Big (RL) Payment issues

Anyone got any ideas?

For the last 2 months LL have screwed up billing to my debit card (UK).

After trying to make sense of it, here's what I think is happening:

1) My tier fee/membership has always been due on 12th of each month. All due money would come out on the same day as a single transaction on my card.
2) Now, my tier is still due on 12th, but premium membership on 16th - it may have been longer than a few months, but never really noticed before.

ok, heres the problem:

1) on the 12th, LL are "attempting" to take payment for my tier which goes through. This shows on my bank account 3 days later - fine.
2) on the 16th, LL are "pre-authorising" my debit card for Tier (again) + premium membership
3) on the 17th, LL are taking payment for my premium membership.

Now, if we were talking about small amounts, this would be an annoyance, but i have a LOT of land, and my tier fees are high (in the hundreds of dollars). When this large amount is effectively (by pre-auth reserving funds for up to 7 days) taken from my account twice each month, it causes me problems.

I've called LL's biling department (why do we have to call a US number to speak to soemone in the uk??) and they really do not have a clue what is going on.

Anyone have any ideas on how to stop them using my account as a monthly "lucky dip"?

The only thing I can think of is that after three days the original funds haven't been cleared by LL's bank and therefore they still see that money as owing. I'm not sure how fast bank transfers are to the states, I know they are supposed to be speeding up in the UK because my bank keep sending me letters to tell me of this but an overseas transaction is probably still 3 - 7 days. I have a feeling you wouldn't experience this issue if you were using a credit card for example.

However it sounds like a problem with LL's billing system handling debit card payments and it's something they need to sort out. Ask for the email address of the head of the billing department and write them an email outlining the repetitive problem.

Do you have a debit card registered directly with LL? Or it's debit card -> PayPal -> LL?

You might try an "Increase Your Credit" next month for the total amount of tier + premium - a few days ahead of when your tier is due - and when your tier is due LL will use your US$ balance first, leaving you a positive $9.95 for when your premium is due a few days later.

One little caveat would be that you'd need to avoid buying L$ between the time you increase your credit and the time LL bills your premium or you'd use up your US$ balance first and still have a small(er) portion of tier and/or premium going to your debit card.

I never use my CC in the internet. I always transfer some money first to my Paypal account and I don't go over the limit. I am sorry I cannot help in this case. I am in Germany and you may in the USA, so you may call the service there?