Relatively poor first impression

[Hidden Hippo]

Having decided to build myself a proper gaming computer at the beginning of July, I set out to find a reputable online retailer who would take my debit card, which is Solo (I can't have a proper one yet, only 17). Through these forums I found Scan. Their prices were very good incomparison to many other companies and their customer service oriented attitude impressed me.

Upon ordering the vast majority of my system from them, I recieved an e-mail telling me that my card had been refused. I was ordering on the likelyhood that a cheque would have cleared into my account giving me the funds with which to order.

Naturally, I went to the bank after receiving this e-mail and asked whether the cheque had cleared. To my surprise, the cheque had not only cleared, but the money for the order had been taken out of my account. I assumed that the cheque had only just cleared and decided to wait for a couple of hours to see whether I recieved an e-mail or other update as to whether the payment had been received. I called the customer service line and was told that it was due to my bank (Natwest) and the authorisation time allowed by the ordering software they use on their system.

So far, I am not impressed at this, as the chances are I will have to wait until the money has been refunded to me by Natwest until I can place another order.

[BubbySoup]

Ok, it's late and I am tired, so excuse me, but I am failing to see what the problem is here and why you are having to wait for the money to be refunded.

Are you saying that although Scan has (seemingly) taken the money, they have cancelled or refused to acknowledge your order?

[Hidden Hippo]

Supposedly (what I was told by the person at Scan), the software they use waits for 30 seconds for authorisation, but if it isn't recieved then, it is classed as declined. However, Natwest took over 30 seconds, meaning that they have said that the payment can be made, but the software has told Scan's systems that the payment has been refused. Under the impression that the transaction is going ahead, Natwest has authorised the transaction and moved the money from my account to a "holding area" so to speak, where it is waiting to be claimed. However, Scan cannot get an authorisation code, or so I was told, to get the money to send me my order. Therefore, I'm off to the bank in a few minutes to see if they can sort it out, as they will have the exact records of who sent the money etc.

[Chris P]

I will look into this for you now

Regards

[Chris P]

After speaking to our payments dept,

Our payment system requires payment authorisation within 30 seconds or the transaction will time out. As Natwest took longer than 30 seconds to accept payment our system timed out and payment was not received and has not been received.

However Natwest will still have an authorisation code for the transaction, as our system timed out before this was produced payment cannot not be received by Scan

In this situation you will need to contact Natwest and ask them to cancel the authorisation code, they will then confirm the funds were not taken. If you then contact myself by PM or our payment dept they will authorise the payment for you.

Regards

[Hidden Hippo]

OK thanks. I'm off up to the bank now to get that code canceled. Does this mean I will have to place a separate order, or can you just try to authorise that again?

[Chris P]

Please do not replace the order as this could result in a double order.

Please contact us so we an re-try the payment on the original invoice

Regards

[Steve B]

if you go to the bank, and tell them to cancel the authorisation of the payment to scan, then when scan attempt to take the money out ur account again, a new authorisation code will be issued. The order with scan is still valid, its just not been paid for

[Hidden Hippo]

Been to the bank. They've said they can't cancel the authorisation at this time, but they have given me a code which Scan should be able to put through as a manual voucher to claim the money. I'll try that later, but if that fails, I'll have to see if my parents will do it on a proper card. I realise that this isn't Scan's fault and I apologise for being a tad annoyed (I had reason, I didn't know where £500 of my money had gone) and have found their customer service to be rather good in fact.

[Chris P]

Scan should be able to put through as a manual voucher

Unfortunately this is not possible, please confirm once the code has been cancelled so we can re-authorise the payment and a new authorisation code can be generated. This would be the only way to take the payment

Regards

[Hidden Hippo]

It's all been sorted. My dad changed the payment to use his card, it has shown as authorised on my account page and the person I spoke to said that it would be shipped today so I would get it tomorrow. Thanks for the help.

Edit: I understand that this is the fault of Natwest, no Scan, which means I will gladly order from you again, but use a different card until I can get a proper one.

[Chris P]

Glad you got this resolved

[Steve B]

but use a different card until I can get a proper one.

i used to hate having a solo card, it was mince. and only being able to lift 50 quid out in a day, what was that about :\ Now they've moved onto Visa Electron, which i think is accepted by Scan and properly supported by most banks

[Hidden Hippo]

Yep, but I've only got a little while (well, 8 months) until Nationwide will give me a Mastercard (or possibly Visa, I can't remember) on my account with them.

[Steve B]

only a few more months of using dads credit card to buy expensive computer parts from scan then better get busy!

[Hidden Hippo]

Yep, but I doubt I'll have to use it again. Possibly for some disposable things (DVDs etc) and perhaps coolers since I'm tempted to stick an extra intake fan on my case.