Posted: 8/7/2013 8:20:22 AM EDT
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Yesterday I placed an order with PSA for ~$250.
Checked online this morning and $1250 had been debited from my checking account's available balance!!!! 
What Happened? ---------------------------------- Recently I moved both home and business addresses and had to update billing info. No big. Apparently PSA's website does *NOT* do an AVS (address verification system) check before attempting to swipe an order. So, while I was getting things perfected for new billing and shipping info, the PSA shopping cart ran the transaction 5 times. Their merchant services provider was saying billing info was incorrect on my end on the browser, yet swiping the card every time I tried. I called in this morning and asked what was going on. The (shall we say deadpan) answer I received was: "Oh yeah, of course it successfully ran the charge against your debit card. Sorry about the extra $1000 that's tied up in pending authorizations. You'll see it returned in 3-5 business days." I asked: "Why don't you put a notice in big bold letters on your cart checkout page that debit cards may be pre-auth'ed even on a failed transaction?" PSA: "Our merchant services provider doesn't allow us to share that information on our website." Me: "Anyone else I can talk to there?" PSA at 11:30 AM on a Wednesday: "Nope I'm the only one here." Furious, I cancelled my order. What's the Shake Out? -------------------------------------- 1. Different merchant service providers and online shopping cart systems do verifications and auths differently, so the fact that this happens at PSA is ultimately 100% them. 2. The statement PSA made that their merchant services providers doesn't let them say on their website that debit cards may be pre-auth'ed (and thus funds held) if a transaction does not go through is 100% horse puckey. I have merchant services for my companies from multiple providers (including FirstData, Chase and TransNational) and no one is going to prohibit you from saying that. 3. The 'deadpan' tone I got regarding my $1000 being tied up for 3-5 business days (the timeframe PSA gave me), as if I'm an idiot, was quite condescending. I've got the cash, but $1000 is real money where I come from. You would have thought this was a $5 mixup. 4. The best part is I now have no order, and PSA has no money. You know who profits here? PSA's merchant services company. While they hold my $1,000, they are likely making interest on it. So in effect I just gave some company I don't even know $1,000 to make interest on for a few days, and PSA took care of the customer service regarding it. Keep this in mind if you use debit cards with PSA. |
| I do apologize for your inconvenience and if you’ll send me an IM with your order number, I can give you proof of the failed transactions so that your bank may take the hold off of your funds ASAP. The 4 pending transactions for $250.00 should clear within 24-48 hours of the transactions, but if you send proof of the failed transactions, your bank may be able to release those funds sooner. The cancellation of your order, however, will take about 3-5 business days to be fully processed. If you have any additional questions or concerns regarding this matter, please don’t hesitate to let me know. Again, I apologize for your inconvenience and I hope you enjoy the rest of your day. |