Must cardholder be present to receive a refund?

kokoro

Hello,

I'd be grateful if somebody could answer this question or, if it's been asked before, point me in the direction of the relevant thread (I've tried searching).

I recently used my Visa debit card to purchase a top from Cos, which has a returns policy that says any item can be returned within 28 days, unworn and with a receipt for a full refund or exchange. For various reasons I was unable to return it myself and, on day 27, sent my partner to return it, armed with the receipt along with my debit card and pin number. However, they refused him a refund on the grounds that the cardholder must be present to sign for it, and now I'm stuck with a credit note instead.

I phoned the shop up to query this, and the manager basically rambled on about fraud, card cloning and legal requirements without being able to tell me which actual law she was referring to. I'm not really clear how insisting on a pin number and a signature for a refund helps to prevent fraud when just a pin number is sufficient for a purchase.

Can anyone advise me whether the shop is correct in insisting that I be present to receive a refund onto my card, or whether they have to stick to their published policy and refund the item given that it was returned within the 28 days? Is it worth me pursuing to try and get my money back?

Thanks in advance.

KeithP

The shop does not have to give a refund at all if you change your mind.
Ok, this shop has decided it will in some circunstances. It is free to make whatever conditions it likes... e.g. within 28 days, Saturday mornings only, then only if its raining, etc, etc. So one of their conditions could be 'the card holder must be present or you will get a credit note'.

I would be grateful you got anything. There is certainly no law which says they have to do more that they have already done.

DansMum_2

Hi

At my business the customer needs to present for the refund as it only works with a signature.

I would assume that as you have returned the goods and getr sometging from the shop then a retrospective refund would be possible??

Good luck

wornoutmumoftwo

I took something back to argos once that had been paid for on oh argos card and he wasn't with me, they simply refunded it onto his card (which I had with me though).

neilmcl

I don't understand the OPs problem! They used their Visa debit card to pay for something and therefore any refund, which was entirely down to goodwill as a previous poster mentions, would be expected to be paid back via the same card, yet you seem to have an issue with the store not allowing anyone other than the cardholder to use the card.

Is this for real. It think if you check your terms and conditions of the issuing bank for your card you may find that they also take a dim view of anyone other than the cardholder using the card. Its normally referred to as Fraud!

kokoro

KeithP wrote: »

The shop does not have to give a refund at all if you change your mind.
Ok, this shop has decided it will in some circunstances. It is free to make whatever conditions it likes... e.g. within 28 days, Saturday mornings only, then only if its raining, etc, etc. So one of their conditions could be 'the card holder must be present or you will get a credit note'.

I would be grateful you got anything. There is certainly no law which says they have to do more that they have already done.

Yeah I'm aware of that, but they are contractually bound to abide by their published return policy, which simply says they'll give me a refund if I return it within 28 days, unworn and with a receipt. They can't just start randomly imposing extra conditions that weren't part of that policy at the point of purchase.

I'm just curious to know whether there's any legal framework around refunds onto debit/credit cards that would apply in addition to the store policy.

sarahg1969

neilmcl wrote: »

any refund, which was entirely down to goodwill ...

It was not - it was a term of the contract between the parties.

However, it seems perfectly reasonable that the cardholder would have to be present to sign, if that's the way their system works.

KeithP

kokoro wrote: »

Yeah I'm aware of that, but they are contractually bound to abide by their published return policy, which simply says they'll give me a refund if I return it within 28 days, unworn and with a receipt. They can't just start randomly imposing extra conditions that weren't part of that policy at the point of purchase.

I'm just curious to know whether there's any legal framework around refunds onto debit/credit cards that would apply in addition to the store policy.

Well, amongst all the things that you are aware of, one of them must be that no contract exists between the shop and your partner. They are only 'contractually bound' with you.

Surely anything that happened at the time of receiving the credit note was outside the previous contract with you. Perhaps your partner was acting as your agent... did he have written authority to do that? Did the shop agree to that?

So, someone who the shop had no previous dealings with, comes to the shop with an item they didn't buy and asks for a refund under an arrangement agreed with someone else. He the offers someone else's debit card....

bitemebankers

kokoro wrote: »

Yeah I'm aware of that, but they are contractually bound to abide by their published return policy, which simply says they'll give me a refund if I return it within 28 days, unworn and with a receipt. They can't just start randomly imposing extra conditions that weren't part of that policy at the point of purchase.

I'm just curious to know whether there's any legal framework around refunds onto debit/credit cards that would apply in addition to the store policy.

For what it's worth, if you originally paid by card then the refund can only normally be made to the card originally used, and most (all?) PDQ terminals require the cardholder to punch in their PIN during the refund process, so you would certainly have to be there.

sillyvixen

bitemebankers wrote: »

For what it's worth, if you originally paid by card then the refund can only normally be made to the card originally used, and most (all?) PDQ terminals require the cardholder to punch in their PIN during the refund process, so you would certainly have to be there.

most in store PDQ machines require a signature for refunds to counteract fraud - hence the person must be present!

4743hudsonj

Its classed as fraud to purchase anything with somebody elses card, even if its a shared account and have their permission.... Therefore it is also construed as fraud to receive a refund. Also, whoever signs the slip, should have a matching signature to the card and if not, the refund cannot proceed. The providers are very strict for some reason so there are plenty of terms that the shops are bound by to use the systems.

In short, you must be there! be thankful you got anything.