Help! I want my bag or my money back.

[vdcc]

hello everyone! it's been a while since I posted here in tpf as i've been busy. I'd just like to share my sad experience about a saks transaction I made and get opinions/advice. i always find tpf'ers very helpful.

i just purchased a boy bag from saks earlier this week through international credit card payment. the payment went through and the receipt for the purchase was shown to me. then, the sa said saks voided the transaction as they could not get ahold of my international bank to get verification and saks' security department would not ship my bag out. the amount was immediately deducted from my account but it was still a pending transaction initially. my bank said it will just fall off automatically after 3 to 5 days if saks doesn't take the money and complete the transaction. the bank also said that the money may also be returned to my account faster if saks writes them an email to say that they have voided the transaction and that they will not take the money. saks sent the email, however the transaction was finalised yesterday and the transaction was no longer showing as a pending transaction but as a completed transaction in my account. my bank is sure the money has been released to saks and i can see that in my account. on the other hand, saks insists the transaction has been voided and has shown me documentation for this which i have shown my bank.

my bank says their legal team will start their investigations. does anyone have a similar experience and did it get resolved? is it easy for banks and merchants to trace where customers' money go or will mine most likely just disappear? i am very worried now

 

[jellyv]

It doesn't add up that payment actually "went through" if Saks couldn't verify your credit card account and cancelled the sale on that basis.

Did your credit card people tell you how long this will take to be resolved? It should be a limited period of time for a cancellation of a purchase to appear in your account, but in the US it can take 10 days or even more. Someone should be telling you what to expect in terms of a timeline.

If I were you I'd be making meticulous written notes of the sequence of events as a record, and be sure to have the names and contact info of the SA, the store, and whoever you're working with at your credit card company.

 

[vdcc]

It doesn't add up that payment actually "went through" if Saks couldn't verify your credit card account and cancelled the sale on that basis.

Did your credit card people tell you how long this will take to be resolved? It should be a limited period of time for a cancellation of a purchase to appear in your account, but in the US it can take 10 days or even more. Someone should be telling you what to expect in terms of a timeline.

If I were you I'd be making meticulous written notes of the sequence of events as a record, and be sure to have the names and contact info of the SA, the store, and whoever you're working with at your credit card company.

thanks for your advice jellyv! i've bought lower priced items from this sa before and from other saks sa's and there were no problems with my payments going through and the items being delivered. and that's what i thought too, i thought verification comes first before a transaction should go through. i was told the money should have gone back into my account automatically after 3 to 5 days if the funds are not released to or taken by the merchant and the investigations could take up to 35 days. the sa says it may take a few days for the void to show up but my bank says it is highly unlikely. i am puzzled

 

[Vanana]

hello everyone! it's been a while since I posted here in tpf as i've been busy. I'd just like to share my sad experience about a saks transaction I made and get opinions/advice. i always find tpf'ers very helpful.

i just purchased a boy bag from saks earlier this week through international credit card payment. the payment went through and the receipt for the purchase was shown to me. then, the sa said saks voided the transaction as they could not get ahold of my international bank to get verification and saks' security department would not ship my bag out. the amount was immediately deducted from my account but it was still a pending transaction initially. my bank said it will just fall off automatically after 3 to 5 days if saks doesn't take the money and complete the transaction. the bank also said that the money may also be returned to my account faster if saks writes them an email to say that they have voided the transaction and that they will not take the money. saks sent the email, however the transaction was finalised yesterday and the transaction was no longer showing as a pending transaction but as a completed transaction in my account. my bank is sure the money has been released to saks and i can see that in my account. on the other hand, saks insists the transaction has been voided and has shown me documentation for this which i have shown my bank.

my bank says their legal team will start their investigations. does anyone have a similar experience and did it get resolved? is it easy for banks and merchants to trace where customers' money go or will mine most likely just disappear? i am very worried now

A few questions:
1) you said international payment. Saks is in US? Are you from a different country calling Saks in the US to purchase over the phone?
2) You mentioned "the payment went through and the receipt for the purchase was shown to me" - how was this done (please describe) and were you not provided a copy of the receipt on the transaction that went through?
From above, if it was me, it would appear and my concern would be that Saks charged me and the SA doesn't "realize" it for whatever the reason is. which doesnt' matter to me. The facts at this point is that you have paperwork (printscreen of your account via online banking or from your bank or your statement - whatever) that SHOWS that you were charged by Saks on whatever date for whatever amount. You have no bag. I hope you have been corresponding with the Saks sA via some sort of email or text that shows that she noted that the bag was never shipped to you (e.g., evidence that you do not have possession of product).

