and asks if they can take £X from your account. Then if they get a positive response, they confirm your order, ship your food and after they've done that, they then complete the process by confirming the pending authorisation. If the order never went through that last step may not actually happen.

wizzywig27

sasha20 said:

I'd wait to see if the pending transactions actually come through. Usually your pending transactions will show all auhorisation attempts against your card. If your online purchase did not complete, Iceland may well never actually confirm the authorisations so the money may not come out.

Card payments have two stages - the first is the authorisation request where Iceland sends your bank a request and asks if they can take £X from your account. Then if they get a positive response, they confirm your order, ship your food and after they've done that, they then complete the process by confirming the pending authorisation. If the order never went through that last step may not actually happen.

Yes, but then the money held drops back into your account and the funds become available again, this process (in theory) can take up to 30 days for a debit card, although normally takes around 5-7 days

born_again

wizzywig27 said:

 this process (in theory) can take up to 30 days for a debit card, although normally takes around 5-7 days

A authorisation will only sit on a account for a max of 14 days. Unless it is something like car hire or hotel reservation. Which can sit for 31 days.