I have been charged for my order but it hasnt been despatched

Please be assured that here at the BBC Online Shop we do not charge any orders until they have been despatched from our warehouse.

We send what is called an authorization request to your credit card company. Your credit card company verifies that the card is valid and that the amount of your transaction is available. If the card number is valid and the funds are available, they put an authorization hold on the funds. An authorization is only a hold on the funds for a possible future transfer. This hold is temporary, and if the transaction isn't settled it will expire without any action. It is not a completed transaction and no funds are transferred at that time.

Your credit card company may still show a temporary authorization hold on the funds after your transaction is completed. It can take several working days for them to process the void on the authorization. The time will vary from one company to the next. Unfortunately, many customer service people at the card companies don't understand the difference between a settled transaction and an authorization hold. They will tell you that it was a valid transaction.