Billed twice for the same meal...

lenovoguy

Hi there

I was out at a restaurant with my GF on the 8th of this month.
I opted to pay for it with my Laser card, and had to enter my PIN five times because the Laser terminal was having technical difficulties.

Upon getting home I checked my current account online I noticed that there was a bit less than I had expected. I rang the bank and they told me that there were two pending transactions for the same amount from the restaurant.

I came into the restaurant the next day and explained the situation, the manager didn't seem too keen to help, he said I'd need to bring in a bank statement to prove my case, as I only had one receipt and they only had one receipt as well or so they said.

Over a week later and only one of the transactions has been added onto my statement. Surely given most payment systems are fully computerised, there must be a way for the restaurant to check for duplicate deductions? I'm not really sure what to do here and I sure as hell am not letting it go.

Mountjoy Mugger

They only took the money the once then?

lenovoguy

No they didn't. The money was deducted twice - I rang AIB customer support and they were able to see the two pending transactions. Only one has since appeared on my online bank statement, I haven't been refunded for the other failed transaction. At the moment the balance on my bank statement is the balance in my current account plus the amount incorrectly deducted.

seamus

But the other transaction hasn't appeared on your bank statement, therefore it hasn't been deducted, right?

Online banking can do funny stuff depending on what it's reading. My wife often sees two identical deductions in her online banking, from her laser card and then you check it the next day and there's only one. There are systems in place to check duplicate deductions.

Ring AIB again and explain it to them.

lenovoguy

They definitely have taken the money because there is a difference of 41.85 between my current account balance right now, and the balance on my statement as per the last posted transaction, which is the amount the meal cost. Don't forget that there is already a transaction of 41.85 for the restaurant we went to listed on my statement. It seems that the transaction is just out there in limbo! I may ring the bank again and see if they are able to reverse or stop it.

dudara

Moved to Banking & Insurance & Pensions

dudara

ncmc

This has happened me before, my balance has shown that i've been billed twice, but only one transaction has gone through and the other has been 'on hold'. It normally rectifies within a few days though. I don't think there's any point dealing with the restaurant, I would imagine they have only been paid once. You would need to get on to AIB and get them to sort it out.

wmpdd3

This is happening way too often, anyone know if there is a new processing company handling payments:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056135595

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056132766

OP as far as i can see, if you only have 1 payment on your statement then it is AIB's job to go find your money and repay it.

BuffyBot

It may just be a pending authorisation from one of the attempts. It doesn't nessecarily mean you've been double billed - just that two authorisations were obtained for the same amount. Unclaimed authorisations normally disappear (and the held funds are released back to the available balance) within a few days.

lenovoguy

Rang the back anyway! They told me with these types of transaction it's "on hold" as someone else said - this is an 8 day hold so she said it should reappear in my account tomorrow!

coylemj

This type of thing happens all the time, what you need to watch for is the 'Void' ticket that the payment machine usually spits out, I always ask to keep this as a record in case I do get billed twice.

I was only once actually billed twice, it was a filling station and it involved a credit card. I waited for the statement, brought it down to the filling station, showed it to the manager, he accepted that it was a mistake and told me to take that amount of fuel from the pumps which I did, problem sorted.

judas101

coylemj wrote: »

he accepted that it was a mistake and told me to take that amount of fuel from the pumps which I did, problem sorted.

I hope he also offered your money back the cheeky swine!

coylemj

judas101 wrote: »

I hope he also offered your money back the cheeky swine!

No but I know that getting a retailer to hand over cash is almost impossible and in any case you can't expect cash back from a credit card transaction. I only expected fuel and was happy to get it sorted, I was afraid I'd be told the manager was away and nobody on the premises could fix it, fortunately it was a large Dublin filling station and there was an intelligent supervisor present.

lenovoguy

coylemj wrote: »

This type of thing happens all the time, what you need to watch for is the 'Void' ticket that the payment machine usually spits out, I always ask to keep this as a record in case I do get billed twice.

That's great advice. I should have done that because the barman just took the receipts out of the machine and got rid of them after each failed attempt.

I'm glad that I'm not the only one this has happened to as others have experience in dealing with it clearly.
I'd be reluctant to use Laser again in that setting as those bluetooth Laser terminals are obviously flakey and I can see why, they would only have a range of about 30ft and would be subject to physical obstructions between the base and the terminal, as well as interference from other BT devices like phones and laptops.

wmpdd3

That's really dodgy, the barman should have looked at each receipt and given you the customer copy of the 'void' receipt if one prints put.

Even if he didn't give you this a void would print out on the batch receipt at the end of the night so there would be a paper trail.

coylemj

lenovoguy wrote: »

I'd be reluctant to use Laser again in that setting as those bluetooth Laser terminals are obviously flakey and I can see why, they would only have a range of about 30ft and would be subject to physical obstructions between the base and the terminal, as well as interference from other BT devices like phones and laptops.

Can I just put this technology in context? In days gone by you handed the credit card to the waiter who took it away, swiped it in a machine behind the counter with a three-part piece of parchment paper in the machine and he/she then brought the slip to you at the table for your signature.

In some restaurants and bars unscrupulous employees skimmed the card which was later cloned by their associates and used for fraudulent purposes. The whole purpose of having the gadget brought to you at the table is to avoid this risk because the card is never out of your sight. The PIN number gets around the issue that the card could be genuine but stolen.

So bringing the gadget to you at the table has a direct benefit for you the cardholder. Bluetooth technology unfortunately isn't perfect but I wouldn't write it off so quickly. Most premises that don't have false ceilings can't install as many receivers as would give blanket coverage all around the dining room or bar so in some places reception can be as you say 'flakey'.