O/T Does anyone have any experience in Limo hire cancellation? Section 75

hollydays

http://www.nlca.co.uk/

here is a link to the official trade organization,though I doubt this will be any use,as it appears you are in the wrong not them.
Cats?I think you are losing the plot.Perhaps you should seek legal advice who will tell you the same you have already been told here.

bazster

Seems to me that, in one sense, the cancellation is neither here nor there. Did you authorise this company to charge £210 to your credit card? You did not. Was there a contractual clause entitling them to charge your credit card in the event of your non-performance? Well, you've already said there was no paperwork and no T & C's, so no, there was no such clause. You may have owed the money (more of which in a moment), but that doesn't entitle them to simply take it by whatever means they fancy.

Look at it this way: if you'd paid the £50 deposit by cash, cheque or PayPal, the company wouldn't have had your credit card details. Suppose they then came and knocked on your door to demand the remaining £210, and you were out. But, lying in the street outside your house is your credit card, which you've dropped accidentally. So, they now have your credit card details. Does that entitle them to charge £210 to your card? No, of course it doesn't, that would be fraud.

Do you see my point? The fact that they have obtained your credit card details, by whatever means, does not entitle them to charge to the card willy-nilly. You simply paid them a £50 deposit, you didn't authorise them to make any other charges. So never mind section 75, it seems to me that you should be reporting the charge to the credit card company as fraudulent, and demanding a refund. Even if the hire company produces T & C's showing that it is their policy to charge no-shows to the customer's credit card, they would still need to prove that you were aware of those T & C's and had agreed to them, which you weren't and you didn't.

As to whether you actually owed the money:

(i) The posters above are correct, sending an email is no proof that it arrived. It really might not have done.
(ii) However, the E-commerce regulations require the merchant to show its geographic address on its website. By not doing so they have broken the law, hence I would guess that by providing an email address as the only means of cancelling they have not got a leg to stand on.

So I reckon you've got good cause to pursue both the credit card company and the hire company. So go for it, and don't take no for an answer.