CREDIT CARDS WHEN YOU PAY FROM THE WEBSITE

We cannot accept cards over the telephone, we accept cards online only.

SUMMARY

When you have finished selecting your items and choose "Pay by Card" (credit card or debit card) you will be forwarded to the credit card company to pay. You will never be asked to enter your card details onto THIS (quicktest.co.uk) website, you will never be asked to send card details by email, you will never be asked for your card details on the telephone.

We use HSBC (the 'Acquiring Bank') and the actual online forms you fill in are Actinic Payments (the 'Internet Gateway'), one of the most common payment systems on the internet.

IS IT SECURE?

Paying by card on the internet is more secure than paying by telephone, only computers see your card details, there are no humans involved (when you give your card details over the phone, a human repeats the number out loud for everyone to hear, then types it into a machine, then takes a printout with the card number).

All credit card systems are ultimately controlled by a handful of banks, though the companies that run the systems don't advertise this. Our bank, and the ultimate 'enforcer' should anything go wrong, is HSBC, the third-largest bank in the world.

The 'system' that takes your order (when you fill in with your card details) is by Actinic, one of the most common Shopping Basket systems on the internet, with the highest levels of security.

CARD ACCEPTED / CARD DECLINED

If your bank declines your card, you will see a message saying that the card has been declined. Your order will be marked pending on our system, we will email you to see if you would like to pay using another card, another card payment system (Nochex) or another payment method. We do want to take your money and supply the goods!

Quite independently of your bank accepting or declining the payment, Actinic use Credit Call and Datacash to carry out security checks (Actinic call the system Third Man) which displays a green light or red light by your order. A green light means they are happy, a red light means that there is a high statistical probability that there will be a problem with the payment, and we are advised not to accept it. This is not a reflection on any individual, it is merely the result of computers analysing dozens of 'risk factors.' We do not see these 'risk factors', we cannot tell you why your order has been given a red light, the most likely reason is that the delivery address does not match the cardholder's address.

DELIVERY ADDRESS AND CARDHOLDER'S ADDRESS

The address you enter ("Invoice Address") must match the address to which the card is registered. So please type the address exactly as it appears on your credit card statement or the or the card might be refused. This is the most common reason for credit card transactions failing, so please type the address carefully. If necessary, find a credit card statement and copy the address exactly, even if there are spelling mistakes.

In addition to the invoice address you may, if you wish, enter a separate delivery address. In most cases we will only send the goods to the cardholder's address. But it depends. There are four possible scenarios.

Scenario 1: you have only one address, you enter it as the Invoice Address, it is the address to which your credit card statement is sent, it is the address to which you want the goods delivered. Tip: do it this way if at all possible, keep it simple.

Scenario 2: the goods are for you, personally, at home (where your card is registered) but you work during the day and would like the goods delivered to work. Action: sorry, we must deliver to the cardholder's address. Tip: you can use our questionnaire (when you order) to enter Special Delivery Instructions, e.g. "If there is no reply leave at No.25" and then forget about using a separate delivery address, we will write your instruction on the packet. But please be sensible, some customers have been asking the postman to ring the doorbell, and if there is no reply, to deliver the item to an address a few streets away - the postman is not going to do this.

Scenario 3: the goods are for a small company and you are the boss, but your card is registered to your home address, so you enter your home as the Invoice Address, with Delivery Address as the business address. Action: sorry, we must deliver to the cardholder's address. We can, however, make the invoice out to the business, just ask. Tip: if this is a problem you have regularly, change the registered address of the credit card to the business address.

Scenario 4: the goods are for a branch (of a large company) but payment is always from Head Office. Action: if we know you, we will check with Head Office that this is OK to proceed. If we don't know you, we will ask why we don't know you, and we will be eager to deal with you and will want a list of branches that will be buying through your Head Office. But first we will check that both your branch and Head Office are listed in the telephone directory, and that the company is well-known enough to get dozens of 'hits' on an internet search, and if there is any doubt, we will not enter into negotiations, we will refuse the order. Tip: get your Head Office to clear it with us first, it saves embarrassment when the company is well-known locally but we can't find any trace of it, or if the branches have different trading names.