What to do if a shop forgets to charge you?!

t36

What rights do you have should a retailer forget to charge for a transaction?

In June I bought £150 worth of cash from a travel agent using my debit card. The cash had been reserved online but payment was "completed" at the branch. After a friendly chat with the cashier I walked out with the cash, enjoyed my holiday and got on with my life.

I recieved a letter a month later asking for me to call them on an 0845 number or visit the branch to talk about the transaction with no reason given. A week later I have now have received a letter from the Branch Manager advising that, "It has come to light that the £150 worth of currency that was put through on the card had actually declined. Can you contact us... so that we can take another form of payment from you, as our record show that you have received money that was not paid for. We have contacted our Legal Department who are fully aware of this situation and so our first point of contact is via a letter. If we do not receive the unpaid funds, we will have no option but to send this amount to our Litigation Department".

No surprises, checking online banking I can see no transaction. But what rights do I have?

- The transaction was on debit card. They say the transaction was "declined" - if that were the case, the !!!! up was due to human error, not being declined.
- I carried out the transaction in good faith that payment was debited. I don't keep a spare £150 around in case a shop realises a month later they didn't hit the button.
- If I had walked in off the street instead of reserve the cash online (and therefore give them my contact details), would it have been a different story?

gnaril

if you are looking for the answer that you can keep it im pretty sure your wrong.

They are fully entitled to chase you for the funds that have been given out to yourself. If you cant stump up the amount in one go im sure they would accept some form of repayment schedule.

wait a while and someone will be able to clear it up for you thats poss been in same situation. GL

BargainGalore

If proven and you dont appear to dispute it they can ask for it, if you fail to pay then they may seek legal action

You say you paid in good faith, obviously some error occurred but the fact remains if you havent paid them then morally you are in the wrong. If you dont have the money perhaps ask them if you can pay half now and half the following month for example

if they take you to court assuming money wasnt taken you may have the £150 plus costs to pay if it goes against you.

t36

gnaril wrote: »

if you are looking for the answer that you can keep it im pretty sure your wrong.

They are fully entitled to chase you for the funds that have been given out to yourself. If you cant stump up the amount in one go im sure they would accept some form of repayment schedule.

wait a while and someone will be able to clear it up for you thats poss been in same situation. GL

I'm certainly not expecting to get a free £150 - in fact, I'm pretty resigned to the fact I'll be paying - but I'd like to gather opinion before I send off a cheque. I'm more riled by the fact that, having carried out the transaction in good faith, I receive two letters a month later - the first says nothing and asks me to call them at my inconvenience for an unspecified reason, the second talks of litigation! And the reason they give for what seems to be a cashier's mistake is that my debit card was "declined"!

Jakg

If you keep the goods it could be classed as theft in some cases.

Yes you have to pay BUT i'm sure you could ask for a discount for the inconvenience of having to go to pay AGAIN and ask to pay in instalments because you don't have £150 spare.

hollydays

You could ask your bank to explain to you why the transaction did not go through,then come back and tell us what they said.

I once applied for a store credit card and felt a bit humiliated to be told they had turned me down (I was with a relative at the time).On further enquiries the next day with the stores HO it turned out the cashier had repeatedly pressed the button,making it look like I was applying for multiple cards!! I got an apology.

If it was your fault then pay up and forget it,if it was their fault,complain,pay up and forget it.

t36

Interestingly, I've hunted down the receipt I was given which clearly says, "Total From Customer Today: 153.78, Visa Debit Card - FE: 153.78". It does not contain card details or auth number, but it does show that the transaction was carried out in good faith and I didn't walk out the store having knowingly "stolen" that money.

Do you think that would change things in any way?

I am 99% sure the card would not have been declined since my online banking shows it was used before and after the time on the receipt. My inkling is this is their excuse for the cashier not actually completing the transaction. But I will be asking the travel agent to confirm which bank was used in order for me to check.

yummymummy79

You have a responsibility to pay for items, if this doesn't happen correctly at the time for whatever reason then I don't see a problem with them coming to you now for it. Obv not suggesting you intended not to pay etc, but don't think you've got much to complain about that they're asking for it now.

foxy-roxy

I can sympathise with the OP here, if i pay for something on my debit card it's because i have the money in my bank at the time and expect them to be efficient enough to take it out, and it would annoy me alot if they called for the money a month later, prob becasuse like OP i wouldn't have £150 in my account all the time, but as others have pointed out it will need to be paid but i would certainly complain about it though.

hollydays

agreed,i would find that annoying too.

Auntie-Dolly

What happened to the £150 you had in your account to buy the currency? Just pay for what you've had.