My new hobby

[DCJenn]

Apparently someone has a giant target on my checking account.

1) The gym claimed that it attempted to process my monthly trainer fees. (it didn't- the money was there and nothing ever showed as a pending charge on the checking account) They said that it didn't go through. (proof that they're lying? Does anyone think for one second that my bank would forgo the opportunity to ding me with insufficient funds, etc. etc. had the money NOT been there?) So I paid AT THE GYM. and they still took the money out through their accounting office. So, that's 600 bucks I'm waiting to be refunded. (and isn't it interesting that they can take the money immediately (twice) but it takes a week to get it refunded?

2) Monday night I ordered a birthday gift for my friend's daughter and some clothes for Nikolai from Gymboree.com. The total came to 124.09. This morning I check the account and there's a second charge from them for 67 dollars. I called customer service. I was told that the second charge was for the items being sent as a gift. I said, but wait, you've already been paid for that amount. She says, "but it's just pending, it will reverse". I said, that's not the point, you're double charging me for the same items. So she puts me on hold and says, "my supervisor said it's the law." To what? double charge people? and if it were their policy, why would they not split the total and just charge them as separate entities- not the total amount and then half of the amount. (I just sent a scathing email to their customer service department and I'm planning on posting this little saga everywhere). Right. It's the law.

3) Classmates and Active.com both just did that sneaky "let's see if anyone is paying attention and charge the annual fees." Got the Active.com one reversed, now I'm working on classmates.

Why does everyone want to take my money and not tell me about it and then act like I'm the one doing something wrong?

This is 800 bucks of MY money that other people are holding.

Bally's has one more day to refund my cash or they're getting reported everywhere, too.

Jenn

That is a lot at once!

I love the "we process charges daily but credits once a week." Yeah, because you have to go pull that dusty credit machine out of the back closet?

I hate that. I'm having a similar issue (although the initial mistake was my fault and the total is much smaller) with Time Warner. I paid them, and it will take them 4 to 6 weeks to get me my $100 back. 4 to 6 weeks!

I have no comprehension of the Gymboree thing. I'd keep on them until they not only refund the 2nd charge (NOW) but also give you the gifting free as a comp. That's BS. And I can't see how being charged twice is the law -- in fact, I know they're not allowed to process charges for purchases until the item is shipped, so how they're allowed to process twice for something is beyond me.

Get 'em, Jenn!

[Vishenka69]

That reminds me, I have to call my bank too. I have a CC through my bank and the f**** charged me a late fee on the same date as they payment was posted. WTF?

Is it something in the air?

I have had similar problems - BTW don't use Regions bank, they double charge debit transactions routinely and "hold" your $ for days - and I've called cust. service, been to planetfeedback.com, etc. The most effective thing I've found is the Better Business Bureau online. Even the threat of this usually helps. I filled out a claim online against T-Mobile and the BBB was the only thing that cleared it up AND I got a letter of apology from T-Mobile.

[MDPhDWife]

Jenn, were these authorizations from Gymboree or had they actually posted? They might've screwed up the authorizations, and the bank holds the authorization money for 24-48 hours, then they drop off pending and actually post the real charges. I know it sounds confusing and the rep telling you it's the law crap is bs.

I'm having issues with my Target card. I had $399 in fraud charges, so they closed my account, sent me a new card, I filled out all the paperwork, and sent it back. Problem is I screwed the pooch and set up the total to be paid in full. So my bill pay system paid in full, and the fraud dept reversed the charges so there should be a credit balance for $399 right? Wrong. It's at a zero balance and after MANY calls no one can explain why. I'm pissed. FINALLY, I called and someone just said they mailed you a check. Typical check's in the mail bs. We'll see how long it takes for that to come, it's already been a month.

Good luck with your situation(s)!

[PrincessFiona]

It must be something in the water, Jenn. I took my car in to be detailed a couple of weeks ago and the charge was $107. The girl putting it in though enter $1700 and hit send before realizing it. It was pending on our account for a couple of days and we were majorly annoyed! DH was half-hysterical over it because he was afraid it would end in some nasty battle or something.

It took a few days, but it was cleared up.


I hope they take care of these charges on your account ASAP.....It is such a pain....and an unnecessary source of annoyance and stress.


kris

I just got a new hobby too! For the next week, I get to pretend to be an escrow officer at a title company. It is super cool. I get to schedule closings, review and correct closing documents and set up wire transfers just like a real escrow agent should! And like most good hobbies, it's cash out of my pocket.

I took my car in to be detailed a couple of weeks ago and the charge was $107. The girl putting it in though enter $1700 and hit send before realizing it.

Good grief! I would have had a freaking heart attack! :thud:

[PrincessFiona]

I took my car in to be detailed a couple of weeks ago and the charge was $107. The girl putting it in though enter $1700 and hit send before realizing it.

Good grief! I would have had a freaking heart attack! :thud:

What bothered me about it even more is that she had this:

"oh...ooops..." mentality as if it had nothing to do with her entering it wrong and it was no big deal...It happened before a weekend and we spent all weekend with it hanging over our account with no one we could talk to. grrrr.

Jen, I hope this all gets straightened out for you soon.


kris

[DCJenn]

Well, the Gymboree saga continues.

I sent my scathing email and the NEXT asshat emails me back and does the old "oh we had problems processing your order." (you know the implying that I didn't have the funds available thing)

So, that sends me over the edge and I decide to call the fabulous people at Customer (non)Service. She tells me that the reason why they did it is because the orders processed as if there were two invoices because they were going to different states w/ different tax. OK, fine. WHERE'S THE SECOND ORDER THEN. Oh, she says, I don't know where the 47 dollar order is (the lesser amount is what is coming to my house).

