As a matter of fact, Dotsie, I have a merchant, bank issue right now!
Here is what happened:
I was at a Dillards and was making a purchase. I used my debit card, slid it through the machine and put in my pin. The clerk said to give her my card and let her do it. She did so on her machine, (the register,) where she said it was declined. I told her that the money was there and this morning, in fact, I had put some cash in my checking account. She proceeded to call Visa to see if she could get a number to let it go through. I waited through her finding the number to Visa, finding her Merchant code and all of that junk they do. Visa approved me for the amount, still using my debit card.

When I came home yesterday to check my balance on line, I had THREE charges pending for the same amount that my purchase cost. I had three EXACT amounts for about 352.00 pending on my checking account, tying up all that money.

I had been charged THREE times for the same purchase.

Chase, in their wisdom, told me that next week "it would work itself out," when they did not have matching reciepts for three of the exact same amount. They told me all would be well this Tuesday! Therefore, that money was tied up in my checking account for that amount of time and WORSE.

I had put into my checking account, from my trust, only the money I thought I might need to shop that day.

I found out that my account, because of the three charges was OVER DRAWN.

So, I was back on the phone to Chase and they said that I would not be charged a fee for being over drawn but I still had to wait until Tuesday for it to "fall off."

There you have it. A merchant charging you three times and Chase's answer to the problem!

Tell your kids to watch how they use their credit cards or debit cards! TELL the merchant what you are going to do, credit or debit, and if they need to scan again, you may be charged twice!

Because she called Visa, for me, it was THREE times!

I'm still waiting!

THIS is why I am screaming about my bank AND the merchant today...

Dancer, money magic.