Nat West Gold Card - Aaaargh!!!

morzov

Booked to stay in a guest house over the telephone 2 weeks ago for this evening and gave credit card no to "secure" booking.

Got my Gold Card statement this morning and to my surprise found that £20 had been charged to my card on the date of booking. Rang hotel and was told this was a deposit. I pointed out that I wasn't informed and no notification had been given to me of £20 being taken. Not a lot of money I know but it really irked me that money had been taken without my authorisation and I wouldn't have known about it when I came to pay the room bill other than opening my statement this morning.

I told the hotel owner that I wasn't very happy about this and was going to cancel room. Said he was going to refund £20 but nt clear if he is going to charge for room.

Anyway then spoke to Nat West to check on refund and stop any further payments. to say they were obstructive and unhelpful is somehting of an understatement. Said that by giving credit card number, I had "authorised" retailer to take funds even though i had not agreed to pay a deposit. Said it was normal practice but in 20 years staying in hotels I've never once had money taken in advance.

Then repeatedly said that it would take 10 days to establish whether a refund had been made.

In a nutshell I'm completely brassed off with Nat West particularly as they have just charged me £85 for the privilege of being subject tot he sort of drivel I heard this morning.

I hope it never happens but if the sum had been say £10,000, you would go mad trying to get anywhere with these people.

This episode has really dented my faith in Nat West not to say wasted a good few hours and I'm now determined to change cards. Any good recommendations out there?

Sorry its a bit of a rant but important lessons to be learnt I think

Morzov

Ps to add insult to injury rang my Nat West Business adviser dedicated number only to receive a message saying they were all on holiday -you couldn't make it up!

Rafter

Doesn't sound like Nat West's fault to be honest!

If the hotel have charged you incorrectly or without advising you first and agree to give you a refund then what is the problem?

Unusual for hotels to take a 'real' deposit rather than just the card as security for the booking or a 'no show'

Not sure £20 which has been refunded anyway is grounds for wasting a few hours of yours and Natwests time at a cost of a lot more than £20.

R.

morzov

You're right about it costing more than £20 in wasted time! However, I don't know for sure if the money is being refunded and I'm entitled to supsect a retailer who took the money without authorisation and said they confirmed in an e mail which they didn't.

The real issue however, is that NW repeatedly told me that by giving my card no I had authorised the retailer to take any amount and that the matter of a refund could not be investigated for at least 10 days. IMO thats pretty worrying.

silverfoxdude

i used to be in the hotel trade when someone books a room and gives a visa card number its normal practise not to take any money out until guest arrives and is satisfied with the room .you should only take the 20 pounds non returnable deposit when people phone up and book a room and they have to send payment through the post 20 pound is required to hold the room. If we have a visa number we can take the deposit out only if the customer fails to show up and has not cancelled