Hi
I recently purchased Hero Labs from the online system last week, Payment went through and is reflected on my bank account however the website returned an error that the transaction could not be completed.
I have emailed the support address but have not received any feed back.
Pretty much I've paid for a product I haven't received, and need this sorted out.
Please help!
If an error was returned, no money would have been actually taken out of your account. I'm guessing that you used a debit card - not a credit card - and the error was something like a failed address or security code match.
Transactions are processed in two steps. We first obtain an authorization, at which point the bank reserves money on the card and tells us whether the security checks are valid. If those security checks fail, we void out the authorization. If they succeed, we take the money.
The problem with all of this is that the rules are special for banks when you use a debit card. They often don't release the money right away, even though we voided the authorization. This way, the bank gets to use your money for a few days and make interest on it. Banks have no reason to do this with actual credit cards, since you're actually borrowing money from the bank with a credit card.
Obviously, I can't verify any of this without knowing the exact order number, and you should be hearing back from someone about this very soon if you emailed support. However, the above scenario happens quite often, and it is the bank that needs to be yelled at to release the money that they are inappropriately holding, since we never actually took the money in the first place.
Sorry for the confusion about this, but the banks do this to use your money and conveniently handle it in a way that makes consumers think it's the merchant being slimy. This is why I *never* use a debit card to make purchases anywhere - only to withdraw cash from an ATM.
I hope this explanation proves helpful...
