problem with duplicate transactions

DAWSON

Hi, I had a problem over the Christmas period where I had purchased goods online and shortly afterwards, noticed my available balance was reduced by a duplicate amount and the bank were holding this money waiting for it to be authorised by the merchant. This happened on three occasions, although the companies I was shopping with have been used many times before with absolutely no problem whatsoever. Today I paid a bill over the phone and the same thing has happened again. I have recently started banking with a new bank, and had not experienced this problem with any of the other banks I used previously. The bank say it is nothing to do with them and basically I just had to wait until the duplicate transaction (request for payment) dropped off my account which takes around 10 days. I pointed out to the bank that this could cause someone to become overdrawn through no fault of their own and they said "Yes, that's right" and basically there would be nothing they could do about it. Is this actually correct, is the merchant to blame or is it down to the bank? Thanks, Dawson