groenroos

Last night I made a four-figure payment towards a BA Holiday booking I have. On the first go, I got a message something to the effect of "Your payment couldn't be completed due to an error on our end. Please try again." So, like a fool, I tried again. It went through on the second go.

This morning I notice two pending charges on my credit card, each for the amount I intended to pay once. Aside from the gross incursion of authorising the same transaction twice, this double-charge has actually put me over my credit limit.

Called Amex, they say they won't touch the transactions until they post. Called BA, they said they can only see the successful payment, and it would take another 24 hours for the financial department to see the failed transaction and do something about it. Both of them tell me to "rest assured" that "they are not actually charges, but merely pending authorisations" and that the unsuccessful payment will be released back to me in 3 or 7 or 10 or some other number of business days.

The BA agent said he'd contact me again tomorrow once he hears back from the financial department, but I'm honestly not expecting much more than apologies and further promises of the situation resolving itself over so and so many business days.

Am I crazy for finding it a bit difficult to rest assured while my card will remain over limit for up to 2 weeks because of BA IT's erroneous charge for no reason, and apparently nobody can or will do anything about it? Is there really nothing that can be done?

Globaliser

To clarify: Have you actually been charged twice, as your thread title suggests? Or is all that you're seeing simply two authorisations for the same amount?

And are you having any problems using the card for other transactions? If not, I don't see why this should be a worry. There are lots of situations in which stuff like this happens. But if you are having trouble using the card and you need to or want to use it, Amex might help by temporarily increasing your credit limit.

groenroos

To clarify, there are two authorisations / pending transactions. I understand that these are not "real" charges yet, but they do eat up my credit limit all the same. Amex said their system waits for 7 days before it gives up on the auth that's lost in the crack, and releases it.

I haven't yet tried using the card for any other transactions, but the app says available credit Ł0.00, so my assumption is that it would be declined. Amex did suggest that I could request to increase the credit limit, but I don't feel comfortable taking on more credit at this time, so I declined the polite suggestion.

Globaliser

I can understand that, but the option is there if you need it, and IME Amex is usually very helpful with stuff like that. It wouldn't be the same as a true credit limit increase if it's only there for a couple of weeks to cover the authorisation hiccup.

You do sometimes see similar things happening if (for example) you buy multiple tickets from ba.com. I have seen ba.com authorise (say) Ł6,000 for three tickets, which are then put through individually at Ł2,000 each so that the authorisation doesn't get matched and removed, as a result of which the extra Ł6,000 of credit is held for a week until the authorisation expires. Or a hotel authorises a larger amount than the final bill, so that both the authorisation and the final bill are on the account for a while. So this situation isn't unusual and I wouldn't expect it to ring any alarm bells anywhere. It's just the way that the system works.

Funky Spike

I've had this before a few times with Amex. Only one payment went through each time.

Spike

:D!

I've had this many times with many different card issuers. When the amount is Ł10 it doesn't matter, when it's four figures then definitely annoying, but the only way out of it besides waiting up to a week or a temporary credit limit increase, is to make a payment to the card.

CharlesWindsorClive1964

Can you not just pay Ł200 to bring yourself back under the limit if you're worried?
Pending transactions won't impact your credit rating (if you go over) until they are processed. Amex payment is very fast.

1P

Perhaps I'm missing something, but there is no credit limit on normal Amex cards.

Paren

I have had this a few times at supermarkets.

I.e. payment doesn't go through due to a till error, shows up as 2 x pre-auths, but then eventually only 1 payment is taken.

I imagine it should be ok if it's just in the pre-auth stage.

Charge cards don't have credit limits, but their credit cards do.

Globaliser

There's a credit limit on Amex credit cards.

1P

I thought that Amex credit cards was only a US thing. Do they exist on both sides of the Pond?

Globaliser

They certainly do!

BA American Express credit card

Gshumway

BA should be able to cancel the pending charge, but knowing their IT it is going to be hard to find the transaction ID which they would need.

So it is going to be just easier for them to let it be and have it drop off automatic.

LondonElite

Maybe you are. Many Amex cards have explicit fixed limits.

LondonElite

I know this may not be a huge source of comfort to you, but this is pretty common. Wait 24 hours and call Amex again. I suspect one is an authorisation and the other is a charge. My further guess is that only one will go from pending to charged, and, failing that, you'll be able to sort it out tomorrow. These duplicate charge things are well-known inside Amex so I don't see a big problem here.