Desperate - ripped off on my credit card in a lapdancing club

MJ2008_2

Voyager2002 wrote: »

If only this were not true, it would be a very funny story!

One possibly helpful angle: use of credit cards is covered by the various rules about allowing people to borrow money. One of these is mental capacity: an agreement to borrow (and repay) money would have no legal validity if it could be demonstrated that one of the parties did not understand what s/he was doing. I suspect that a good lawyer could get a long way arguing that the OP did not understand what he was doing at the the time he authorised the four £1K transactions, and so his agreement to repay the money cannot be legally binding.

Thanks Voyager - I'll bear that angle in mind...

Ian_Griffiths_Halifax

Voyager2002 wrote: »

If only this were not true, it would be a very funny story!

One possibly helpful angle: use of credit cards is covered by the various rules about allowing people to borrow money. One of these is mental capacity: an agreement to borrow (and repay) money would have no legal validity if it could be demonstrated that one of the parties did not understand what s/he was doing. I suspect that a good lawyer could get a long way arguing that the OP did not understand what he was doing at the the time he authorised the four £1K transactions, and so his agreement to repay the money cannot be legally binding.

I know a contract is not legaly binding if it is signed in the presence of alcohol. This seems to be along the same lines.

athensgeorgia

Just going back to the possible extra zeros on the end but is it just me or has anyone gone to pay by card and on the terminal it just says enter pin i've actually had words with a waitress because i wouldn't enter my pin because i didn't see how much she entered and made her re-do it in front of me, dh wasn't v. happy and walked off embarassed but some terminals don't show the customer the amount until you receive your receipt at the end could be quite easy to add a 0 on the end.

Richard019

athensgeorgia wrote: »

Just going back to the possible extra zeros on the end but is it just me or has anyone gone to pay by card and on the terminal it just says enter pin i've actually had words with a waitress because i wouldn't enter my pin because i didn't see how much she entered and made her re-do it in front of me, dh wasn't v. happy and walked off embarassed but some terminals don't show the customer the amount until you receive your receipt at the end could be quite easy to add a 0 on the end.

Is there a rule which says the pence have to be displayed if there aren't any? £1000 could quite easily look like £10.00 when you've been drinking.

athensgeorgia

Richard019 wrote: »

Is there a rule which says the pence have to be displayed if there aren't any? £1000 could quite easily look like £10.00 when you've been drinking.

i think on terminals it already has the decimal so if u want £67.20 you just enter 6720, quite easy to enter 100000 for 1k instead of 10000 for £100 iyswim

not sure about four times though

missbargain

Yep, CCTV seems to be the only option.

Perhaps someone, seeing that OP was so drunk, just kept ordering things or putting them on his bill. OP subconciously remembered the pin as it is the automatic motion. OR they saw him entering the pin, and used it 3 more times. They put the receipts in his pocket so that he thinks that it was really him who bought everything. In that case, he can claim that he was incapacitated and totally used by other people.

So go for CCTV, especially if it was one of the dodgier clubs (I believe, perhaps I am wrong, that Stringfellows type ones are more above board, it is the smaller ones that anything can happen in). Good luck!

dmg24

Ian_Griffiths_Halifax wrote: »

I know a contract is not legaly binding if it is signed in the presence of alcohol. This seems to be along the same lines.

This is not wholly accurate - if it was, then you would never be able to pay by card at a restaurant or bar.

The mental capacity issue is very difficult to prove, and is more relevant where severe mental illness is a factor. The fact that the OP appears to have been able to recall his pin number is likely to eliminate any chance of arguing mental incapacity.

xxlaurissaxx

athensgeorgia wrote: »

Just going back to the possible extra zeros on the end but is it just me or has anyone gone to pay by card and on the terminal it just says enter pin i've actually had words with a waitress because i wouldn't enter my pin because i didn't see how much she entered and made her re-do it in front of me, dh wasn't v. happy and walked off embarassed but some terminals don't show the customer the amount until you receive your receipt at the end could be quite easy to add a 0 on the end.

Yep ive had the same experience. I always check because it is easy to get ripped off. Mind you when the type it in cheaper i cant type my pin in any quicker. :rotfl:
I like a bargain :beer:

Good luck op and let us know how you get on xx

Richard019

athensgeorgia wrote: »

i think on terminals it already has the decimal so if u want £67.20 you just enter 6720, quite easy to enter 100000 for 1k instead of 10000 for £100 iyswim

not sure about four times though

I more meant that if instead of displaying £1000.00 it just displayed £1000 (if it's allowed to be done that way) then when the staff handed the terminal to him to put his pin number in it would be easy to think he was authorising them to take £10.00. I can't remember ever being in a restaurant/bar and it being the customer that put the amount in.

athensgeorgia

Richard019 wrote: »

I more meant that if instead of displaying £1000.00 it just displayed £1000 (if it's allowed to be done that way) then when the staff handed the terminal to him to put his pin number in it would be easy to think he was authorising them to take £10.00. I can't remember ever being in a restaurant/bar and it being the customer that put the amount in.

just reread my post and i didn't intend for it to sound that way what i meant was if it was a new staff member who may not fully understand how to enter the right amount and not realise the decimal was already there. but i see what u mean and could be a possibilty especially when your in the drunken state op seems to have been in.