Car Deposit paid by Credit Card

dave200_2

Paid a deposit on a car a few days ago by credit card over the phone. The agreement was that i was going to see if i could finance and let the garage know later that day if I could proceed with the purchase. I agreed to pay 50 pounds refundable deposit.

I called the garage back 3 hours later to say I couldnt get finance on the car and I requested the refund. The sales manager said he couldnt do that as it was non-refundable and that it was 500 pounds not 50 and that it was charged to my card and there was nothing he could do. He said the original sales person claims he told me it was non refundable and that it was my word against his. He told me it was non refundable as I agreed to purchase the car. He said he would not refund but that he would allow me to use the 500 against any other car in stock. When I said I just wanted the refund he said he didnt have time for this and hung up on me.

I called my credit card company and they are telling me they cannot help. What can I do? I cannot afford to loose this money and I feel very cheated and am getting depressed! The garage are not taking my calls. I never agreed to any purchase and I never signed anything, how can this happen? So much for credit card protection - again I agreed to a refundable deposit of 50 pounds, not a non refundable deposit of 500 pounds.

harveybobbles

dave200 wrote: »

I never agreed to any purchase and I never signed anything, how can this happen?

By leaving a deposit that is your way of agreeing to buy the car, really.

We never take deposits from anyone unless they are 100 certain they are having the car. Also you should have sorted out your finance beforehand if you knew there could have been a problem (which sounds like there was with the way you worded it above).

Give your CC co another call.

LandyAndy

How did they take the payment off the card and how did you authorise it?

Was it a chip & PIN transaction? If so you must have sen that you were authorising a £500 payment.

Did they not give you a receipt showing the £500?

mrscb

The deposit was paid over the phone.
Unfortunately it looks as if it will be your word against theirs.
Deposits are usually to hold the goods until you pay the balance which due to the fact you cant get finance you are unable do.
The dealer could have lost a sale by holding the car for you.

Hintza

Get yourself down there and make a nuisance of yourself if you are sure you didn't authorise £500.

How much was the car?

dave200_2

Firstly Im in scotland, tha car is in london. car price is 10,000 pounds.
so not so easy to just pop in and talk to him face to face.


the issue is that he said it was refundable and that it was only 50 pounds, but he charged 500 pounds to my card without my authorisation!

i made it very clear on the phone that i had to check finance first he said no problem, deposit is refundable.

kai666

i was told something similar last time i bought a car when i said i would think about it over a cup of coffee. they Suggested putting a deposit down in case it sold in the mean time, and they would refund it back if i decided not to buy.

I didn't believe them. Thinking they would make it difficult at best to get the money back, and went elsewhere in the end. Reading you're story confirms my suspicions

LandyAndy

dave200 wrote: »

Firstly Im in scotland, tha car is in london. car price is 10,000 pounds.
so not so easy to just pop in and talk to him face to face.


the issue is that he said it was refundable and that it was only 50 pounds, but he charged 500 pounds to my card without my authorisation!

i made it very clear on the phone that i had to check finance first he said no problem, deposit is refundable.

Firstly apologies for not reading the OP well enough to spot you'd paid over the phone.

That leaves two questions.

What sort of car is so rare that the only one for sale is 300+miles away. There have been a number of posts on here from people who have bought cars 'at a distance' and then had problems (albeit usually after the purchase).

Why did you not check the finance before you did anything else? It clearly was a simple task for you to do so as you did it in a couple of hours.

iolanthe07

I think you may have to face the fact that if you do not buy a car from them you will lose your £500.

LandyAndy

I see the OP is not getting any different answers in the other thread they started on this subject.

LandyAndy

The more I see threads like this the more I wonder if the OP knows they have done something stupid and they are now recruiting MSE members to come up with some magic 'get out of jail free' loophole.

You do get a bit cynical when you've been here a while.