Visa Refund Receipt.?Void...

[hellymedic]

D went into a small local music shop on Saturday. He bought several items with a debit card and was served by a rather inexperienced assistant.

On Sunday, he discovered a major problem with the most costly item and decided to return this to the shop today.

He was served by the same assistant, who had not processed a refund before.

A refund was issued for the item.

At the foot of the transaction slip, printed in large letters, is the word VOID.

D has been unable to ascertain if the refund is actually going through.

The shop assistant didn't know
D visited a local branch of the Halifax but the counter assistant did not know.
D has emailed and Tweeted Visa who can't/won't help.
D has asked his friends on Twitter, nobody knows.

Saturday's debit has appeared on his bank website.

It's obviously early for any of today's transactions to appear though my emergency bailout has shown.

We need to know if D must return to the shop when there is a more experienced person serving or whether this refund will appear.

What, exactly IS void?

Help!!!

[Clare]

In these circumstances VOID usually means that the transaction has been voided, i.e. the refund has not been processed.

[Regulator]

In these circumstances VOID usually means that the transaction has been voided, i.e. the refund has not been processed.

Yep - this.

[hellymedic]

Thanks! (As I feared.)

So D will have to return to the Dungeon of Despair.

WHY couldn't ANYONE explain?

We forgive the shop junior - we were all juniors once!

But WHY was no useful answer forthcoming from Visa or Halifax?

[Ham]

Without wanting to sound like an apologist, the card processing unit is not operated by the card company which is mostly the issuing bank (but likely subcontracted out to a payments specialist),

The credit card company may not "see" a transaction for several days, as it clears through although these days you mostly are able to see them as "pending" transactions. That's what that means.

[hellymedic]

No 'pending' transaction has appeared yet.

[hellymedic]

Could it be that the inexperienced assistant didn't have the authority to do a refund? I have been in shops where the assistant has to call someone senior to authorise a refund with an key, card swipe or by typing in an authorisation code. Hence the voided refund.

This is certainly possible.

It's unfortunate that junior has been alone in the shop, didn't know much about the item in question (a *far* fuller description is on the shop's ebay site) and D arrived close to closing time when assistant was keen to go home.

D is VERY unhappy; he loved the item he returned but its structural issue is considerably more significant than the cosmetic 'factory second' the assistant had stated.

[Ham]

Most likely is that the transaction didn't complete in the time allotted (eg, entry of PIN, or maybe a credit authorising code) so failed to "void".  Once you see that on a slip you can be pretty confident nuttin' gonna happen.

[hellymedic]

D's gone out; I'd guess he's back at the Dungeon but he didn't tell me where he was going.
Await events.

[ian]

I think this is normal behaviour, I've cancelled payments before and got a void receipt. I'm not sure of the actual meaning, but it probably just means the payment hasn't yet gone through clearing (there's an interregnum between making a card (or any) payment and the money itself moving). Or it may be what the PoS terminal spits out if they reverse a transaction.

I wouldn't worry anyway, most credit card companies will clear up any issue with little more than a phone call, this is one of the benefits of paying by CC. There's no need to tweetstorm or visit a branch.

[Feanor]

this is one of the benefits of paying by CC.

The OP mentions it being a debit card.

[hellymedic]

I *think* it was a debit card. D seldom uses a CC.
The outward transaction appeared on Saturday and cleared on Sunday.

D returned to the shop in the late afternoon. Assistant phoned WorldPay who could give no progress news and told D to wait but the meaning of 'VOID' was not explained by them either.

So all we can do is wait...

[jsabine]

I'd be astonished if 'Void' on a receipt means anything other than *that transaction* is void.

Here it'll mean that the attempted refund is void and has not gone through, not that the original purchase has been refunded and is now void.

Mind you, I'm also more than surprised that no-one at the bank or card company appears to be prepared either to commit themselves or refer D to an authoritative source.

[hellymedic]

The lack of clear, unambiguous information from Halifax/Visa/WorldPay is stressing D immensely.

Junior shop assistant has done all he could but this is abysmal.

By contrast, I rejected a substitute from Sainsbury's today and received an email later stating the money would be repaid into the card account I'd used. On previous occasions, money has appeared in my account on Tuesday, following a Monday delivery.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Without wanting to sound like an apologist, the card processing unit is not operated by the card company which is mostly the issuing bank (but likely subcontracted out to a payments specialist),

The credit card company may not "see" a transaction for several days, as it clears through although these days you mostly are able to see them as "pending" transactions. That's what that means.

That is right. One example is Eckoh

A US site gives this explanation:

What Is the Difference Between a Refund and Void Transaction?

Refunding a transaction returns money back to a customer's credit card; it takes three to five business days for the transfer to complete. A void transaction cancels the original transaction as if it never happened and needs one to 3 business days to take effect.

Refunds should be used in the case where a charge has already been captured and settled. Voids should be used when an authorization or charge has been made, but the transaction has not been settled yet. Voids are more cost effective than refunds (but only works on unsettled transactions). Credit card transactions work in two phases:

https://support.payjunction.com/hc/en-us/articles/213243527-What-Is-the-Difference-Between-a-Refund-and-Void-Transaction-

It's almost certainly the same in the UK and no doubt for debit cards

[CarlF]

No, I don't think that's standard terminology. That's describing the difference between a "reversal" and a "refund".

"Void" on the voucher implies the transaction was neither confirmed nor rejected, but was incomplete (unable to connect, connection timed out, someone hit the cancel button or removed the card too early, etc.)

The retailer will have an end of day report from their machine. If the item was of significant value and the shop is not very busy, it should be obvious from the relvant subtotal whether the transaction went through or not.

[hellymedic]

The amount is significant.
Nothing has appeared yet in D's current account. The original payment has been made.

I have suggested D returns to the shop tomorrow in the hope of resolving the issue. With any luck, shop senior might be present.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

No, I don't think that's standard terminology. That's describing the difference between a "reversal" and a "refund".

"Void" on the voucher implies the transaction was neither confirmed nor rejected, but was incomplete (unable to connect, connection timed out, someone hit the cancel button or removed the card too early, etc.)

The retailer will have an end of day report from their machine. If the item was of significant value and the shop is not very busy, it should be obvious from the relvant subtotal whether the transaction went through or not.

It looks standard according to Investopedia:

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/v/void-transaction.asp