I placed an order with you guys a few days ago – Order number 3100681
I was charged the appropriate amount for that order and shipping, but now I have been charged a second time to what amounts to around $115 USD to my card, the same one used for the previous order. There is no email, not mentioning of any hidden charges of any kind and yet you have taken my money without authorization. I tried calling you, but it was outside of business hours, as the order details will tell you, I’m not from the United States, I’m from another country making email the only reliable contact.
What is the meaning of this? And how soon can I have that money back? It’s over a hundred dollars! the details in my bank account say this: #391313 PAIZO REDMOND US $136.61 (that’s NZD of course) I don’t understand what has happened here, I have checked my account and no other orders have been placed. Please get back to me on this, I’m not made of money, it took a while to save just to get the stuff I ordered.
What's weird is it's not like it's a double charge, they're different amounts.
I have emailed this to you as well, but last time I emailed you I never got a response before I placed the order - I had a query and was unaware of this customer service thread.
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The first charge is almost certainly a temporary hold on funds that will expire shortly. I'm in Australia and my bank displays it exactly as yours - I get a charge on my credit card, then a few days later another charge goes through for a similar amount (presumably changing based on exchange rate fluctuations).
What always happens with me is that the first charge disappears a couple of days later - there is an FAQ about that here.
Another thing to watch out for is when it takes a couple of weeks for your shipment to be fulfilled. What's happened to me is that I place an order and there's a hold (which appears on my bank statement to be a full charge). Then a few days later it's quietly deleted which I dont notice. Then a fortnight later, the shipment goes out and the actual charge is made - making it seem like I've been charged twice.
It's a really unfortunate thing about the way US banks talk to Australian (and I presume New Zealand) banks. :(
FWIW, I'm a very paranoid internet shopper - hardly any sites have my credit card details. I've never had any issues with inappropriate charges from Paizo and the one time it appeared I was overbilled turned out to be my fault (but Paizo refunded it anyway!)
The first charge is almost certainly a temporary hold on funds that will expire shortly. I'm in Australia and my bank displays it exactly as yours - I get a charge on my credit card, then a few days later another charge goes through for a similar amount (presumably changing based on exchange rate fluctuations).
What always happens with me is that the first charge disappears a couple of days later - there is an FAQ about that here.
Another thing to watch out for is when it takes a couple of weeks for your shipment to be fulfilled. What's happened to me is that I place an order and there's a hold (which appears on my bank statement to be a full charge). Then a few days later it's quietly deleted which I dont notice. Then a fortnight later, the shipment goes out and the actual charge is made - making it seem like I've been charged twice.
It's a really unfortunate thing about the way US banks talk to Australian (and I presume New Zealand) banks. :(
FWIW, I'm a very paranoid internet shopper - hardly any sites have my credit card details. I've never had any issues with inappropriate charges from Paizo and the one time it appeared I was overbilled turned out to be my fault (but Paizo refunded it anyway!)
Thanks for shedding some light on that, if this is the case they need to make this more well known to people buying. As a first shop, someone who doesn't have a lot of money, this was stressful. But at least I have an answer from someone, I hope they themselves reply to let me know so I have an official confirmation.
Thanks for the detailed reply. I know I probably came off a bit crazy, but I have never encountered this kind of thing before.
No worries. Like I said - I'm a paranoid Internet shopper and I can appreciate how it would feel, especially given the tyranny of time zones.
Fwiw, I always get great support when I ring customer service. I generally call early/mid afternoon Seattle time and have always got straight through to a person.
I'm sure they'll respond here and track down the specifics to be sure everything is okay and you'll get your funds back (different banks are different, of course, but my initial charge generally drops off very quickly after the "real" charge goes through).
Hi Chozo Hybrid!
After looking at your order, it looks like things are pretty much as Steve explained.
Additionally, from what I've noticed, it does seems like international banks are more likely to leaving the temporary authorization open from when the order was originally submitted, then create the final charge as a new charge.
