Money taken from my account without my permission

alwayspoor

Hi guys,

sorry if I'm reiterating a previous thread but I've had a good dig around and couldn't see anything relating to debit cards being charged...

I made an online booking with an airline last November to fly in December. Before I flew I rang the call centre to change the flight twice, and was told both times there was no charge (I had moved from a very popular sold out flight to a less in-demand date, that had originally been cheaper than the flight I booked). On arrival at the airport in Bangkok I was asked to verify I was the cardholder by filling in my card details on a form. The staff member was not very helpful as to why this was needed, but I could see several other people doing the same, so filled part of the card details but asterixed several digits so the information could not be wrongly used should it fall into the wrong hands. I have just returned to the UK after several months abroad and, going through bank statements, can see the airline charged an additional £91 to my debit card the day I flew...I have contacted them to investigate, but have a feeling from their previous service I'll be a while waiting for a response and wanted to get the advice of anybody who knows- can a company take money from a debit card without your permission, and without informing you at any time, either before or after they take the money? What is my bank obliged to do, if anything, in this circumstance?

Moral of the story is I am a fool and should have used a credit card with more protection to book the flight....any help most gratefully received.

Thanks,

A Fool

Mark_In_Hampshire

Since you filled in an incomplete number this would point to the debit being made against the details as per the original booking. The changes to your booking would tend to point towards this being an extra charge for the changes except, of course, that you were quoted a price of zero to change.

Debiting money from a card without the agreement of the cardholder whether explicitly (please debit X) or implicitly (terms and conditions make provision in certain circumstances) is simply theft.

If you instruct the bank to do so, they can process a charge-back: you'll have to fill something in to indemnify them ("I did not authorise this") and they credit your account, taking the funds back from the payee.

If you do indeed owe the money then the payee will doubtless chase after you for it... so in the event the payee does not respond within a reasonable time, say 72 hours, then follow it up with a second email stating you will instruct the bank to charge it back if you do not receive a satisfactory response within another 48 hours, for instance. That might hurry them along.

If they agree to refund, don't accept a cheque. In that event, you might prefer to have the charge-back done which will cost the payee some money and a couple of points off their "credit rating" (as it were) with their payment provider.

alwayspoor

Thanks Mark, that's really helpful...to be honest even if they come back and say they were additional charges for altering the flight I'm still going to fight as both times I spoke to the same operator and both times she mentioned nothing about any additional fee! There's a reason the airline is not one of the world's best known...

Thanks for your help, will update when I hear back from them.