£500 missing

GwenEvans

Hi all,

Wondering if I could grab some advice from you all.

Today my husband and I went to Curry's PC World to buy the new Playstation 5 bundle which he's been saving up for and waiting patiently for to be in stock. When we arrived, I decided to use my Blue Light Discount; which was in the form of buying discounted gift cards through Edenred and using them in Currys. So we used hubby's card to pay for the gift cards (down from £509 to £480), filled in all the details and authenticated the transaction. Only to be told at the end that the transaction failed due to the billing address not matching. No worries we said, we will just pay in full, it was worth a try. But no, card declined as we later found out that despite the transaction failing, Edenred still took the £480 out of hubby's bank account and is now a pending transaction. During this entire period, no e-mail or form of communication was sent to us by Edenred, so essentially just a missing £480. We phoned Edenred asking what was going on and where our money was, for them to say yes it had failed and therefore we wouldn't be getting the vouchers, but we WOULD be getting a total refund within 3-5 working days as per bank policies etc as the transaction is reversed/refunded. (Why they took money out to begin with after the transaction failing is already beyond me). After this we still have no form of written communication and I am going by the say so of a customer service lady over the phone. 

When we get home (after finding another £509 to seal the deal with Currys and not leave them - or my husband - hanging), we decide to call the bank to confirm that they had received the refund request from Edenred as stated by customer services. The bank said they had not received a refund request yet, so we should wait until Sunday (4 days) to see if we have received a refund - during that time, Edenred wouldn't have claimed the money and therefore we would get it back. The bank explained that Edenred could actually still claim the funds and then refund it themselves; which is contractictory to what Edenred told us. It feels like they are passing the buck and we are nonethewiser what will happen to our £480.

So really I am asking for advice; We have no written trace of contact from Edenred (yes, we did also e-mail them but no reply, and no confirmation e-mail for a failed transaction or anything) so essentially they could still claim the money and change their minds, and decide to give us the non-refundable gift cards that we no longer need, and can't afford to have as we have now paid another way. We NEED the money back as just that - our money. Not non-refundable gift cards. But with no written confirmation that we will be refunded, if they decide to claim our money we have nothing to counter that and prove we were assured otherwise.

For now, we will just wait until Sunday and see what happens, but with the experience we've had so far I'm not holding out much hope.

If they claim our money and try to lump us off with a change of heart and give us the gift cards, what do we do?

Sorry it was so long!

Best,

Gwen

[Deleted User]

GwenEvans said:

Edenred still took the £480 out of hubby's bank account and is now a pending transaction. 

If it's pending then they haven't taken it. I'll be released in a couple of days. Nothing to worry about.

Aylesbury_Duck

GwenEvans said:

Hi all,

Wondering if I could grab some advice from you all.

Today my husband and I went to Curry's PC World to buy the new Playstation 5 bundle which he's been saving up for and waiting patiently for to be in stock. When we arrived, I decided to use my Blue Light Discount; which was in the form of buying discounted gift cards through Edenred and using them in Currys. So we used hubby's card to pay for the gift cards (down from £509 to £480), filled in all the details and authenticated the transaction. Only to be told at the end that the transaction failed due to the billing address not matching. No worries we said, we will just pay in full, it was worth a try. But no, card declined as we later found out that despite the transaction failing, Edenred still took the £480 out of hubby's bank account and is now a pending transaction. During this entire period, no e-mail or form of communication was sent to us by Edenred, so essentially just a missing £480. We phoned Edenred asking what was going on and where our money was, for them to say yes it had failed and therefore we wouldn't be getting the vouchers, but we WOULD be getting a total refund within 3-5 working days as per bank policies etc as the transaction is reversed/refunded. (Why they took money out to begin with after the transaction failing is already beyond me). After this we still have no form of written communication and I am going by the say so of a customer service lady over the phone. 

When we get home (after finding another £509 to seal the deal with Currys and not leave them - or my husband - hanging), we decide to call the bank to confirm that they had received the refund request from Edenred as stated by customer services. The bank said they had not received a refund request yet, so we should wait until Sunday (4 days) to see if we have received a refund - during that time, Edenred wouldn't have claimed the money and therefore we would get it back. The bank explained that Edenred could actually still claim the funds and then refund it themselves; which is contractictory to what Edenred told us. It feels like they are passing the buck and we are nonethewiser what will happen to our £480.

So really I am asking for advice; We have no written trace of contact from Edenred (yes, we did also e-mail them but no reply, and no confirmation e-mail for a failed transaction or anything) so essentially they could still claim the money and change their minds, and decide to give us the non-refundable gift cards that we no longer need, and can't afford to have as we have now paid another way. We NEED the money back as just that - our money. Not non-refundable gift cards. But with no written confirmation that we will be refunded, if they decide to claim our money we have nothing to counter that and prove we were assured otherwise.

