How long after a purchase does a merchant have to submit the charge for payment?
Jul 28, 2009
in
Small Business Merchant Accounts
Any answers with unlinked sources will be disregarded/rated poorly.
I purchased something in November in Oklahoma and the merchant has not yet taken the money from my Visa debit card. How long do I need to keep the money in the account?
I know the merchant can’t charge until shipped. This is some merchandise I bought at Walmart. slid the card, they put a hold on it for a few days and never got around to taking out the money.
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3 comments
skcs11 on July 28, 2009 at 7:14 pm
It is standard business practice, charges are not made until goods/services are shipped
jdrussell@sbcglobal.net on July 28, 2009 at 7:14 pm
I would say that they aren’t going to take the money. Merchants typically have 3 months to pull money from an account, but I would assume that they forgot to pull it from yours. Have you called and spoken to them? If you get a new card with a new card number then it will be almost impossible for them to take the money from the account.
Joe on July 28, 2009 at 7:14 pm
A similar scenario happened to my wife but at a different retailer. Oddly, this also happened in Oklahoma. After about two months of the purchase not being debited from our account, we contacted the retailer and spoke with the manager. The manager researched the problem, and reported back to us the next day. Apparently, they had some sort of computer glitch the day we made our purchase. At any rate, the purchase was promptly debited from our account. We felt good about doing the right thing but it irked us a little that we never got so much as a "thank you". It is possible, however, that the manager neglected to thank us because she was suddenly spun into panic mode. If our $400 purchase was overlooked, I wonder how many thousands of dollars were lost that day!
To directly answer your question, I would say that if you purchased goods &/or services and you received the goods &/or services, then you should see to it that the merchant or provider gets paid. Mistakes happen. Let your conscience be your guide.