Debit Card Payment Help

aeuerby

Not sure if this is in the right place so please move as you see necessary.

Anyway, on 29th January my husband ordered some indicators from https://www.fastbikebits.com/acatalog/lights_indicators.html

He paid by our Abbey Business debit card. The indicators haven't turned up and the company are not responding to emails and do not answer the phone/reply to messages left on the phone. One day when my husband called he couldn't leave a message as the answerphone was full.

We are now thinking that the company have gone kaput.

So my question is how do we go about getting money back from this company? I know (now) that debit cards do not offer the same protection as credit cards.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Angela.

Galstonian

You might try contacting your bank and adking them to reverse the transaction but I doubt that will work. Debit cards don't offer the same kind of protection as credit cards and I'm not even certain that business credit cards offer the same protections as personal ones. Not much help I know, sorry.

The contact details for the website (from "whois") are as follows:

Registrant:
Fast Bike Bits Limited
Apple Brook
Duke Street
Ruabon, Ruabon LL14 6DE
UK

Domain name: FASTBIKEBITS.COM

Administrative Contact:
Admin, Domain admin@dmpriest.com
Unit 12D
Adlington Park
Adlington, Cheshire SK104PZ
GB
+44.8702407571 Fax: +44.8702407572

Technical Contact:
Admin, Domain admin@dmpriest.com
Unit 12D
Adlington Park
Adlington, Cheshire SK104PZ
GB
+44.8702407571 Fax: +44.8702407572

They are a registered company (I checked at companieshouse.com).

You could also try your local trading standards and the one in Wrexham.

aeuerby

Galstonian

Thanks for the help. We've already been in touch with the bank and as you suggested there isn't much they can do as we "authorised" the payment.

I do think trading standards will be our next step.

Thanks again
Angela.

davidcampbell

ouch, very difficult.

your bank can possibly do a little more than they have suggested. (although im speaking from the point of view of personal banking so it may be different but i dont see why)

possibly abbey didnt explain it very well. they can get involved and TRY (no guarantees) to help you out by registering the transaction as goods/service not received. they would then attempt to contact the company - although if you have been unsuccessful this would be difficult of course.

if they do get contact they can arrange a refund for you. strictly what they would do i they refund you themselves and then get repaid by the company - they wont do this though until they know they will get their money back(obviously)

one sticking point though is that regardless of what the company have said in terms of delivery timescales, VISa regulations state abbey have to wait at least 30 days before they can get involved (incase the company are just slow).
by my reckoning that means you have roughly 3 weeks to wait before abbey can help.

as i say it may be different for business debit cards but i dont see why. again there is no guarantee this will work if the company are not responding to contact but worth a shot.

DC

aeuerby

The good news is that the indicators have arrived today - just as my husband was ordering some from another company (by credit card not debit!) So now we have 2 sets.

Anyway, lesson has been learnt and we will no longer us the debit card if we can avoid it.

Thanks for all your help
Angela.