Melissa from ABC Distributing left a comment on my first entry about this, and said the following;
Dear Kat,
It appears that you are reading our statements incorrectly. Rest assured that we did not in fact charge you $141.88 total for S/H. The total amount we charged you for S/H was less than $18. The amount of $141.88 was the total amount for the product and S/H together. If your billing statement shows differently, please email me at helpline@ltdcommodities.com and I will further investigate this issue. Thank you, Melissa Martinez abc distributing
I'm not reading my CC statement incorrectly at all.
There are 3 charges in the debit column from ABC Distributing,
01/08/2009 01/08/2009 Purchase - LTD COMMODITIES/ABC DI 2800 LAKESIDE BANNOCKBURN US USA 5444009008603385576597 ($95.80)
01/06/2009 01/06/2009 Purchase - LTD COMMODITIES/ABC DI 2800 LAKESIDE BANNOCKBURN US USA 5444009006601061862937 ($46.08)
12/28/2008 01/05/2009 Purchase - LTD COMMODITIES/ABC DI BA 630935368885 ($146.04)
They are saying that the first amount, $146.04, is a hold amount, and that the other 2 amounts, $46.08 and $95.80, are the actual charges that I was charged.
That once they actually shipped the items, that this is what I was actually charged per item;
Invoice number 15219656-4 item JQI, JACQUARD COMFORTER SET, product cost $34.95 shipping $7.72 handling $0.40 tax $3.01 total $46.08
Invoice number 15220549-8 item K2G, KING COMFORTER SET, product cost $46.95 shipping $4.64 handling $0.40 tax $3.64 total $55.63
Invoice number 15228159-8 item VUO, DOWN FREE COMFORTER, product cost $32.95 shipping $4.19 handling $0.40 tax $2.63 total $40.17
Now I admit, that would make total sense, I know how holds work, but I have gone over my online CC statement with a fine tooth comb using the "find" feature in my browser to search for "ABC".
I went through the all transaction tab, all pending, all debits, all loads, and all fees, multiple times now.
In both the all transactions and the all debits sections, there are the 3 debits listed from ABC;
01/08/2009 01/08/2009 Purchase - LTD COMMODITIES/ABC DI 2800 LAKESIDE BANNOCKBURN US USA 5444009008603385576597 ($95.80)
01/06/2009 01/06/2009 Purchase - LTD COMMODITIES/ABC DI 2800 LAKESIDE BANNOCKBURN US USA 5444009006601061862937 ($46.08)
12/28/2008 01/05/2009 Purchase - LTD COMMODITIES/ABC DI BA 630935368885 ($146.04)
Those are all debits, anything listed in parenthesis is a debit, and in both all transactions and the all debits, they are in parenthesis.
I've also been keeping a very close eye on my spending, my balances every single day.
I've specifically made sure to not use this card for any other shopping.
I did withdraw my rent money for this month from an ATM, and made sure that I kept track of the ATM fees as well as my card fees for using the cash withdrawal option to get money instead of charging the rent.
If I withdraw cash, I get assessed a .95cents fee per transaction, and because the ATMs in my area only allow me to withdraw a max of $200 in $20 increments per transaction, I had to make 4 withdrawals to get my rent money out.
3 for $200 each, and 1 for $80 because my rent is $675 per month, so, my totals for withdrawing and fees is $689.80.
I spent nothing after doing that, and no money was placed back, but money kept going out.
The original charge of $146.04, then $46.08, and then $95.80.
I'm not crazy, I know how holds work, there is no hold amount on my statement anywhere, just the 3 debit amounts.
So, I emailed Melissa exactly what my CC statement says which is the above debit amounts, and hopefully she's investigating.
It is possible that my CC statement has not yet posted the hold amount, anything is possible, and if that is the case, I will apologize, but these items were purchased on the 28th, and have now all been shipped, and there is no change in my account balance at all, I am still seeing a total amount for this purchase at $287.92, which is exactly how much I posted in this entry.
The kids had a half day at school today, and I had Mark look at the debits column, told him to find anything that says ABC, and even he sees 3 debits from ABC in those amounts, I'm not crazy, I know what I'm looking at.
I have to keep a close eye on my finances because I have to.
I'm a single parent, disabled, I only get so much money every month, I have to keep excellent banking records or everything get screwed up.
I hope that they can get to the bottom of it, if it's my banks fault and they didn't post the hold removal, I will apologize to ABC in both email and here on my blog, I'm not a vindictive person, I wouldn't just let them go on having a bad rap because of me, so I will post a full retraction and apology if this is my banks fault, so I really do hope that they get to the bottom of this and tell me what happened.
====================
Dear Kat,
It appears that you are reading our statements incorrectly. Rest assured that we did not in fact charge you $141.88 total for S/H. The total amount we charged you for S/H was less than $18. The amount of $141.88 was the total amount for the product and S/H together. If your billing statement shows differently, please email me at helpline@ltdcommodities.com and I will further investigate this issue. Thank you, Melissa Martinez abc distributing
I'm not reading my CC statement incorrectly at all.
There are 3 charges in the debit column from ABC Distributing,
01/08/2009 01/08/2009 Purchase - LTD COMMODITIES/ABC DI 2800 LAKESIDE BANNOCKBURN US USA 5444009008603385576597 ($95.80)
01/06/2009 01/06/2009 Purchase - LTD COMMODITIES/ABC DI 2800 LAKESIDE BANNOCKBURN US USA 5444009006601061862937 ($46.08)
12/28/2008 01/05/2009 Purchase - LTD COMMODITIES/ABC DI BA 630935368885 ($146.04)
They are saying that the first amount, $146.04, is a hold amount, and that the other 2 amounts, $46.08 and $95.80, are the actual charges that I was charged.
