Unathorised Credit Card payment - advice sought NB

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StellaGirl

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Some of you may be able to help me with this nasty situation I am in at the moment.
2 weeks ago stayed at a hotel in London with my boyfriend. He paid for the room up front in cash and they wanted a credit card swiped for incidentals. He doesnt do credit cards so I gave them mine. They swiped it and that was that. Explained balance would be in cash so not needed anyway.
Stayed at hotel, boyfriend checked us out and 4 days later went to use my card. Card declined. Strange. Rang card company. Balance of £XXXX. Shock! Amount on card for £3200 from certain hotel. What! Impossible - paid cash.
So am now thousands over my credit limit and have no credit that I really could do with right now.
So here are my points
1. Receptionist at hotel never saw me, boyfriend dealt with it all. Could be a stolen card for all they know
2. Payment went through day after we had checked out.
3. They had no authorisation from me and dont even have my signature?
4. Hotel now "dont know if they received cash"? Boyfriend has receipt.
5. Why did card company not ask for telephone authorisation?
6. Why did card company authorise a payment that took me massively over my credit limit?
7. Card company are investigating - could take 2 weeks - been 10 days already and not heard a peep from them despite ringing them every day.
8. In meantime have no credit on card.
9. Rang financial ombudsman who are going to contact card company and chase them - they have 8 weeks to respond.
9. Rang hotel several time - "being dealt with" "will ring you back".

What are my rights in a situation like this? The FO said it should never have gone through but in meantime I have this huge amount on my card and cant use my card.



<hr width=100% size=1>Its 11.59am - lets open the beers...
 
Was the hotel bill £3.2K? ie. Do you think that there has been a double charge mistake? If so it should be sorted fairly quickly, coz the dosh can be stuck back on the card, with a free stay and bottle of Bolly as compo.

If it's fraud it may take a while longer and your card will most likely stay frozen until things have been investigated.

Provided that you can prove the cash payment I can't see that you will have any problem getting your cash back.

Hope it's sorted soon, Steve.

<hr width=100% size=1>Think I'll draw some little rabbits on my head, from a distance they might be mistaken for hairs.
 
This is a fraudulent transaction so the credit card company have the liability here. You should write them a letter, so there is a record, and state that you reject this charge as unauthorised.
It is then up to them to sort out the hotel.

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the credit card company would seem to have 2 choices here - firstly do nothing until the whole matter is resolved within the timescales set for them; or secondly, and commonly in my experience, adjust the account so that you can continue to use the card whilst they sort out the issue.
The latter can be done by either putting the transaction to one side pending resolution or increasing your limit by the disputed amount pending resolution.
I would, at the very least, request the latter straight away. It will give you a feel for how they are viewing things as well.
I realsie it is easy for us to sit here adn say - don't worry things will be resolved but I am sure they will. However I wouldn't focus to much on the fact that you gave your card to someone else to use; even if it was for the reasons given.
Find a way to enjoy the weekend.

<hr width=100% size=1>madesco madidum ..../forums/images/icons/smile.gif
 
In the past I had a couple of bogus transactions on my card. Wrote to the Credit Caerd Company and they immediately refunded the payments pending investigated. Never heared anything more.

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Re: Unathorised Credit Card payment - advice sough

Stellargirl, I'd agree with duncan but you need to clear up in your own mind which of these two statements you made is right:

"He doesnt do credit cards so I gave them mine"

"Receptionist at hotel never saw me, boyfriend dealt with it all."

In this case presumably you wouldn't contest that the hotel did have access to your card with your approval (although you contest the charge made to it), so it shouldn't arise but be careful...



<hr width=100% size=1>Rgds

Simon
Its Only Money
Fairline Sprint
Solent-based
 
Assuming boyfriend is trustworthy......

Good grief- a £3.2k hotel bill? Not sure how many nights you stayed, and maybe you're completely out of my league on the hotel front but I can't recall ever spending over £250/night plus extras. Unless the hotel is particularly grand would they not think that amount unusual and suspicious?

As for refunds, the courteous thing would be for the card to refund while they investigate, but my wife's bank account was once charged £120 by an over-the-counter transaction that took NatWest 6 weeks to investigate (branch in Brighton, paperwork in Bournemouth/Eastbourne) during which time they never refunded, so you can't rely on that.

Quite right it's card's problem (I buy everything substantial on credit cards because of extra legal protection against fraud). If card won't refund and you want to use it why not get them to increase your limit (by a sensible amount incase someone still has your details) while they investigate?

Make damn sure you get a free weekend from the hotel (as someone in office just got, inc an eve meal) or you'll go to the newspapers.

