American Express card

ianmulluk

Hi there - can anyone advise on this please.
I am being chased for payment from Thomas Cook for a transaction which I was told went through my account on January 16th 2007 ( over a year ago nearly)
The transaction was for ski passes and the operative on the phone , back in Jan 07 , authorised the payment and we received the passes on arrival at the resort - all OK.
They called me and sent me a letter 5 days ago , admitting 100% liability that they had made a mistake and NOT actually put the transaction through - apparently its a manual process with AMex and they 'forgot' to do it.

They are obviously going through some kind of audit right now and have realised they have messed up

Does anyone know where I stand legally with this ?
Can they chase payment for a transaction which they authorised and have fully admitted a mistake - over a year ago

help !!

Thanks
Ian

dazza.mk

They probably can't put the transaction through AMEX any longer, but as the debt exists they can probably chase you until the debt is statute barred (6 years)

TFD_2

They authorised the transaction, but never received payment. If they provided the service which they billed you for (but never received payment), then I can't see why they can't ask for payment now.

Having said that, if you ignore them, they're unlikely to sue you for it.

exel1966

There is no time limit on them collecting the payment from you , unless statute barred (6 years).
You are obliged to make the payment and failure to do so could result in them passing the debt to a DCA which will ultimately cost you a hell of a lot more financially and through your credit history.

You took the passes, used the service, therefore pay for it. Is it that you just don't want to pay OR that you can't afford to pay now ? If the latter, then tell them you'll pay monthly at an agreeable rate.

hippey

They could still process the transaction as it has been authorised by you anyway, let alone the fact that you have since used the services / goods supplied. Amex would not refuse the transaction unless you are overlimit etc...

Or what seems likely is that they will chase you for the payment which seems to be what they want to do anyway. If that is the case, you could alway try a bit of cheek and ask for a reduction for goodwill as they messed up.

This type of error is fairly common with Amex, as they are not processed by the usual V/M methods, Amex aquire the details themselves from the retails so sometimes they have different systems to use, meaning human error starts to creep in.