Then I say, look, I fully understand that these are pending charges. I'm minimally hopeful that one will drop off. BUT the fact of the matter is that I can't spend my own money until they do. Because you people are holding on to it. So then she says well, we can fill out a form here and contact your bank and have the preauthorzed charges removed. I say, right, like I'm going to give you all any more access to my money? Are you kidding? Not to mention that it then becomes my problem- again.

(like there's some magical reason why they can't just reverse the charges- they HAVE my bank card number!)

So, I hung up again and I have NO doubt that the 47 dollars will show up as a pending charge tomorrow morning. Which will mean that Gymboree will have authorized holding twice the amount of money in my account as what I planned on paying. Even if it's for one day- it's the principle of the issue.

-and guess what- their customer service department just called me to re-explain their process- and this time.....drum roll....

IT'S MY BANK'S FAULT. (because they haven't released the pending charges...) To which I replied- well, have you TOLD them to not process the first one but to charge the second one or were they to wait for some kind of smoke signal from California.

NEVER, EVER again will I buy ANYTHING from them.

Jenn

I hate dealing with stuff like this. The reason companies try to sneak charges by you is because it works. All the time. People either don't notice, or do and don't care. Any number of companies make a gazillion extra dollars on it. Now usually when you call them on it, the take away the charges without much fight. Who knows what Gymboree's deal is.

My story: One time my day care double charged the debit card -- it was some flaw in their machine and it had happened to others before. Well, instead of just giving me the money back, they said it was floating out there in cyber space somewhere and they never actually got the money. Well, it was taken off my account twice so it had to be somewhere. I had to have the bank fight them for it, which took about two months. Luckily, my bank automatically credits you the funds while such disputes are taking place.

[diggitydot]

I don't know the exact process with Gymboree.com, but I used to work for an online company. You'd be surprised and what the retailers can and cannot do. While they can get pre-authorizations, they can't do anything with those pre-authorizations (like have them deleted) after the account is found to have the requisite funds available and no fraud alerts.

Unfortunately, because you are the bank's customer, they'll only talk to you about specifics about your account. The retailer can only talk about their merchant account with the CC company, not with your specific bank. They have no standing to discuss your account with your bank. (As it rightly should be...I don't want someone at a retailer talking to my bank about my accounts.)

One of these probably isn't really a "pending" charge. It's more likely a pre-authorization amount that they "caught" to make sure you had funding in your account and that your card isn't on a fraud alert. Once this hold "dies" or expires, the funds will be released for your use once again. But this hold process is done by your bank (as a matter of process to help eliminate fraudulent uses) and cannot be controlled or changed by the retailer once its been given. If Gymboree.com "refunds" you the hold, they are actually giving you money that they haven't taken and won't take. It's similar to a hold on a new deposit. It's being held by your bank at your bank.

There is likely no 2nd order or even a double billing. It's just the pre-authorization amount being held in bank purgatory that will be released by your bank once the hold has expired.

I know that since the business was done with the retailer, you want a pound of their flesh...but they really can't do anything about this. You have to deal with your bank. I'd go into the bank and talk to one of their managers about the situation. They might be able to explain it better than I have.

Here's an example of how our system used to work in these situations:

1.) Jane Doe orders 65.00 worth of widgets and charges them to her VISA.
2.) Our systems gets an authorization from VISA that tells us she has the funds and that there isn't an issue with her order or account. (Issues could be anything from a fraud alert, suspicious ordering, over limit, too much use in a very short time, etc.)
3.) Widgets are prepared and packed.
4.) VISA charge is put through for the order. Funds actually transfer from her bank account to the merchant's VISA account.
5.) Widgets are picked up by shipper (Fed-Ex, UPS, etc.).
6.) Tracking info is received from shipping company and is sent to Jane.
7.) Widgets arrive to Jane.
8.) Authorization expires and funds are made available to Ms. Doe again by her bank.

I don't know if that helps you out any. Really, Gymboree.com's customer service people should have been able to explain their process to you much better than they actually did. I'm so sorry that they weren't more helpful! What a headache!

[peggyfromwastate]

THis last week we were out of about $200 or so (that I know of, anyway, still can't access my citibank on line statement ).

One charge was from cingular doubling the "upgrade fee" for each of our phones, so what was supposed to be $36 turned into $72. I got the money credited to our account, but the $72 was taxed and refunds on cell phone bills never seem to reflect the overtaxation... When you ask them about it, they have no clue what you are saying.

The other charge was from a refund of the deposit that I had on a canceled room reservation. Instead of refund the deposit, they charged the deposit again, and then when I called, they couldn't find my reservation at all (it was canceled, then) but since I had all the codes, etc, they had to refund me. It took a while.

Anyway, if DH was left up to this kind of stuff, we would just lose so much $ a year. It is ridiculous...

I think that the companies are really sloppy and let stuff go, knowing that so many people won't catch it b/c with online billing it is kind of a pain to look up your bill, especially if you are Citibank and the statements have been unavailable for about one month...

[DCJenn]

It's true- I think they know that most people don't obsessively check their bank account 900 times a day like I do.

Amazingly, I had the original amount actually formally returned and as I suggested, for the one amount, they preauthorized one cent. (Just like the gas station does)

Peggy- you guys should seriously consider going w/ USAA since they specialize in dealing with military families. Their financial planners are great and they have been nothing but outstanding with the car and home owner's insurance. (and the car insurance is always hundreds of dollars less than other places)

Jenn