Sorry, I didn't read Uno's link, but as that is wikipedia and the article talks of $$ it may be inaccurate as far as European transactions are concerned. I still suggest lennyuk rings the FCA and asks them, they should be able to tell him exactly.

I think also the article will be where an order is cancelled for some reason before the debit is actually sent through. This can be a couple of days later as I often see particularly from petrol stations and small shops.

In this particular case there was no order in the Plusnet system. I'm fairly sure the OP stopped at the d/d screen and assumed his apparent credit card payment was sufficient. That he came out of the order entry somehow, too early.

Because of that Plusnet didn't get an order to process, so naturally haven't taken the money. Equally, neither can they cancel the pre-authorisation because they have no details of it. As I pointed out flippantly in my pseudo-fax.

The fax method I expect would work if they cancelled an order whilst processing it and before putting through the actual debit. I doubt that a fax would actually be needed - the system would have the pre-auth number and just send an automatic cancellation of it.

Out of interest, where would a username that exists but doesn't work come into that sequence? Surely a prospective customer wouldn't be allocated / choose a BB & email username until his order was accepted? The online form(s) is just an order which doesn't become a binding contract until PN has accepted it.

It is largely correct.

We've used BMS (Barclaycard Merchant Services) and Streamline (now WorldPay) and both stated recommended time frames but nothing set in stone for Visa/Mastercard. Amex however recommend 4 days but do state it can be longer.

Matt

You create your account username and password during signup on Plusnet. It is probably that one he is meaning. But even those are sitting in the website, waiting as you surmise as field entries in what is after all just a multi-page form that gets sent to the main order system in one lump when the customer finally clicks Submit or whatever button it is.

I'm 95% sure he simply never took that final step, as he didn't want to set up a direct debit. The flaw in the system is that the pre-auth required for the initial payment has already been created by the Credit Card company's checking system and if the order isn't submitted then the merchant doesn't even know the person had gone through the that, so the pre-auth sits there waiting to expire. Timespan at the CC company's discretion.

If the order is submitted and accepted then at some stage the actual payment will be taken. If rejected presumably the pre-auth would be cancelled automatically by the order system.

The only allocated username/password is the broadband login. That username is constructed in a very simple way from the account username, account username@plusdsl.net, and is notified in the Welcome pack that is sent. IIRC the two passwords are the same.

Edited by RobertoS (Tue 08-Mar-16 10:13:13)

The username doesn't exist , nothing exists about me . And the direct debt part said it is not necessary at the moment I can continue and if I want I can add the DD details some other time .In a way I lost a good deal but after that happened I didn't want to chance with their internet. At the moment I have a solid connection and this put me off .. I did make a user name , gave them my land line number etc....

You haven't said what you did after reaching the direct debit screen and not entering the details. I accept it says you can add them later, but what did you do instead?

Did the credit card screen come before or after it? I've been told it comes before.

The username doesn't exist , nothing exists about me

EXACTLY, nor would I expect it to be since you do not appear to have actually ordered anything. You need to complete the order with Plusnet for them to even be aware of your existence. Please think about what you did, reflect on it, do that again and then understand that no one is going to take any money nor know about you since you haven't placed an order.

You keep saying you have lost a good deal. Have you had a credit card bill for monies owed?

In reply to a post by broadband66:

You keep saying you have lost a good deal. Have you had a credit card bill for monies owed?

"Lost a good deal" as in "there was a good deal on offer and now I've lost it because I don't trust Plusnet any more" - not "lost a good deal" as in "I've lost a good deal of money." I think.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempest_in_a_teapot

Edited by kasg (Tue 08-Mar-16 17:14:23)