Forum Home
PC World Chat
Thread ID: 113068	2010-10-04 06:01:00	Frustrating Buyer on Trade Me - Can banks screw up transfers?	Agent_24 (57)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1141541	2010-10-04 07:20:00	So assuming the banking system is perfect, they've either buggered up the account number or never paid? To bugger up the account they would also have to bugger up the name on the account as well as the account number.	mikebartnz (21)
1141542	2010-10-04 07:22:00	Pity the fool who thinks any system is infallible. (not that Bletch is a fool of course)Oh I'm not claiming it's not subject to errors - I'm just pointing out the nature of transactional systems mean that the error is *always* picked up and recovered from. The entire transaction occurs as an atomic unit, either the entire transaction will fail, or the entire transaction will succeed. Either way, the accounts involved are never left in an inconsistant state; it's impossible for money to simply vanish en-route. As an example of how such systems can work, consider the following: A customer of bank A requests a transfer of $18 from their account (account 12) to another customer's account at bank B (account 19). Bank A creates a new, empty transaction log Bank A logs the current balance of account 12 Bank A logs its intention to deduct $18 from account 12 Bank A actually does deduct $18 from account 12 Bank A checks that the new balance of account 12 accurately reflects the deduction, and logs that the deduction succeeded. Bank A logs its intention to tell bank B to add $18 to account 19. Bank A contacts bank B and says "credit $18 to account 19". Bank B logs the current balance of account 19. Bank B logs its intention to credit $18 to account 19. Bank B actually does credit $18 to account 19. Bank B checks that the new balance of account 19 accurately reflects the credit, and logs that the credit succeeded. Bank B informs bank A that the credit succeeded Bank A logs that the credit succeeded Noting that $18 was successfully deducted from account 12 at bank A, and has been successfully credited to account 19 at bank B, bank A can now mark the transaction as completed successfully. As you can see, if *any* of the above stages fail, for any reason, there is enough information in the log to restore all accounts to their correct balances prior to the transfer being attempted - it's impossible for there to ever be a situation where money has been deducted from one account, and not added to the destination account, without that error being noticed and corrected. The reason bank transfers can be considered infallible is due to the atomic nature of those transactions, as illustrated above.	Erayd (23)
1141543	2010-10-04 07:22:00	To bugger up the account they would also have to bugger up the name on the account as well as the account number.Not necessarily - the number is the important bit, the name isn't always checked.	Erayd (23)
1141544	2010-10-04 07:27:00	Banks do make mistakes, but they are quite rare these days. I'm with the national bank, and I put through a transfer to occur on a particular day via online banking this year, and it didn't go through till the next day, which meant I lost a lot of interest. They admitted to the mistake, and paid me the interest I lost. They however never provided me with an explanation for the problem, just that it was an online banking problem, and someone would get back to me, which they didn't.	robbyp (2751)
1141545	2010-10-04 07:42:00	Did the payee hit the "confirm" button on their internet transaction?	Zippity (58)
1141546	2010-10-04 07:52:00	I'm with Erayd, sounds like they're chickening out. Leave bad feedback, usually gets their act together.	Chilling_Silence (9)
1141547	2010-10-04 08:15:00	Did the payee hit the "confirm" button on their internet transaction? I wouldn't have a clue. As I said, they have managed to buy several things after winning my auction, so at least they don't seem to be complete idiots who don't know how to use their internet banking. They also have over 1000 (good) feedbacks. It's all rather odd. I guess the most sensible explanation is probably what PCTek said, they made a mistake etc and don't want to admit it. I'm with Erayd, sounds like they're chickening out. Leave bad feedback, usually gets their act together. I thought that contacting TradeMe for a fee refund and asking them to contact the buyer would do that.	Agent_24 (57)
1141548	2010-10-04 18:29:00	Several things come to mind. They entered the wrong number but right name in which case the receiving bank will bounce the payment.....or should. They have paid but there has been a failure at one or other of the banks. Possible but......... Or they have decided they don't want the item now so claim payment has been made which leaves you 2 options, decline to send which suits them or you are such a nice person that you send anyway based on there claim of payment and they get a freebie.. The fact they don't seem to keen to keep in contact with you since losing there money suggests that maybe they have not paid but are stringing you along. Personally, I always take a screen shot of the payment and send it to the seller as proof that I have actioned the payment at my end. Doesn't get the stuff sent any earlier but at least you know I have played my part and if the transaction does for some reason not appear at your end, I have proof of payment. I would give reasonable time for the buyer or the banks involved to get the money over, then give them neut feedback of some sort and relist.	PinoyKiw (9675)
1141549	2010-10-04 18:58:00	Several things come to mind. They entered the wrong number but right name in which case the receiving bank will bounce the payment.....or should. They have paid but there has been a failure at one or other of the banks. Possible but......... Or they have decided they don't want the item now so claim payment has been made which leaves you 2 options, decline to send which suits them or you are such a nice person that you send anyway based on there claim of payment and they get a freebie.. The fact they don't seem to keen to keep in contact with you since losing there money suggests that maybe they have not paid but are stringing you along. Personally, I always take a screen shot of the payment and send it to the seller as proof that I have actioned the payment at my end. Doesn't get the stuff sent any earlier but at least you know I have played my part and if the transaction does for some reason not appear at your end, I have proof of payment. I would give reasonable time for the buyer or the banks involved to get the money over, then give them neut feedback of some sort and relist. Good thinking about the screenshot. Where there is any doubt about a payment having been made, then it is usually up to the payer to produce evidence of payment.	Marnie (4574)
1141550	2010-10-04 21:25:00	I had a transaction like you and told them that I would not send the item unless my account confirmed payment, despite them insisting they had paid. Never heard from them after that so they were just trying it on. Problem will be to get your transaction fee back from Trademe if the other party insist they paid....	user (1404)
1 2 3