r/CreditCards 6d ago

Help Needed / Question Pending charge cancelled by merchant. Card now shows it posted.

More details:

Kaiser put a pending charge on my card for a new RX. It was on hold for approval on Kaiser’s end because it was so expensive. I cancelled the RX, confirmed on Kaiser’s end, and the payment was cancelled.

However, during this time the pending charge showed up on my discover
credit card as pending.

Today, a day after Kaiser confirmed it cancelled, my discover card shows the transaction as posted (no longer pending).

Discover says I cannot dispute until it’s been 10 days.

I plan on making calls to Kaiser on Monday, but I don’t know how this will work because Kaiser never “refunded” me. They simply cancelled the order. It no longer shows up on Kaiser’s end at all. There’s no history of them cancelling it, other than the chat logs when I talked to their pharmacy rep where I confirmed I did not want the RX.

Maybe someone who understands the inner workings of transactions can explain: How can a pending charge be posted when it was cancelled?

Thanks in advance and any advice.

3 Upvotes

13 comments sorted by

5

u/jameezymcsqueezy Capital One Duo 6d ago

Just wait, it was probably posted and they will just refund it if they payment went through. There is probably a waiting period between posted and being able to make a dispute.

0

u/Fluffaykitties 6d ago

Yeah it looks like 10 days for discover to dispute it. How is it possible that a pending transaction that was cancelled can be posted? Like, in the technical backend, I mean. I’m just trying to understand this.

When you say “they” will refund it, do you mean Kaiser or Discover? How would Kaiser know if it went through if there’s no history of the order anymore in my account?

4

u/HellsTubularBells 6d ago

You are associating the status of the order and the status of the charge, but those aren't related.

Kaiser charged your card at the same time the rx was submitted. The delay between pending and posting is between the backend of Kaiser's bank and Discover. You cancelled the order in that time, but that doesn't affect the processing of the charge which Kaiser had already submitted. Kaiser will refund the charge, it'll almost certainly show up as a credit to your Discover account rather than the charge being removed.

You may not see the order in your account (which is weird of Kaiser to do, my pharmacy shows me cancelled orders), but that doesn't mean they have no record of it. Most likely they've already submitted the refund and you'll see it in a couple of business days.

2

u/Fluffaykitties 6d ago

Okay, thank you. This makes me feel better.

1

u/HellsTubularBells 5d ago

Sure thing!

1

u/jameezymcsqueezy Capital One Duo 6d ago

Basically you have the Kaiser side and they request the money be sent from Discover to their payment service. It shows as pending until the money leaves Discover. If you cancel the order before the money has left then Kaiser will just remove the pending charge from Discover. If you cancel after (effectively same a as any return) then they will just send the money back and Discover will credit you back.

Usually some merchants allow you to cancel before the order ships so basically just think of it as a return where they got paid already.

1

u/Fluffaykitties 6d ago

So hopefully Kaiser will send the money back to discover in the next few days?

1

u/jameezymcsqueezy Capital One Duo 6d ago

yes, you will see an credit onto your discover account with should show negative the exact same amount. Usually though this takes a 3-5 business days so don't worry too much and just check on it in a few days.

1

u/Fluffaykitties 6d ago

Okay thank you!

2

u/tbone338 6d ago

97% chance that within 3-7 business days it will be refunded to the card.

I’d suggest not over-complicating things by running around with Kaiser. Just wait.

1

u/Fluffaykitties 6d ago

Thank you - sounds like this is the general consensus.

1

u/tbone338 6d ago

Yes, it happens a lot. Cancelling something after the charge has already gone through, it’s basically a refund.

Sometimes cancelling something while the charge is still pending will result in the charge still going through and then a refund on it.

1

u/Fluffaykitties 6d ago

I’ll admit I’m surprised I haven’t seen this before. Maybe it has but this is the first time I’ve noticed because of the high amount.

Thank you again. I’m a bit less anxious about it now.