Charged twice with a blocked pin on debit card

delta_bravo

Hi,
Was buying a few bits at superquinn and used the self service till. Put the ulster visa debit in, message came up saying "pin blocked, transaction cancelled". I thought it might have been some system error so I tried again but no joy. Woman working there said no money wouldn't been taken so I used my boi laser and all was fine.

I rang UB to see why my pin was locked and they gave suspected fraud as a reason as there was 2 identical withdrawals on my account at the same time (the groceries!) . That doesn't make sense though as it was obviously locked before this.

The guy on the line said not to worry and I would be fully refunded within the day if I rang this number he gave me. When I rang them they say no, the money has gone through so I need to go to the supermarket to get a refund. Anyone know if this is true?

BuffyBot

It depends - the transaction may not have been fully processed. You may be down twice the amount temporarily as when you make a purchase, an authorisation check is made on the card (basically it checks that the card is valid, funds are available etc). An authorisation is then given to take that amount - but it doesn't nessecarily mean the retailer will collect it, if the transaction failed.

Authorisations generally expire after a few days, and the hold on the purchase amount is released. You'll only know if you've actually been charged twice if two identical amounts actually appear on your statement.

unclebill98

When you ring the number the chap gave you the audio at the start clearly states your situation and who you are to contact.

In this case your dispute is with the retailer. So you'll need to revert to them.