For now, we will just wait until Sunday and see what happens, but with the experience we've had so far I'm not holding out much hope.

If they claim our money and try to lump us off with a change of heart and give us the gift cards, what do we do?

Sorry it was so long!

Best,

Gwen

I don't think Edenred will be refunding you, because they never charged you.  What's happened is that the £480 has been "earmarked" on your card as a pending transaction, it hasn't actually been taken.  The effect is to temporarily reduce your available balance/credit limit, but that's all.  I suspect the reserved funds will be restored after 4-5 days as they say.

I'd cross the other bridge if it comes to it, i.e. if they send you the vouchers and actually charge your card.  I presume it failed because it's you who has the Blue Light entitlement but your husband who tried to buy the vouchers?  Is that perhaps why the addresses didn't match?

If they do charge you and send the vouchers, you may be stuck because you did order them and also decided to buy the item anyway.  With hindsight it would have been better to wait a few days to make sure the voucher matter was resolved.  However, come back for advice if that happens and I'm sure people will advise if it's possible to reverse the voucher transaction.

GwenEvans

Aylesbury_Duck said:

GwenEvans said:

Hi all,

Wondering if I could grab some advice from you all.

Today my husband and I went to Curry's PC World to buy the new Playstation 5 bundle which he's been saving up for and waiting patiently for to be in stock. When we arrived, I decided to use my Blue Light Discount; which was in the form of buying discounted gift cards through Edenred and using them in Currys. So we used hubby's card to pay for the gift cards (down from £509 to £480), filled in all the details and authenticated the transaction. Only to be told at the end that the transaction failed due to the billing address not matching. No worries we said, we will just pay in full, it was worth a try. But no, card declined as we later found out that despite the transaction failing, Edenred still took the £480 out of hubby's bank account and is now a pending transaction. During this entire period, no e-mail or form of communication was sent to us by Edenred, so essentially just a missing £480. We phoned Edenred asking what was going on and where our money was, for them to say yes it had failed and therefore we wouldn't be getting the vouchers, but we WOULD be getting a total refund within 3-5 working days as per bank policies etc as the transaction is reversed/refunded. (Why they took money out to begin with after the transaction failing is already beyond me). After this we still have no form of written communication and I am going by the say so of a customer service lady over the phone. 

When we get home (after finding another £509 to seal the deal with Currys and not leave them - or my husband - hanging), we decide to call the bank to confirm that they had received the refund request from Edenred as stated by customer services. The bank said they had not received a refund request yet, so we should wait until Sunday (4 days) to see if we have received a refund - during that time, Edenred wouldn't have claimed the money and therefore we would get it back. The bank explained that Edenred could actually still claim the funds and then refund it themselves; which is contractictory to what Edenred told us. It feels like they are passing the buck and we are nonethewiser what will happen to our £480.

So really I am asking for advice; We have no written trace of contact from Edenred (yes, we did also e-mail them but no reply, and no confirmation e-mail for a failed transaction or anything) so essentially they could still claim the money and change their minds, and decide to give us the non-refundable gift cards that we no longer need, and can't afford to have as we have now paid another way. We NEED the money back as just that - our money. Not non-refundable gift cards. But with no written confirmation that we will be refunded, if they decide to claim our money we have nothing to counter that and prove we were assured otherwise.

For now, we will just wait until Sunday and see what happens, but with the experience we've had so far I'm not holding out much hope.

If they claim our money and try to lump us off with a change of heart and give us the gift cards, what do we do?

Sorry it was so long!

Best,

Gwen

I don't think Edenred will be refunding you, because they never charged you.  What's happened is that the £480 has been "earmarked" on your card as a pending transaction, it hasn't actually been taken.  The effect is to temporarily reduce your available balance/credit limit, but that's all.  I suspect the reserved funds will be restored after 4-5 days as they say.

I'd cross the other bridge if it comes to it, i.e. if they send you the vouchers and actually charge your card.  I presume it failed because it's you who has the Blue Light entitlement but your husband who tried to buy the vouchers?  Is that perhaps why the addresses didn't match?

If they do charge you and send the vouchers, you may be stuck because you did order them and also decided to buy the item anyway.  With hindsight it would have been better to wait a few days to make sure the voucher matter was resolved.  However, come back for advice if that happens and I'm sure people will advise if it's possible to reverse the voucher transaction.

Hi, thanks for your reply. That's basically what I'm worried about now; hopefully they'll just leave it and not claim it, but they could still decide to give us the vouchers and take the money which we can't afford to do now. Which is why I'm worried about written proof; the lady on the phone said we'd definitely not get the vouchers but definitely get the money back into our account, which is what we wanted but if they change their minds, we have no proof like we would do with an email. 

Thank you so much for taking time to reply!

born_again

The authorisation can sit there for up to 14 days. Although most do drop off sooner. If the transaction was shown as declined it is very doubtful it will debit.