Timeframe for a refund to a debit card

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quickymart

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#298780 15-Jul-2022 21:06

I tried to buy some items from Kmart last weekend using their website. Unfortunately the items I ordered were out of stock, so they refunded me (or so they said) almost immediately.

However I got the e-mail on the 10th and they said it could take up to 5 days - except I haven't received anything, and I thought it would have come through by now, surely.

I reached out to them today and all they could tell me was they refunded it and to either check my bank account again - which shows a hold on the amount still - or to talk to Paypal, who handles their online payments. As an aside I used a credit card earlier that day to buy something else and that came through almost immediately.

Is this normal for a refund with a debit card? Can it really take 5 days, in 2022? And do I really have to go chasing after someone at Paypal to see what's going on?

I thought that the contract I had for my purchase was with Kmart, not Paypal?

antonknee

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#2942406 15-Jul-2022 21:22

From my ecommerce experience as a shopper and a retailer, unfortunately yes. We always say up to 5 business days for debit/credit card online refunds. The exact timing will also depend on if they’ve captured the payment and are refunding it, or are just releasing the hold on the funds; and then on how your bank handles things.

Ultimately if PayPal are their processor this has nothing to do with you. Kmart need to follow up and check the status in their payment gateway portal. Then there might be a need to follow up with your bank.

quickymart

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#2942462 15-Jul-2022 22:19

Thanks for that, wow, I'm never using a debit card ever, ever again to buy anything online. 5 days? That's absolutely crazy. They placed the hold on the amount almost instantaneously, but to release it, it seems like they take their sweet time about it.

My bank is BNZ, and their online banking app just shows the transaction as pending. A note then directs me to the retailer to query it further, hence why I contacted Kmart in the first instance. All they can tell me is they've applied the refund, otherwise I need to talk to Paypal. So it sounds like everyone (literally) wants to pass the buck.

neb

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#2942467 15-Jul-2022 22:36

quickymart:
Thanks for that, wow, I'm never using a debit card ever, ever again to buy anything online. 5 days? That's absolutely crazy. They placed the hold on the amount almost instantaneously, but to release it, it seems like they take their sweet time about it. My bank is BNZ, and their online banking app just shows the transaction as pending.

I've had that too with the BNZ with fraudulent transactions, I notified them immediately while the transactions were still marked as pending and they said they'd have to wait until the payment had cleared and funds gone through to the fraudsters and then reimburse me afterwards, which could take a week or two. Seemed a crazy way to do it when they already knew the pending payment wasn't authorised.

To their credit they reimbursed every single cent, including exchange fees and the difference in exchange rates between when the money went out and when the reimbursement happened.

nztim

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#2942470 15-Jul-2022 23:00

Two questions

1. did you pay wave?
2. did you return on the sale business day?

Any views expressed on these forums are my own and don't necessarily reflect those of my employer.

quickymart

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#2942471 15-Jul-2022 23:38

nztim: Two questions

1. did you pay wave?
2. did you return on the sale business day?

1: this was online, so no

2: they contacted me within 24 hours to say they couldn't supply the item in question and were going to refund me.

Wheelbarrow01

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#2942474 16-Jul-2022 00:46

I recently bought an item online from Repco - which it subsequently turned out they couldn't supply. They called me to say sorry, and then said I had to physically go into one of their stores to process the refund onto my credit card. Slightly annoying but the store is only 5 mins from my house so ok.

That refund wasn't immediate - from memory it took around 10 days to show up as a credit on my credit card account.

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k1w1k1d

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#2942543 16-Jul-2022 09:24

Why would PayPal have to get involved in a BNZ debit card transaction?

quickymart

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#2942557 16-Jul-2022 09:31

According to Kmart, they handle their (online) transactions.

floydbloke

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#2942560 16-Jul-2022 09:49

Wheelbarrow01:

I recently bought an item online from Repco - which it subsequently turned out they couldn't supply. They called me to say sorry, and then said I had to physically go into one of their stores to process the refund onto my credit card. Slightly annoying but the store is only 5 mins from my house so ok.

That refund wasn't immediate - from memory it took around 10 days to show up as a credit on my credit card account.

You're certainly more tolerant than I am. Made a note to myself to never shop Repco online. Is that even legal?

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quickymart

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#2943557 18-Jul-2022 20:04

Update: I pointed out to Kmart that I have no contact with Paypal, nor do I have a billing relationship with the latter - my billing relationship is with Kmart, and asked them to follow up with Paypal to see what's going on, or at minimum find out how long all this is meant to take. Their response was: "...we can see that the refund has been processed. It is likely that the BNZ bank have not released the payment, please contact them ASAP to lodge an investigation regarding this."

Called BNZ just after 6 and they were closed for the day - but is there anything BNZ are going to be able to do, or are they going to tell me to go away as well?

Digging around Google shows that some Paypal refunds can take up to 30 days to process - really??? The credit card hold was released immediately, but a debit card (for some reason, in 2022) can take almost a month to have the same thing happen? How ridiculous.

Kyanar

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#2943567 18-Jul-2022 21:54

Ignore the Google results. You're not talking about the same PayPal they are. PayPal also owns a real credit card processing company (Braintree) who Kmart (or rather Kmart's parent company) likely uses.

Once a merchant has initiated a refund, there's nothing they can do. It's entirely up their processor and your bank how long it takes from there.

However, you mentioned your bank still shows a hold. In that case, the issue is they never captured the payment in the first place, and you're just waiting for the authorisation to expire. Your bank can release this early, but only if they receive authorisation from the merchant to do so (directly - as in the merchant must contact your bank). Otherwise, you need to wait seven days from the authorisation for it to expire.

This explains the authorisation expiry (and in fact from the very entity in question): Visa Compliance Updates: New Authorization Expiration Time Frames (braintreepayments.com)

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quickymart

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#2943570 18-Jul-2022 22:15

Thanks for explaining that, is this 7 working days or 7 days in total? Purchase was made on July 9 and (apparently) refunded the next day.

Kyanar

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#2943862 19-Jul-2022 16:12

If it was an authorisation, it was never refunded in the first place, since they never captured it. In that case it's seven days from when the authorisation was created.

If it was charged and refunded, then you first have to wait for the charge to be settled, then for the refund to settle as well. That could be two days, or it could be 10 days. All bets are off.

quickymart

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#2943939 19-Jul-2022 20:36

Refund finally came through this morning, so it took about 7 days. Yep, never using this method ever again. I'll pay on my credit card and just transfer the amount next time.