Make someone's life hell!

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Re: Unathorised Credit Card payment - advice sough

Well the daily phone call to the card company was not fruitful. They cannot refund money until I have signed a declaration which is coming in the post. They can also not give me access to the credit I did have available until they receive this back from me. Earliest it likely to be Weds next week.
I agree with what Its_only_money is saying but still find it unbelievable that bank card services authorised it in the first place! They are pretty quick to decline my card in Sainsburys for a packet of cigs if I am a couple of days over my due payment day - how on earth could they have allowed this to go through in the first place? This world is made up of thieves...

<hr width=100% size=1>Its 11.59am - lets open the beers...
 
Well the hotel stay was a suprise - you can say that again. And it was only for 2 nights! It was very expensive (but nice). It is part of a chain of 4 very well known London hotels. I would rather have them send me abroad on a package holiday for a week than have another weekend there after this fiasco.


<hr width=100% size=1>Its 11.59am - lets open the beers...
 
Re: Unathorised Credit Card payment - advice sough

"This world is made up of thieves... "

...and many of them seem to work in financial services!


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Re: Unathorised Credit Card payment - advice sough

I had the same problem after a trip to America. 1 month after I returned I had a “customer not present” transfer for $1200 in New York – I was in Denver! . I rang the card company and they tried their hardest to dissuade me from saying was it fraudulent. Are you sure? Could it be one of your family? If you do decline this transaction and the retailer proves it was authorised then he could sue you? We will have to get you to sign a legal statement ….. I finally said that as the transaction happened at 12:20am and my kids where at school and I was swimming at the time and as I spend in excess of £30K on my card , if they didn’t believe me the I would take my account elsewhere, they finally agreed. BUT I would suggest you ask them to cancel your card and all transactions from the date of the fraud and issue with a new card and number.


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Re: Unathorised Credit Card payment - advice sough

I hope you find that everything evens itself out after you get the declaration back to the card company. Its just a bind having to do without in the interim.
If its any consolation, I had money going out of my account mysteriously which I only picked up going through my statements... something which I have done religiously since. There was payment for a flight from Heathrow to Spain and a second internal flight in Spain.
Not only was I nowhere Heathrow... I have never been to mainland Spain in my puff. Declaration filled in... funds returned.
The point of this is that if moneys go from a CC account its destination is traceable, unless its gone from an ATM as cash.
What is worrying is that the card companies seem almost relaxed about moneys being taken out of individual accounts fraudulently or mistakenly.

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Re: Unathorised Credit Card payment - advice sough

It's amazing what does get authorised. When I was a computer systems designer a few years ago for a start-up motor insurance company, one of my programs slipped a digit or two and took £320,000,000 off a customer's credit card.

It was stopped only by the Bank of England ringing us. Computers have no common sense and (dull detail) there are a few different ways of cards going through and only the cheapo "telephone swiper in a shop" does real-time checking.

I agree with most of the other replies and (again assuming boyfriend trustworthy), I'm still really puzzled that the hotel can't give a breakdown of what the £3,200 was for - that might shed some light on things.


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It's frustrating, but you'll have to wait till the form arrives and then deal with it from there. You'll also need to report it to the police, so might as well do that now as later. Get your boyfriend to dig out that receipt asap. Once you've reported the fraud to the cc company, it's their responsibility to sort out and refund you - so you should be able to relax once that's done. It's v. irritating (my wife had her bank card skimmed) but once the wheels are in motion it's the cc company's headache, not yours. If you have any doubts, dig out the cc terms and conditions, it should all be set out in there.

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Since your boyfriend has a receipt for the cash payment, the fact that the hotel is doubting the bill actually was paid in cash implies that they think the receipt may be fraudulent, in which case one would expect them to act with rather more urgency. Presumably a hotel that charges the sort of prices you paid would have reasonably sophisticated accounting system against which the receipt could be checked.

Hate even to mention the possibility, but you are absolutely confident your boyfriend wouldn't have said 'stick it on the card' when he went to pay the balance? Seems slightly odd that someone with such a high-roller lifestyle wouldn't have a card even if only to use in such situations, which crop up increasingly often. Always one to leap to a conclusion on the scantiest of evidence, my first thought was that someone in that situation hasn't got a card because they don't pay their bills. Sure that's not the case here, but its all a bit odd.



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I read this and my immediate thought echoes the last post. It seems likely paid the bill in cash and fooled you into paying with your credit card. You may have been unaware that this had happened, but by handing over your card you have agreed to act as guarantor for the outstanding account, ouch.

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