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Store refund to debit card?

Capncrunch7Capncrunch7 Registered User regular
edited July 2008 in Help / Advice Forum
So I bought a 360 from Walmart (boo! hiss! I know) and it turned out that the AV ports weren't connected to the plastic, so they were flopping around inside tethered by a few wires. I went back to the store, exchanged it, and found that the second one had obviously been opened before and that the dvd tray wouldnt open on command.

Since these were the only two 360s in stock, I asked for a refund. The lady offered to fully refund the debit card that I had used to make the purchase, so I opted for it.

However, when I look at my statement online, I am still down 387.78, and there is no indication that they are crediting my account.

Is this normal, for funds to immediately be withdrawn after a purchase, but have a long delay after being refunded? This happened almost 24 hours ago, and I am wondering if I ought to go back in there, receipt in hand and demand my funbucks.

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Posts

  • Garlic BreadGarlic Bread i'm a bitch i'm a bitch i'm a bitch i'm a Registered User, Disagreeable regular
    edited July 2008
    Have you tried calling your bank?

    Garlic Bread on
  • WezoinWezoin Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    I'd call your bank first to see if they can check if its been filed at all. Technically it should be instant, but I have noticed some stores take a couple hours before the money is actually removed from your account.

    Wezoin on
  • Fuzzy Cumulonimbus CloudFuzzy Cumulonimbus Cloud Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Stores batch a lot of their shit, meaning they send all their card processes out at one time. Wait at least 1-2 days before you start worrying.

    Fuzzy Cumulonimbus Cloud on
  • tony_importanttony_important Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Stores batch a lot of their shit, meaning they send all their card processes out at one time. Wait at least 1-2 days before you start worrying.

    We did it like this at the CD store I used to work at, so I'll second the waiting a day or two.

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  • EggyToastEggyToast Jersey CityRegistered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Banks are also good at taking money out of your account immediately, and taking a day or so to put money into your account. 24 hours isn't very long for a refund -- it can sometimes take 7-14 days.

    edit to add: this is also why I never use my debit card -- credit cards have about a 3-week buffer before they hit your "real money," which means refunds and credits typically happen before you have to pay for them.

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  • RaggaholicRaggaholic Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    I thought it was standard to refund cash on a debit purchase. Has that changed?

    Raggaholic on
  • DaenrisDaenris Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Raggaholic wrote: »
    I thought it was standard to refund cash on a debit purchase. Has that changed?

    Most places I've dealt with credit it back to the account. Though sometimes when it's really small amounts they'll just refund cash.

    Most stores I've worked at/returned things to don't ever refund large amounts of cash. If there's a large cash payment that gets returned they usually have a form to fill out and the person gets mailed a check.

    In response to the original question, I'll echo the 'just wait' advice. Twenty-four hours isn't really long to have a refund not show up yet. Wait a few days at least before following up.

    Also, does your online statement show the status of a payment? Like, with most purchases on my debit it will show up as 'Pending' almost immediately, but this isn't actually an official transaction until the Pending gets replaced by a transaction date.

    Daenris on
  • wmelonwmelon Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Unfortunately this is how debit cards work. The bank will remove the funds from your account almost immediately. But refunds can take 5 to 7 days to return funds to your account. This has been a bane of my existance since I work on credit card processing software.

    wmelon on
  • tony_importanttony_important Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Raggaholic wrote: »
    I thought it was standard to refund cash on a debit purchase. Has that changed?

    I know some places have to give it back in the way it was purchased. I think (and this is only a guess, it's been about two years since my retail days) it's to defer people from using the store as an impromptu bank machine.

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  • SakebombSakebomb Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    However, when I look at my statement online, I am still down 387.78, and there is no indication that they are crediting my account.

    Is this normal, for funds to immediately be withdrawn after a purchase, but have a long delay after being refunded? This happened almost 24 hours ago, and I am wondering if I ought to go back in there, receipt in hand and demand my funbucks.

    I had a similar problem where a store accidently double charged my debit card for a purchase. They said it will take 5-7 buisness days for a refund.

    Yeah. They can take your money immeadiately, but take thier sweet ass time giving it back.

