Some Legal advice needed on charging debit cards and bank charges!

Shornuk

Hi all,

I after some legal advice cos im going up the wall at the moment!

I went paintballing on the 29/10/05 with "Ambush Paintball"
I spent £51.55 whilst there and paid for it on my debit card.

The payment came out of my account on the 14/11/05, all seemed good.

Then on 17/11/05 I was charged exactly the same thing amount again from the paintball company. But this additional amount took me over my overdraft limit and I was charged £25.00

I went to my local branch (Barclays) and explained what had happened, and that if I never had been charged twice then I would never had gone into my overdraft. They refunded the £25.00 charge and told me they can chase the second payment or I can take it up with the paintball company.

So I got home and called the paintball company and said what had happened, they were already aware of the problem as everyone that day had been charged twice, (apparently there was a problem between their card company and the bank appearing to have lost the original details) Anyhow they said that they had been assured by the bank and/or card company said the money would be refunded this week.

Well I logged onto my bank account today and the money had been refunded, but just before the refund I had now been charged another £25.00! So I called Barclays and explained that had I not been charged twice my account would never had gone over its overdraft and could the charge be refunded? They said that as it was not their fault it was charged twice, they will not refund the bank charge and that I had to chase the paintball company. I advised that I had already been refunded once for the exact same reason and the advisor said that was a "goodwill gesture"!

So, I called the paintball company, explained to the lady there that I have to take the charge up with them, she said that I needed to write to them and they will take it up with their bank and try and get them to refund, but "Ambush Paintball" will not be refunding any money as it is not their fault it was their banks/card companies. She said that she would also give me the banks details if I wanted to take it up with them

I advised her that I felt it was the responsibility of the company that charged me twice, i.e. it is "ambush paintball" written on my statement, and that it is their responsibility to meet any charges their customer incurs. (If they want to get that back from their bank then thats really none of my concern) But Ambush Paintball charged me twice, and I have charges because of it.

She then clearly stated that "Ambush Paintball" would not refund anything and she said that the bank and card company seem to be denying any blame so its possible I would not get anything.


Now...

Am i right in believing it is Ambush Paintball's responsibility to refund me or am I getting this totally wrong?

Its hard enough trying to get rid of debt, and I have cleared over £1000 in credit cards in the last couple of months, but as soon as you make some headway, something like this happens!

Any help or guidance would be very much appreciated!

Rafter

Somebody is to blame and it obviously isn't you.

I suggest you make a formal written complaint to Ambush (asking them to pass this onto their bank).

You should really try to maintain a bit more of a buffer in your current account or increase your overdraft to prevent this happening though.

Barclays are not actually at fault here, although you could look at other postings on here about the legality of bank charges and get them to refund them that way.

Good luck.

R.

Shornuk

Well the good news is after going to the local branch and explaining the whole situation again, the personal banker refunded the charge. (i think he just wanted to get rid of me!)
In all honest though I can understand that they have a policy to charge when I go overdrawn but when it is so obvious that it was through something that I had no control over, is it really sensible for them to penalise their customer for something they agree I wasnt to blame for!
I knew there was a reason I've stuck with Barclays, mainly because I prefer the "face to face" contact in the branches.

I generally think they are a good bank to be with.

pin

I'm guessing the overdraft charge occured automatically by a computer, so there was no way of seeing it was a mistake.

What the good thing is was the bank were happy to refund you the £25.

Peachy_2

Hiya
I had the same with a standing order that Abbey set up wrongly to Barclaycard - the money wasn't received, I was then charged £25 late payment fee and then (due that pushing me over the limit) an over the limit fee of £25 - which then spiralled into the next month as of course (a) abbey still hadn't got the details right and (b) even if they had received the usual standing order, it was now £50 out... SO I battled it out with both of them and just went hell for leather at them both. Bcard DID refund the amounts - but they weren't responsible legally - that would have been Abbey's responsibility. I phoned Abbey's head office and they liaised with BCard, said that (I think they said this although not sure!) I had set up the standing order (so it wasn't my fault, effectively) and they sorted it themselves thankfully! Although I am now waiting to hear back from Abbey about their mistakes and have suggested they refund £30 per charge they've ever made me pay in the past when I've made a mistake (like gone over my limit etc!) Finger crossed. This sort of stuff drives me mad, but I'm v stubborn and won't stop til I get justice!

peachy

dchurch24

Check my post here: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=118820
for information on how to get charges back, plus interest.