credit card payments query

Can anyone tell me how a credit card payment goes through the system please? I have been charged twice for the same thing by an online retailer. They say it is not their fault they only asked for the payment once. The credit card company say they requested payment on the 8th and again on the 21st for the same amount. The card company retail dispute section are sorting it out, so I know I'm going to get the money back, but I am curious as to how the system works.

The card company say they don't make a payment unless payment is requested, the retailer say they definately did not request the payment a second time - to know how to argue my case if it happens again I'd just like to know the in' and outs of how card payments work when used online.

Thanks

Lulu

In my experience, and even now after several years of 'e-retailing' there is rarely any automatic link between so called 'on line' sites and their back office processes that actually process details through the cc system. It's usually a case of the 'on-line' retailer extracting the details from a paper report, and re-keying them into the cc terminal. In other words there's still a significant amount of human intervention.

I know cc companies are not perfect, but in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, I'd say that the fault lies with the retailer who almost certainly will have 'requested' a second payment - not knowingly or deliberately, but almost certainly out of human error.

Rgds

__ Richard Buttrey Grappenhall, Cheshire, UK __________________________