Sports direct

LS1981

Hi there, I’m not sure if I’m in the wrong but I preordered a bike from sports direct 19th Oct and this was due to be available on 23rd November.  The payment was pending from my bank account and my available balance did go down so I’d assumed the payment was gone. Turns out the bike wasn’t going to be available till March so I cancelled my order and was told that the preauthorised payment will appear back in my bank balance. Well there’s been no money in my bank, my bank says there was never any money taken and sports direct are saying that they can do anything as my bank has to release the funds but as far as my bank is concerned there was never a transaction or money taken from my account. I’m just at a loss now.

[Deleted User]

I would work backwards and check balances and expenditure to check if it actually was taken. 

jonesMUFCforever

LS1981 said:

Hi there, I’m not sure if I’m in the wrong but I preordered a bike from sports direct 19th Oct and this was due to be available on 23rd November.  The payment was pending from my bank account and my available balance did go down so I’d assumed the payment was gone. Turns out the bike wasn’t going to be available till March so I cancelled my order and was told that the preauthorised payment will appear back in my bank balance. Well there’s been no money in my bank, my bank says there was never any money taken and sports direct are saying that they can do anything as my bank has to release the funds but as far as my bank is concerned there was never a transaction or money taken from my account. I’m just at a loss now.

Never assume anything - check whether Sports Direct have actually taken anything from your account. If they have not, there is nothing to refund.

LS1981

Sports direct keep saying they are unable to release funds for a preauthorised payment and get in touch with my bank for them to do it, my bank says the transaction wasn’t showing on my account therefore the money never left it. So I’m not sure why it was pending for 2 days then disappeared.

p00hsticks

LS1981 said:

Sports direct keep saying they are unable to release funds for a preauthorised payment and get in touch with my bank for them to do it, my bank says the transaction wasn’t showing on my account therefore the money never left it. So I’m not sure why it was pending for 2 days then disappeared.

So what's actually happened here ? There are two possible scenarios

1. At the time you ordered the bike you gave your card details and the retailer asked the bank to 'authorise' the transaction (usually to confirm that you have enough money to pay, that the delivery address given matches the billing address and/or that the card hasn't been flagged as lost or stolen). At this point the bank will usually reduce your 'available balance' by the authorisation amount, as it expects to see a payment request for the money coming through from the retailer in the next few days. Your available balance is now therefore lower than the actual amount of money in your account (by the amount authorised). 

One of two things can happen next.

2A). If the payment request from the retailer does indeed  come through to the bank in the next few days then the bank reconciles it with the original authorisation, sends the money to the retailer from your account and reduces your actual balance by the transaction amount. Your 'actual balance'  now matches your 'available balance' (assuming you've not made any further transactions)  

2B) If the payment request from the retailer DOESN'T come through to the bank within around a certain period (usually around a week), then the bank assumes that the payment request isn;t going ahead for some reason (in this case, because you cancelled the order before the goods were dispatched) and so it cancels the authorisation and restores the 'available balance' to what it was before the authorisation was originally given (again. assuming there are no intermediate transations). Again, your 'actual balance'  now matches your 'available balance'

So in both possible cases after a week or so your 'available balance'  should match your 'actual balance'. The difference between the two scenarios is that in 2A) your balance has been reduced by the transaction amount (as the rtailer has received the money) and in 2B) it hasn't.

So you need to have a look at your bank statements to see which applies here. 

{For completeness- there is a third possible scenarion, 2C, where the amount that comes throguh on the payment transaction from the retailer doesn't match the amount oroginally authorised. Different banks / retailers appear to handle this different ways, but it's not that common as far as I'm aware - I believe it used to cause online ASDA shoppers problems if their basket price changed between ordering and delivery as both amounts ended up being deducted from the available balance)

jonesMUFCforever

OP just look at your account balance and then check for any pending transactions (which will reduce your available balance). If they are both the same, the pending transaction to Sports Direct has dropped off (without them taking the money from you) and there is nothing to be refunded to you.
You are only entitled to a refund if Sports Direct actually appears on a statement having actually taken money from you.
(Pending transactions appearing on accounts then disappearing is very common - it is just a way a retailer knows you have the money at the time of making the purchase).

JReacher1

A pre auth placed on the 19th October would have expired by the end of October. 

Most banks now display pending transactions so depending who you bank with you should see if there is a pending transaction for sports direct.