How dare I question the perfection of SC's bank?

[Mr Hero]

This one happened this morning. SC showed me two emails from his bank. One was from the 22nd and the other from the 21st. One was a pending charge of around 200 and the other 300. SC stayed for only 4 nights at around $60 a night. When I saw this charge, and couldn't find anything to suggest that it was our fault, I suggested maybe it was an error on the bank's part.

SC: No, this is your fault and not the bank's!

This went in circles a few times. After they left, I found out what actually happened.

SC had a reservation already booked for 3 nights.
SC checks in a day early and tells CW they're actually here for four nights.
CW changes reservation to four nights without noticing the separate 3-day reservation.
CW changes this back to 1 night but the CC auth still stays.
We get bitched out for lack of communication.

[Slayer]

So he got an auth for 7 days instead of just the 4? Is that something that goes away after a day?

[Mr Hero]

Yep and I tried explaining that too.

[Slayer]

Bleah. An inconvenience, sure, but it's only for a day. Not enough to make a scene over it.

I can understand that he wouldn't understand, but after being told what happened, that's it. Not like you can magically make it go away. It's needs time to process.

Unless he only had the card for the trip? I know an extra $200 would freak me out if I only had that (I keep low limits).

[PepperElf]

that's the problem with many SCs these days i think.
they DON'T keep track of their spending, or they spend so close to 0 that a pending charge sometimes sends them into overdraft.

but instead of owning up to the fact that they're living outside their means they blame everyone else

[Caractacus_Potts]

that's the problem with many SCs these days i think.
they DON'T keep track of their spending, or they spend so close to 0 that a pending charge sometimes sends them into overdraft.

And that is the reason I use a credit card instead of a debit card for gas, hotel reservations, restaurants and anywhere else where your card is swiped/entered prior to the total charge being known.

[Ghel]

Actually, if a pre-authorization isn't cleared off properly, it can stay on the customer's account for up to 7 days. There's new regulations in the works (in the US, at least) that will force merchants to pay fees if the pre-auths aren't cleared properly.

So, in a way, the customer was right. And what may be a minor inconvenience to some can be a huge problem for others, if they're unable to access their balance because of outstanding authorizations.

[Andara Bledin]

Actually, if a pre-authorization isn't cleared off properly, it can stay on the customer's account for up to 7 days.

This. I had exactly this happen to me at a hotel that wasn't even supposed to put a hold on my card, much less charge it for anything. (prepaid room, swiped my card for incidentals, most of which were shut off at check-in)

That was a week of having $300 held and unavailable for me to use the week rent was due. At the time, I was living very much paycheck to paycheck, and it cost me money to not have access to those funds. >_<

^-.-^

[wagegoth]

Many, many years ago, I ran into this at a hotel where we stayed for a few nights. They put a $700 hold on my card, then put through the charges for the room, which came to close to $700, then left the hold on the card long after the charges cleared. This was back when it could take a few days for the charges to officially go through, so I could understand the hold staying on for a few days, but for weeks was ridiculous.

When I called the hotel, I got a song and dance about how they had to wait for the charges to clear, but the bank should be clearing them automatically as soon as the charges went through. Uh, no, they don't; you have to tell them. The charges went through, clear the hold on my card. I finally was transferred to a supervisor, who took care of it and the hold was removed. It really left a bad taste in my mouth.

[Diggs808]

I work in a credit card call center. If the hotel calls us we can have the hold cleared almost immediately....as long as we're speaking to the merchant...

[Mr Hero]

That's usually been my supervisors experience. She says Chase Bank is probably easiest to deal with.

[BeenThereDoneThat]

I remember being told when I took jewelry calls at the call center that some banks just WOULD NOT work with us about taking off auth holds. I guess they are not bound by any kind of set rule about timeframes, or if they are they have a lot of leeway.