    Sakebomb on
  • GodmeatGodmeat Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    My experience has been thus:

    When you buy on a debit card (that can also be used as a credit card), they pull the money out of your account immediately. This effectively works like an ATM. The transaction is over immediately - no waiting period like credit cards.

    When you want to return an item, normally they give you cash because the transaction is closed out. However, I recently noticed a few stores have wanted to put it back on my card, but here's the twist...they run a negative charge for the amount of the refund as a CREDIT CARD.

    So, everyone else is right. Just wait it out.

    Godmeat on
  • GoodOmensGoodOmens Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    This is probably a dumb question, but you did get a receipt showing the return, right?

    GoodOmens on
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  • AtomBombAtomBomb Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Everyone is right about the waiting. It's not terribly useful, but here's my ancedote:

    I worked retail and every once in awhile we'd have a cashier add an extra zero or something to a total on accident. Like your total was $37.84 and they put in $378.40. They notice, think they've found a brilliant solution and do a refund for the overcharge amount and then charge the correct amount. However, the overcharge would hit the bank account pretty much instantly while the refund would sometimes take a week. Having to deal with people who have just had their account put in the negative (and having all the bounced check fees and whatnot piling up) is no fun, especially when it is your (actually your company's) fault.

    Occasionally the refunds would go thru real quick, but I never was able to find a commonality between the slow or the fast ones.

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  • nomenome Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Would people really not notice they were being charged $378.40 for a few shirts before swiping their card? Sounds like you had some pretty dumbass customers. It must have been real fun having to deal with them after they got their bank statement.

    Yeah I use to work retail too. For some reason, a lot of people turn into belligerent idiots while shopping.

    nome on
  • tsmvengytsmvengy Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    nome wrote: »
    Would people really not notice they were being charged $378.40 for a few shirts before swiping their card? Sounds like you had some pretty dumbass customers. It must have been real fun having to deal with them after they got their bank statement.

    Yeah I use to work retail too. For some reason, a lot of people turn into belligerent idiots while shopping.

    It can happen quite easily if the credit card machine is separate from the cash register. And once you swipe the card and key the amount in, it charges the card.

    tsmvengy on
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  • bowenbowen How you doin'? Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    nome wrote: »
    Would people really not notice they were being charged $378.40 for a few shirts before swiping their card? Sounds like you had some pretty dumbass customers. It must have been real fun having to deal with them after they got their bank statement.

    Yeah I use to work retail too. For some reason, a lot of people turn into belligerent idiots while shopping.

    This is usually only really a problem with smaller stores that manually enter values. For instance, I usually swipe my card when purchasing groceries before they're done bagging everything because it saves a good 3 minutes of time having to go through all the prompts. But if you're keying in your products by hand, you're damn sure I'm going to wait, and another reason not to use debit cards.

    bowen on
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  • AtomBombAtomBomb Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    tsmvengy wrote: »
    It can happen quite easily if the credit card machine is separate from the cash register. And once you swipe the card and key the amount in, it charges the card.

    That's what happened. Also, we treated debit cards just like credit cards (cashier swipes and enters amount, customer signs receipt) which didn't help. Some of the customers didn't notice and just signed the slip, but most did. A lot of times the cashier woud even realize their mistake before handing the slip to the customer to sign. Didn't matter though, once the bank was told to take out money they jumped right on it. The refund entered 30 seconds later was put in some kind of queue that takes a day to a week to get through. Fun times.

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  • SzechuanosaurusSzechuanosaurus Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited July 2008
    wmelon wrote: »
    Unfortunately this is how debit cards work. The bank will remove the funds from your account almost immediately. But refunds can take 5 to 7 days to return funds to your account. This has been a bane of my existance since I work on credit card processing software.

    I was under the impression that it can sometimes take even longer and depends on several factors including a combination between how long the shops transaction handler and the customers bank take to process these things?

    We've had refunds take up to a month, I think. Really pisses the customer off as they think you're trying to fuck them on the refund, when in actual fact the money has left our account already and it's just his bank or credit card provider holding things up.

    Szechuanosaurus on
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