Compensation for charging my debit card twice?

buttyiow

Hi all, I am in dispute with Wightlink, On the 17-6-10, I bought a book of ferry tickets from their Isle of Wight branch, using my debit card, There was a problem with the card machine after I had entered my details & the transaction was cancelled. I had to try another card terminal & start again, this time successful. The next week I looked at my bank account & found that I was infact charged £93.20 twice. This took me close to my overdraft limit & as a direct debit was due to be taken the same day, it took me over my limit. The bank honoured the direct debit as it would have charged me for not being able to pay. Which turns out to be less than what my bank is now charging me for being overdrawn, as they charge per day rather than a one off fee. But i'll save that for a future post (rant).

I contacted Wightlink by phone & told them I wanted a refund & compensating for the bank charges that had incurred as a result of their mistake. The lady told me I would have to contact their other office in lymington & speak with a certain member of staff that dealt with these problems. He told me I had to do it in writing & also provide proof that I was overcharged by giving them a copy of my bank statement showing the error. I did this on the 28-6-10 by handing it to him in person. he told me he would investigate it, & then forward it to his manager for approval. I rang the same member of staff a week later as he had not made contact with me. He said that i had been refunded & that he had forwarded the claim for compensation to their head office in Portsmouth, & that i was sent a letter explaining this. (I have still not received the letter) I made contact with my bank to see if I had been refunded, & was told it could take upto 10 days to show in my account. I waited the full 10 days still no payment. Contacted Wightlink again This time they found that they had sent it to someone else who was due a refund. But would refund me that day, again this could take 10 days.
I have sent 4 emails to the manager at Portsmouth who is dealing with the compensation claim.
The 1st reply was that he had received the details I had supplied & had asked their cashiers to refund me the overpayment of £93.20 & apologise for any inconvenience caused by "this glitch in the system". However he was afraid that the company cannot be held responsible for any bank charges. He also says " I trust they would consider waiving the charges relating to the overpayment on production of this email & or the letter enclosing the refund."
Still not received the letter!

I replied to him on 14-7-10 that had Wightlink not taken the extra payment, i would have had enough in my bank to pay the direct debit that was going to be cancelled due to insufficient funds.
I also made a complaint at how long it was taking for me to be refunded, & that I would take it further with the relavent authority & was considering taking my custom to the other ferry operator here on the island.

This was ignored so I sent it again 17-7-10 adding that I still had not received a refund or letter.

This time I received a reply. 20-7-10 "I am sure your bank will rescind the charges on the overpayment without too much hassle. Wightlink could only begin to think about compensating you for bank charges on production of a letter from your bank refusing to refund the part of the charges relating to the overpayment to us If they will not refund the charges to your account please get back to me."

I have been to my bank again today 24-7-10 & was told that had it been their mistake they would have refunded me. This I expected to be their response, so asked them to provide me with a letter to give to Wightlink. I have not been in touch as of yet but plan to on monday when i travel to work, again using Wightlink as I do each week & have done for a few years now.
If it didn't mean travelling extra miles I would definately take my custom elsewhere, but as I live on the island they have got me by the short & curly's.
If anyone is still reading this & can help, Am I in the right? Who do I contact to get help? Is there an ombudsman for this type of thing?
Any help will be appreciated.

Freddie_Snowbits

You should ge a cancelation slip if the first transaction was cancelled. Did you get this?

isplumm

buttyiow wrote: »

Hi all, I am in dispute with Wightlink, If anyone is still reading this & can help, Am I in the right? Who do I contact to get help? Is there an ombudsman for this type of thing?
Any help will be appreciated.

Have you rung your debit card company & told them that you want to put the payment in dispute - look @
http://whatconsumer.co.uk/visa-debit-chargeback/

I would expect WL to refund charges

Mark

buttyiow

Freddie_Snowbits wrote: »

You should ge a cancelation slip if the first transaction was cancelled. Did you get this?

No i didn't get one. The lady didn't seem to know what to do & eventually asked an assistant for help.

buttyiow

isplumm wrote: »

Have you rung your debit card company & told them that you want to put the payment in dispute
I would expect WL to refund charges

Mark

Hi, yes, i went to the bank today & they said they would only refund me if it was an error made by them. Thanks for the link, i'll have a look
Carl