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Charged 6 months on - is this right?!

Dear All,

I have a bit of an odd query - it would be great to get your thoughts on this.


I occassionally use Barclays PayWave to make payments. Last month's bank statement, however, showed that I had none Paywave transactions go through my Visa Debit card on the same day from the same retailer. The retailer is somewhere that I sometimes buy lunch and so I assumed this was a faulty machine on their part and contacted them about it.

The retailer came back and said that, actually, the nine transactions represented every transaction I'd made at that retailer so far this year (the first dating from Jan 30th). Apparently a faulty PayWave machine meant the transactions were delayed and so all went through at the same time some six months later.

They've refused to remove this particular machine in order to stop this happening to anyone else but have offered vouchers in comensation.

Something about this doesn't sound right to me - has the retailer broken any consumer rules or Visa's merchant agreement? I've run several Google searches and have spoken to my bank, but no-one seems to know the answer.

I know MSE forum users vare pretty hot onconsumer rights and so it would be great to hear your thoughts.

Many thanks,

Stanway276

Comments

  • Toe-Jam
    Toe-Jam Posts: 1,554 Forumite
    Hi Stanway279

    The short answer is No, they have not broken the agreement if the transactions were posted to your bank/credit card account within 6 months down to the last second. That is how long the merchant has to present the voucher to your bank for collection of funds.

    The paywave system is fully offline, meaning that the transactions are not sent for authorisation straight away to see if you have the money in your account. Unlike most debit/credit card transactions. So it is perfectly reasonable for the retailer to save these up for say a week, and then send them all for collection at once.

    I agree 6 months is a long time, and it is rare for it to take that long. But unfortunately it is allowed and they will tell you its your responsibility to check your statements for mistakes etc.
  • isplumm
    isplumm Posts: 2,219 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Stanway276 wrote: »


    They've refused to remove this particular machine in order to stop this happening to anyone else but have offered vouchers in comensation.


    Many thanks,

    Stanway276

    My thoughts are - take the vouchers ...

    Mark
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