A buyer has some protection in certain cases when using a credit card for purchases over 100 pounds:-

https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/ho...

Edited by Apprentice (Mon 07-Mar-16 12:59:40)

Please correct me if I haven't understood
You attempted to place an order with Pliusnet and as part of that you gave them your credit card details and they applied a pending charge to that card to ensure that it was a valid card and was within the credit limit
The order subsequently failed so the charge was never actually made and remains as pending as stated by Santander and should drop off after a predetermined time (the time is probably controlled by Santander)

No they took just under £200 for a years line rental and the router. But all the rest leading up to the payment never got through to plusnet . so I just want the credit card payment returned . they told me it' hasn't actually been taken out its in a pending state and should drop off . Santander said something similar to keep an eye on it if plus net actually take the money then it goes into dispute from santandar and me to plusnet . hopefully it wont get that far and just dissapear.

You are confusing things by saying they have taken the money. They haven't. What happens is when you start the payment transaction they put through a pending payment to hold the money (which confirms you have enough money to pay), then if that works they would start the processes to create the account and provide the service and then they would actually take the payment.

Something failed at the creation stage. So, as the order has failed no actual payment should ever be taken and the hold on the money will clear itself. PlusNet have actually taken no money from you at this point. It should just disappear from your card account with no action taken.

I don't think you understand what some of us were saying.

What Oldjim asks you to confirm but you just replied "No" to is exactly what happened according to what Plusnet, Santander and the link Uno gave say, that link explains the technical banking side and the wording used about "will drop off soon".

Did you read the link? The first sizeable paragraph of it is enough.

Edited by RobertoS (Mon 07-Mar-16 13:21:59)

Thanks ian that explained it well and put my mind to rest . At Santander one of the banking staff who seemed to be clued up said that plusnet could if they wanted to, end the pending state right away. He said Plusnet's bank could send a fax to my bank to get the thing stopped immediately...... Lenny......

It shouldn't be an issue, unless you are nearing your credit limit and need to make a purchase?

No I'm not but , I could of and my bank told me If plusnets bank faxed my bank they could of stopped the holding state right away ..

Fax:
Dear Santander,

A person claiming to be a Mr xxxxxx keeps ringing us up complaining we have taken £192 on his Santander credit card and not provided anything. From what we have been gathered this is a pre-authorisation where the transaction did not complete online.

Because the transaction did not complete we know nothing else about this person but he tells us you have informed him you can cancel this pre-authorisation by fax from us, this one.

We trust you can verify the bona fides of this person and cancel the pre-authorisation ahead of your normal waiting period if genuine. We can do neither and nor can we verify the caller is Mr xxxxxx.

Yours faithfully, Plusnet Accounts.

Yeah, right.

Edited by RobertoS (Mon 07-Mar-16 15:26:20)

It is kind of worrying that PlusNet can't even find an audit record of having put the pre-auth on the account - surely there payment process would have that...