Money debited without my consent

concerned_debiter

I am after some much needed advice. I ate in a restaurant and at the end of the meal received a bill for £46.85, which I paid on my debit card.

I was checking my bank statement and realised that 10 days after I had eaten at the restaurant and the £46.85 had been debited from my account a further debit was taken for £8.25. I contacted my bank who informed me that yes my card details had been entered on a card machine and a debit had been made from my account. I advised them that I did not authorise this payment so how could it have been taken from my account and was advised by them to contact the restaurant to discuss.

I rang the restaurant and spoke to the manager who advise me that yes that had taken this money from me and they were allowed to do this. They state that when they were checking through their receipts around a week after I ate my meal they realised that they had uncharged me and had used my card details to take from me the money they believed I owed. I explained that I really didn't think they could do this as firstly I had not authorised the second payment and secondly I was presented with a bill on the night for £46.85, which was agreed by both of us to be the right amount, paid it in good faith and left, therefore it really wan't my fault that a week later they recalculated and noticed their mistake.

I asked the manager for my money back and was basically told that again he was allowed to use my card details without my consent for them to recoup any money they say I owed otherwise it would turn into a police matter as I would be classed as shoplifiting!!!!

I am wondering if anyone can shed any light on whether they can do this, debit my money without my consent?? I paid what I thought was the correct amount and the amount they calculated on the night that I owed.

I know the amount is only small but the reason I am so annoyed is the attitude of the manager on the phone that was making me out to be a criminal and that I am the one in the wrong.....

Many Thanks

Halloway

Take it back to your bank first of all. A company cannot just arbitrarily decide to charge you an additional amount and charge it to your debit card without your permission. If necessary, send or take into a branch, copies of your bill and debit card slip to back up your claim. The second charge (which obviously you don't have a copy of) should indicate the customer was not present.

I asked the manager for my money back and was basically told that again he was allowed to use my card details without my consent for them to recoup any money they say I owed otherwise it would turn into a police matter as I would be classed as shoplifiting!

That's nonsense. If you pay the amount on the bill then that's that, irrespective of whether the bill has been calculated corrected or not. The restaurant could ask you to pay the difference but they cannot just take that amount via a debit card.

Please feel free to name the restaurant involved, by the way.

Voyager2002

No, they cannot do this. In fact they should not have retained your card details after your departure. And I cannot understand how they managed to re-enter your PIN for the second transaction.

Halloway

Voyager2002 wrote: »

No, they cannot do this. In fact they should not have retained your card details after your departure. And I cannot understand how they managed to re-enter your PIN for the second transaction.

You don't need to enter the PIN, so long as you have the card details, you simply put it through the machine as 'Customer Not Present'. I don't even think you need the security code (though I could be wrong on that and anyway they might have written that down.)

cleo1299

Sounds like the manager is trying to frighten you off. Was your card taken away from the table? They're supposed to bring the gadget to your table. They're definitely not supposed to hang on to your credit card details and put through an unauthorized payment. If it was me I would call first the bank and then if necessary the police, but somebody else might be along shortly who knows more about it than me. Think you're right to pursue it, it doesn't matter if the amount was small. It's the principle of the thing.

Did you leave a tip? The amount seems about the size of a tip. Was there anything on the menu saying "service extra" or anything like that?

isplumm

concerned_debiter wrote: »

I am after some much needed advice. I ate in a restaurant and at the end of the meal received a bill for £46.85, which I paid on my debit card.

I was checking my bank statement and realised that 10 days after I had eaten at the restaurant and the £46.85 had been debited from my account a further debit was taken for £8.25. I contacted my bank who informed me that yes my card details had been entered on a card machine and a debit had been made from my account. I advised them that I did not authorise this payment so how could it have been taken from my account and was advised by them to contact the restaurant to discuss.

I rang the restaurant and spoke to the manager who advise me that yes that had taken this money from me and they were allowed to do this. They state that when they were checking through their receipts around a week after I ate my meal they realised that they had uncharged me and had used my card details to take from me the money they believed I owed. I explained that I really didn't think they could do this as firstly I had not authorised the second payment and secondly I was presented with a bill on the night for £46.85, which was agreed by both of us to be the right amount, paid it in good faith and left, therefore it really wan't my fault that a week later they recalculated and noticed their mistake.

I asked the manager for my money back and was basically told that again he was allowed to use my card details without my consent for them to recoup any money they say I owed otherwise it would turn into a police matter as I would be classed as shoplifiting!!!!

I am wondering if anyone can shed any light on whether they can do this, debit my money without my consent?? I paid what I thought was the correct amount and the amount they calculated on the night that I owed.

I know the amount is only small but the reason I am so annoyed is the attitude of the manager on the phone that was making me out to be a criminal and that I am the one in the wrong.....

Many Thanks

Hi

This happened to me as well .... I didn't bother with the resturant ... they had my contact details .... I told my bank that money had been taken from my a/c without my permission - they sorted it ...

Mark

concerned_debiter

I contact my bank and all they did was cancel my debit card (which I had to request)

Yeah the manager said he was allowed to keep my details for seven years. I understand that it would be on the copy of their reciept but didn't for one minute think that they could just debit my account to make their books balance.

Honestly I have never been spoken to more horriblely and rudely in my life and from the way he was going on about it i really dont think this it the first time this has happened.

I spoke to consumer direct and they told me to write to him and request that he rufund me my money within 14 days otherwise the matter would be passed to Trading Standards. I rang him and told him and his answer was I'd like to see you try and any letters I send to him he would hand to the police and start a shoplifiting investigation against me!!

Am going to send the letter and have posted comments on any review sites i can find this restaurant on advising people of what has happened.

Halloway

We are still dying to know which restaurant it is.

cleo1299

concerned_debiter wrote: »

Honestly I have never been spoken to more horriblely and rudely in my life and from the way he was going on about it i really dont think this it the first time this has happened.

I spoke to consumer direct and they told me to write to him and request that he rufund me my money within 14 days otherwise the matter would be passed to Trading Standards. I rang him and told him and his answer was I'd like to see you try and any letters I send to him he would hand to the police and start a shoplifiting investigation against me!!

Why ring him again? Like Consumer Direct said, you should just write to him, and keep it polite. That's not to spare his feelings, it's so Trading Standards or the Small Claims Court or anybody else that examines the evidence can see that you have gone about trying to put things right without losing your temper.

concerned_debiter

I rang the restaurant firstly after my bank had told me that it was them that had taken the money to see why it had been taken out. Honestly if he had turned round and been polite about it and send that they had made a mistake and had no way of contacting me I probably would have said no worries and left it at that.

He starting spouting loads of abuse at me and then asked for my contact number to ring me back, which I gave. In between waiting for his call that's when I rang consumer direct and got advice.

It was the Postillion Restaurant in Windermere, and it was my first wedding anniversary meal aswell. What a way to make it a one to remember!!!!

pimento

They get very mixed reviews...

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g190820-d1220559-r27450051-Postilion_Restaurant-Bowness_on_Windermere_Lake_District_Cumbria_England.html#REVIEWS