Post Office / Bank of Ireland Chargeback problems

Gman0365

Hi folks,

In September 2008 my fianc! went out to look at wedding dresses. She found one that she loved and when she came asked if I could phone up and pay the deposit. We had decided to pay for all the big purchases on CC thinking that we would have some protection should anything go wrong. I phoned the bridal shop and paid a £577 deposit on my Post Office Mastercard. They then posted out the credit card receipt along with an invoice showing the items that had been purchased and how much was left to pay. My fianc! then went in a couple of weeks later and paid another £100 cash towards it.

Since then the bridal shop has went bust see www.capriskies.com , having done some investigation myself it would appear that the dress was never ordered with the designer in Australia and the staff in the shop may have pocketed the cash. We soon realised that there was little chance of us receiving the goods.

I was advised to phone Post Office CC to make a claim under the chargeback scheme. I sent them a copy of the CC receipt, the £100 cash receipt and the invoice. Today I received the reply to my claim:

As you are not the named party on the contract and as you paid the sum on behalf of a third party the transaction is not covered by Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, therefore your claim is not be upheld by the bank. Our advice is to contact the Administrators of Capri Skies.

I'm quite disappointed that they have taken this view as I thought Section 75 was supposed to protect people in these circumstances. The invoice does have my fianc!'s name on it and our address, but it also shows her bust and waist size so I'd have hardly expected them to complete the invoice in my name! Surely the Post Office can see that the item is being bought as a gift and it doesn't detract from the fact that I have not received goods that I have made payment towards.

Does anyone have similar experience of this type of situation?

never-in-doubt

Gman0365 wrote: »

Hi folks,

In September 2008 my fianc! went out to look at wedding dresses. She found one that she loved and when she came asked if I could phone up and pay the deposit. We had decided to pay for all the big purchases on CC thinking that we would have some protection should anything go wrong. I phoned the bridal shop and paid a £577 deposit on my Post Office Mastercard. They then posted out the credit card receipt along with an invoice showing the items that had been purchased and how much was left to pay. My fianc! then went in a couple of weeks later and paid another £100 cash towards it.

Since then the bridal shop has went bust see www.capriskies.com , having done some investigation myself it would appear that the dress was never ordered with the designer in Australia and the staff in the shop may have pocketed the cash. We soon realised that there was little chance of us receiving the goods.

I was advised to phone Post Office CC to make a claim under the chargeback scheme. I sent them a copy of the CC receipt, the £100 cash receipt and the invoice. Today I received the reply to my claim:

As you are not the named party on the contract and as you paid the sum on behalf of a third party the transaction is not covered by Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, therefore your claim is not be upheld by the bank. Our advice is to contact the Administrators of Capri Skies.

I'm quite disappointed that they have taken this view as I thought Section 75 was supposed to protect people in these circumstances. The invoice does have my fianc!'s name on it and our address, but it also shows her bust and waist size so I'd have hardly expected them to complete the invoice in my name! Surely the Post Office can see that the item is being bought as a gift and it doesn't detract from the fact that I have not received goods that I have made payment towards.

Does anyone have similar experience of this type of situation?

Utter rubbish! Its your partner for crying out loud! I am assuming that the dress was in her name? Who was the invoice sent to, i.e the receipt?

Argue again cos they are stalling..... don't back down!

See here anyway: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/section75-protect-your-purchases

chattychappy

Ungrammatical rubbish too! ("... your claim is not be upheld ....")

Gman0365

chattychappy wrote: »

Ungrammatical rubbish too! ("... your claim is not be upheld ....")

Yeah, thats what I thought! I did quote the reply word for word! It clearly wasn't one of their standard letters, there was even a real persons signature and name on the bottom of the letter in blue ball point. Perhaps I should feel privileged that they even took the time to read it.

The invoice is basically just an A4 carbon copy of the details of the sale. One goes to customer, one stays in shop and one goes to manufacturer in Australia.

I'll phone them again and if no joy then I'll write to the Ombudsman.

Thanks for the link, very helpful!