Where as, it seems like more US banks finalize the charge from the open authorization, to keep things as one transaction.
Unfortunately, how banks process things is not something that we have control over.
In any case, the authorization that was not used for the final charges should expire from your account in the near future, but it will depend on how long your bank takes to process that.
The final settlements look like they will likely be as 2 separate charges, as we don't finalize charges until things ship from the warehouse, and when this order shipped out, it had to ship in two packages.
If you have any further questions or concerns, please let me know. I'd be glad to try to help clear anything up.
Thanks!
Sharaya
Steve,
I appreciate that you took the time to explain all of that information!
Thanks so much!
Sharaya
Hi Chozo Hybrid!
After looking at your order, it looks like things are pretty much as Steve explained.
Additionally, from what I've noticed, it does seems like international banks are more likely to leaving the temporary authorization open from when the order was originally submitted, then create the final charge as a new charge.
Where as, it seems like more US banks finalize the charge from the open authorization, to keep things as one transaction.
Unfortunately, how banks process things is not something that we have control over.
In any case, the authorization that was not used for the final charges should expire from your account in the near future, but it will depend on how long your bank takes to process that.
The final settlements look like they will likely be as 2 separate charges, as we don't finalize charges until things ship from the warehouse, and when this order shipped out, it had to ship in two packages.
If you have any further questions or concerns, please let me know. I'd be glad to try to help clear anything up.
Thanks!
Sharaya
Thank you very much for taking the time to respond and let me know it's all good. Sorry about the freakout, last question, will this happen each time I order things from you, or is it standard every time?
You're welcome!
No worries! Freakouts can be understandable, especially about sensitive and scary things like money.
I can't say for sure if this will happen every time, but given how it looks like your bank may have processed this one, it seems fairly likely.
Some banks show authorizations as pending transactions, some don't display them at all, until the charge is settled.
Some banks settle the final charge through the authorization, some do them as separate transactions, and then the authorization transaction expires after not being finalized for a certain about of time (time varies from bank to bank).
If there is a delay between the order being submitted (and the original authorization), and the authorization has expired so that we can't access it, we will likely have to authorize it a second time before we can settle and ship things.
And, again, unfortunately, it seems like international banks process things differently than what we see for US orders, and it typically seems to work out in not the...convenient way.
Rest assured that we are always glad to check on things, and make sure that you've only been charged once for our side. Unfortunately, we do not have a way to change how your bank may process things to make it more convenient.
If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.
~Sharaya
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Thank you very much for taking the time to respond and let me know it's all good. Sorry about the freakout, last question, will this happen each time I order things from you, or is it standard every time?Hi Chozo Hybrid!
After looking at your order, it looks like things are pretty much as Steve explained.
Additionally, from what I've noticed, it does seems like international banks are more likely to leaving the temporary authorization open from when the order was originally submitted, then create the final charge as a new charge.
Where as, it seems like more US banks finalize the charge from the open authorization, to keep things as one transaction.
Unfortunately, how banks process things is not something that we have control over.
In any case, the authorization that was not used for the final charges should expire from your account in the near future, but it will depend on how long your bank takes to process that.
The final settlements look like they will likely be as 2 separate charges, as we don't finalize charges until things ship from the warehouse, and when this order shipped out, it had to ship in two packages.
If you have any further questions or concerns, please let me know. I'd be glad to try to help clear anything up.
Thanks!
Sharaya
One possibility would be store credit. This might be a useful option if you're saving up for something too (kind of like virtual lay by).
What you could do is to buy yourself a paizo gift voucher and redeem it for store credit. The charge will be immediate then and, from memory, will only happen once. Once you've got enough credit saved up for whatever you're looking to buy (plus shipping) you can purchase the item and apply your accumulated store credit.
Probably best to do a dummy run with something cheap the first time, just in case.
Oh, yeah!
Thanks for suggesting that Steve! It's been a long week, and that option totally slipped my mind.
That is something that typically works pretty well.
Thanks!
Sharaya
Snip.
Will do, thanks, you have been awesome.