Quote:
Originally Posted by misbitski 
The moral of the story is, don't use check cards. When you order something, even preorders, companies authorize a charge to your account first before actually processing the order to ensure you have enough. This is the same with any normal credit card or a check card. Unfortunately, with a check card, it's your cash, so those "double charges". Authorizations drop off after a few days, and then you get your credit or cash back.
[quote name='Damian']That's not how it works. Holds are converted to charges or are released/drop off. There are no double charges or extra holds unless specifically made by the merchant.[/quote]
I'm in the same boat and I don't freakin' like it. A couple of weeks ago I placed three orders: one with DVD Empire, one with CD Universe, one with Ritz (price mistake that was cancelled). The two charges went through, but the duplicate authorizations (for all 3 orders) are still on my
credit card (two - 10 days, one - 13 days later). My credit card company can't do anything with this charges. Of course, it affects my credit limit, etc. What's worse, I ordered a kit from WeaKnees for almost $200, this means Google is going to tie up another $200 of my line. Let me explain why this is messed up.
Google's system is completely screwed up. As I person who's worked with merchant accounts, I'll explain this in detail:
-- When you place an order, a merchant
authorizes the card (checks for enough funds), but they usually can't
charge the sale until the item ships. This is the 1st pending charge you see (or your credit card company sees). This also reduces your available credit
-- When the order ships, merchant can charge your card. Usually, they do it by
converting the authorization into a sale (charge) or , at worst, removing authorization and charging you immediately for the full amount. So, your available credit isn't affected.
--
IMPORTANT: what Google Checkout seems to do is to
keep the authorization and put another charge through. This means that if your credit limit was, say, $1000 and you bought something for $200, now your available credit is only $600 (instead of $800).
Now, it'd not be very bad if those authorizations dropped quickly, but as I mentioned earlier, I have two authorizations that've been there for 10 days and one that's been there 13 days. And I'm using Citi, the bank that Google's got a deal with for $5 credit.
I've emailed Google but got nothing more than a stock response that didn't help at all (they haven't responded to my 2nd email yet). Citi can't do anything with those authorizations and they can be there up to
30 days before they're dropped automatically.
I like Google, but I also sell on eBay (was a PS for awhile) so I worked with Paypal. Never really had a problem that couldn't be resolved with Paypal either. If something goes wrong, I have a few phone numbers I could call (low to zero hold times).
P.S. To give me even more headache, someone (either Google or WeaKnees) transposed the billing and shipping addresses. Grr...
. I just received my FMA Vol. 10 /w tin and it's already damaged before shipping. It's badly crushed! 