That once they actually shipped the items, that this is what I was actually charged per item;
Invoice number 15219656-4 item JQI, JACQUARD COMFORTER SET, product cost $34.95 shipping $7.72 handling $0.40 tax $3.01 total $46.08
Invoice number 15220549-8 item K2G, KING COMFORTER SET, product cost $46.95 shipping $4.64 handling $0.40 tax $3.64 total $55.63
Invoice number 15228159-8 item VUO, DOWN FREE COMFORTER, product cost $32.95 shipping $4.19 handling $0.40 tax $2.63 total $40.17
Now I admit, that would make total sense, I know how holds work, but I have gone over my online CC statement with a fine tooth comb using the "find" feature in my browser to search for "ABC".
I went through the all transaction tab, all pending, all debits, all loads, and all fees, multiple times now.
In both the all transactions and the all debits sections, there are the 3 debits listed from ABC;
01/08/2009 01/08/2009 Purchase - LTD COMMODITIES/ABC DI 2800 LAKESIDE BANNOCKBURN US USA 5444009008603385576597 ($95.80)
01/06/2009 01/06/2009 Purchase - LTD COMMODITIES/ABC DI 2800 LAKESIDE BANNOCKBURN US USA 5444009006601061862937 ($46.08)
12/28/2008 01/05/2009 Purchase - LTD COMMODITIES/ABC DI BA 630935368885 ($146.04)
Those are all debits, anything listed in parenthesis is a debit, and in both all transactions and the all debits, they are in parenthesis.
I've also been keeping a very close eye on my spending, my balances every single day.
I've specifically made sure to not use this card for any other shopping.
I did withdraw my rent money for this month from an ATM, and made sure that I kept track of the ATM fees as well as my card fees for using the cash withdrawal option to get money instead of charging the rent.
If I withdraw cash, I get assessed a .95cents fee per transaction, and because the ATMs in my area only allow me to withdraw a max of $200 in $20 increments per transaction, I had to make 4 withdrawals to get my rent money out.
3 for $200 each, and 1 for $80 because my rent is $675 per month, so, my totals for withdrawing and fees is $689.80.
I spent nothing after doing that, and no money was placed back, but money kept going out.
The original charge of $146.04, then $46.08, and then $95.80.
I'm not crazy, I know how holds work, there is no hold amount on my statement anywhere, just the 3 debit amounts.
So, I emailed Melissa exactly what my CC statement says which is the above debit amounts, and hopefully she's investigating.
It is possible that my CC statement has not yet posted the hold amount, anything is possible, and if that is the case, I will apologize, but these items were purchased on the 28th, and have now all been shipped, and there is no change in my account balance at all, I am still seeing a total amount for this purchase at $287.92, which is exactly how much I posted in this entry.
The kids had a half day at school today, and I had Mark look at the debits column, told him to find anything that says ABC, and even he sees 3 debits from ABC in those amounts, I'm not crazy, I know what I'm looking at.
I have to keep a close eye on my finances because I have to.
I'm a single parent, disabled, I only get so much money every month, I have to keep excellent banking records or everything get screwed up.
I hope that they can get to the bottom of it, if it's my banks fault and they didn't post the hold removal, I will apologize to ABC in both email and here on my blog, I'm not a vindictive person, I wouldn't just let them go on having a bad rap because of me, so I will post a full retraction and apology if this is my banks fault, so I really do hope that they get to the bottom of this and tell me what happened.
I once had to deal with a gas station that didn't have their crap set up properly and instead of putting a hold on my account for $50, they did two full $50 debits from my account in addition to the $20 of gas I actually purchased.
I hope those charges really were meant to be just holds and they get it settled!
If one of the charges is a hold only, it will fall off. It will appear as an actual debit on your statement but if it's not a charge that goes through, it will fall off.
I deal with this at my job every day when clients see multiple charge attempts (if the first charges failed) they think they are getting billed multiple times because it will appear as an actual deduction each time. It's hard to convince people otherwise until a few days later when the charges (holds) just disappear.
That said, Kat.. don't feel bad because even bankers don't know the difference between a hold and an actual debit. It DOES appear as a real charge to everyone: you, the bankers, etc. (This makes it real fun when I deal with our clients who say they called the bank and the bank said it was a real charge.. we have to convince them to hold tight a few days and the charge will go away..)
So I'm going to bet the first charge will drop off. Keeping my fingers crossed for you.
I hope it does drop off but it hasn't so far. I will keep checking it every day, twice a day, but so far nada.
And like I said, I'll apologize for making such a ruckus about it if it's the banks fault, my fault, but right now as of 4:08pm, the total out for this is still $287.92.
Drop off or not, I know what you mean Kat. Holds are generally pending and don't tie up additional funds like this one is. They generally show up as one large amount and once they clear it shows just the proper amount. Not three. If this is the way their system always works then they need to look into that because not everyone always has an extra $150 that they can afford to have tied up.
Exactly!
And not only do most people not have that kind of money laying around just waiting to be freed up again, it's confusing as hell.
Since sending Melissa the message, I have not heard back from them again.
Either they really are investigating and confused, or they just don't care, but an update to something I sent them like 7 hours ago, would be really nice.
Melissa must think you are a chump to not be able to read statements correctly! When a hold is placed on a credit/Debit card it has to released within 72 hours. That is standard bank policy. I sure hope you have the results you want by Monday!