Now, I don't know if you're from the US - if you are and the credit card company is a US company, it's your right to initiate a merchant chargeback under the truth in lending act and Fair credit billing act. This link can explain how this works for you and reasons that you can initiate this for: https://www.dalpay.com/en/support/chargebacks.html

The below is what I would do:

request from your credit card company/bank a merchant charge back form (or call them to initiate a merchant charge back on this transaction). Your reason is that the goods/service was not delivered. You have proof that you were charged for it (in fact your credit card company/bank has it). You email/give them the support that shows that the product was not sent to you and that there is some sort of mix up at the merchant that they need to sort out (not your problem).

The process should be that the amount charged in your account will be automatically reversed - immediately - you should not be "fronting" the money nor have it impact your credit over a potentially fraudulent charge on your credit card (intentionally done or not does not matter). The burden of proof is now on Saks to provide something that shows that they did not charge you, not just their words that they didn't (against your evidence = your account statement or better yet if you had a receipt showing they charged you when you said you were shown that payment went through?). I believe the way it works is that if they cannot produce support/evidence, then you will not be charged again for it.

If you're from country outside of US. I don't know if equivalent is available... but think you should contact your credit card company to see if there are similar options since your credit card company should be on your side and also there must be protection for you as a consumer from merchants just charging you whatever they want with no consequence?

I feel so bad you have to go through this especially chanel is not a small $. Best of luck!!!!!!

 

[vdcc]

Hello vanana! Thank you so much for all the helpful info. I'm in new zealand where there are no chanel boutiques. I bought the item from saks in usa with my new zealand credit card through whatsapp messaging with the sa. So everything is saved on my phone. The sa sent me a pic of the purchase receipt showing the transaction was approved, with the authorisation code. the money was immediately deducted off my credit card available balance but the details of the transaction didn't appear in my online banking account yet until after 2 days. A few minutes after the receipt was sent to me, the sa said the transaction was voided as their security dept could not get ahold of my bank so they can't ship the bag. This was after business hours in new zealand which was daytime in usa. I received a text message from my bank the next day saying that they have blocked my card after a suspicious transaction in my card. When i rang them, i told my bank that it was me who made the transaction but that saks says they have voided the transaction. My bank said the transaction went through but it will just automatically fall off after 3-5 days if saks doesn't take the money or it will fall off faster if saks sends them an email to say they won't take the money. Saks sent the email, however the transaction has now appeared as a completed transaction in my online credit card statement so the money must have been released to saks. I have sent pics of my online credit card statement showing details of my completed saks purchase, however the sa still insists that the transaction "never went through" and "they can't take the money". She said they have totalled the register for that day and they cannot go back to that transaction. The sa provided me a receipt showing they have voided the transaction, however my bank insists the transaction has been completed. My bank says they will conduct an investigation.

Do situations like this easily get resolved in the customer's favour? Or do merchants usually get away with this?

 

[jellyv]

Do situations like this easily get resolved in the customer's favour? Or do merchants usually get away with this?

You are suggesting that Saks is in the business of defrauding customers. Surely you know that this is not the case.

 

[vdcc]

You are suggesting that Saks is in the business of defrauding customers. Surely you know that this is not the case.

surely, I don't know anything. nevermind, this is very tiring and stressful. please ignore me. thanks. bye.

 

[Vanana]

Hello vanana! Thank you so much for all the helpful info. I'm in new zealand where there are no chanel boutiques. I bought the item from saks in usa with my new zealand credit card through whatsapp messaging with the sa. So everything is saved on my phone. The sa sent me a pic of the purchase receipt showing the transaction was approved, with the authorisation code. the money was immediately deducted off my credit card available balance but the details of the transaction didn't appear in my online banking account yet until after 2 days. A few minutes after the receipt was sent to me, the sa said the transaction was voided as their security dept could not get ahold of my bank so they can't ship the bag. This was after business hours in new zealand which was daytime in usa. I received a text message from my bank the next day saying that they have blocked my card after a suspicious transaction in my card. When i rang them, i told my bank that it was me who made the transaction but that saks says they have voided the transaction. My bank said the transaction went through but it will just automatically fall off after 3-5 days if saks doesn't take the money or it will fall off faster if saks sends them an email to say they won't take the money. Saks sent the email, however the transaction has now appeared as a completed transaction in my online credit card statement so the money must have been released to saks. I have sent pics of my online credit card statement showing details of my completed saks purchase, however the sa still insists that the transaction "never went through" and "they can't take the money". She said they have totalled the register for that day and they cannot go back to that transaction. The sa provided me a receipt showing they have voided the transaction, however my bank insists the transaction has been completed. My bank says they will conduct an investigation.

Do situations like this easily get resolved in the customer's favour? Or do merchants usually get away with this?

Hi vdcc it's EXTREMELY stressful! lots of $ and people who are all looking at this from their own perspective (bank and merchant). Thank you for the detailed explanation. I think I got what happened. I actually think that you should try to push your credit card company. ask to talk with a supervisor - try not to OVER EXPLAIN the details. I find that people do not have the attention span to fully understand most of the time and it just confuse them at the end because they end up only hearing the pieces that they were tuned in to.

Say you are concerned the investigation was not fully supported by the information needed - in fact that you don't think you need an investigation but rather this is simple. YOu are worried that this is such a clear case that you were charged without the merchandise that you are not sure what the investigation will entail at all so want to provide the support information needed. You have a charge from the merchant - show them the receipt and authorization # ask them to confirm that this is the charge and it went through. they will tell you - yes it did on <date>. Show them the text from Saks (ask them for email to send this or such to support their "investigation") that says they did not send you the bag and they "thought" they voided the transaction.

Once they see the 2 things. Tell them this is clear. You paid for something, they never shipped it for whatever the reasons were. You were charged but did not receive merchandise. This is unintentional but if you are charged, it would be an overcharge for no purchase. They need to immediately take it off your credit card and reverse it to Saks. That's it - no more discussion should be needed.

it is simple - and show them it's simple - You were charged by Saks for something they did not ship. you have text and messages and a letter from Saks that proved the above statement. what else do they need for the investigation to close and have them credit you back and reverse the charge? Saks is not asking them to charge you either! (as per their letter!) - you should remind them that they're investigating something vs. what both you and Saks are telling them the charge should not be there and needs to be reversed....

 

[Vanana]

surely, I don't know anything. nevermind, this is very tiring and stressful. please ignore me. thanks. bye.

Don't get more stress than dealing with solving this. This really sucks and I feel for you. I went to spain and the boutique double charged me (and I bought A LOT) on my credit card and reversed one of the transactions once they realized the mistake but by that time both charges were on the card and the reversal didn't come through yet.

I was flipping out - a chanel shopping spree (and that's what it was) is not cheap to begin with, but charged 2x with no confidence and knowledge of how long the credit may or may not come through to reverse the 2nd time?! I think it took almost 3 weeks for the credit to finally show up. Because I was from US (US credit card company), I initiated a charge back right away, and when the credit did come in, they just "matched it" and it was a non-issue by that time.

I know how you feel and the stress as you're not in control of their process and systems and feel at their mercy.

However, I think the bank/credit card company is in control here and is the one who can reverse or hold the charge. Saks is only here to help provide whatever information needed by the bank to determine the action necessary. Saks should from customer service standpoint promptly provide you with anything information wise to help resolve this situation. if they're not doing that, then it's wrong IMO. However, again I think the power and the one that can take action to actually reverse or sustain the charge is the bank/credit card company so I would not worry too much about Saks unless they ignore your requests.

again very sorry this happened and you're stuck in the middle. Hope it gets resolved soon!

 

[vdcc]

Don't get more stress than dealing with solving this. This really sucks and I feel for you. I went to spain and the boutique double charged me (and I bought A LOT) on my credit card and reversed one of the transactions once they realized the mistake but by that time both charges were on the card and the reversal didn't come through yet.

I was flipping out - a chanel shopping spree (and that's what it was) is not cheap to begin with, but charged 2x with no confidence and knowledge of how long the credit may or may not come through to reverse the 2nd time?! I think it took almost 3 weeks for the credit to finally show up. Because I was from US (US credit card company), I initiated a charge back right away, and when the credit did come in, they just "matched it" and it was a non-issue by that time.

I know how you feel and the stress as you're not in control of their process and systems and feel at their mercy.

However, I think the bank/credit card company is in control here and is the one who can reverse or hold the charge. Saks is only here to help provide whatever information needed by the bank to determine the action necessary. Saks should from customer service standpoint promptly provide you with anything information wise to help resolve this situation. if they're not doing that, then it's wrong IMO. However, again I think the power and the one that can take action to actually reverse or sustain the charge is the bank/credit card company so I would not worry too much about Saks unless they ignore your requests.

again very sorry this happened and you're stuck in the middle. Hope it gets resolved soon!

Thank you very much for your support vanana. I really appreciate it. Thank you tpf. Bye