Credit Card fee kept by vendor

mikeykw

We recently made a purchase on line and the vendor had a problem getting the funds authorised and wanted additional payment to secure the flights unrtil the funds had been authorised by the bank. We refused to pay any additional money as as far as the credit card account was concerned the money had left our account. They eventually said they would refund us and we could then start the transaction again, we agreed to this but they only refunded us the full amount less the credit card fee. The complete transaction was over 2k and the card fee was around £40.

When we questioned them they said they would not refund the cc fee with no reason given. As its under £100 what can I do to get the credit card fee refunded - as we now have no intention of doing business with this company.

Thanks

dzug1

Doesn't matter that the transaction was under £100. For section 75 it's the value of the complete transaction that counts.

mikeykw

Thanks Dzug1 for your help the future looks a little brighter!!

So am best going back to the vendor and quoting section 75 of the consumer credit act - which I am sure I am going to get nowhere with or going direct to the CC company?

Sorry but I am new to this sort of problem.

Regards

Fiddlestick

The fee is a percentage of the total transaction and would have been paid to the acquiring bank, i.e. Streamline, Cardnet etc etc as a fee for using their processing services.

The merchant does not have the fee - the acquiring bank does.

Why do you feel you should be entitled to this money back when they DID process the transaction?

mikeykw

Are you saying I shouldnt get the fee back? So I have paid a fee for the priveledge of the vendor screwing up and nothing to show for it. And if i then started the transaction again i would have to pay the fee again. That surely cant be correct.

I have had full refunds before even in the case of credit card disputes and the total amount has always been refunded.

I work for a PLC sporting arena company and in our case with transactions the vendor pays the fees - we dont charge the customer an additional credit card fee.

In this perosnal case the vendor has added the fee on not the card processor.

Also if the vendor had voided the transaction the same day (which they promised) the transaction would have been as if it had never happend. The fact that they waited a day (past midnight) meant that it was a refund and they would have to pay the cost to the bank/processor. We were told that by the company that manages all their payment transactions

lisyloo

You will need to pursue the vendor first.
I would suggest a letter by recorded delivery.

Talk to your credit card company by all means, but usually they are reluctant to get involved until you have tried to pursue the vendor.

In my opinion you are entitled to the money back as the service has not been delilvered.

Degenerate

Fiddlestick wrote: »

The fee is a percentage of the total transaction and would have been paid to the acquiring bank, i.e. Streamline, Cardnet etc etc as a fee for using their processing services.

The merchant does not have the fee - the acquiring bank does.

Why do you feel you should be entitled to this money back when they DID process the transaction?

The merchant is responsible for payment of their own banking fees. They may pass them on to the customer by agreement for a successful transaction. In the case of an unsuccessful transaction that is not the fault of the customer, it is between the merchant and the bank to decide what they owe or don't owe each other. The customer's business was with the merchant, not the bank, any payment was conditional on the merchant fulfilling their end of the deal. It is certainly not the responsibility of the customer to foot the bill for the merchant's banking failures.

mikeykw

Thank you for all the valuable help and advice given. it is very much appreciated


Regards

Premier_2

mikeykw wrote: »

We recently made a purchase on line and the vendor had a problem getting the funds authorised and wanted additional payment to secure the flights unrtil the funds had been authorised by the bank. We refused to pay any additional money as as far as the credit card account was concerned the money had left our account. They eventually said they would refund us and we could then start the transaction again, we agreed to this but they only refunded us the full amount less the credit card fee. The complete transaction was over 2k and the card fee was around £40.

When we questioned them they said they would not refund the cc fee with no reason given. As its under £100 what can I do to get the credit card fee refunded - as we now have no intention of doing business with this company.

Thanks

Why did the vendor want more/a different source of funds?

If the original transaction had succeeded (as you say it did because the funds left your account), then I don't understand why the vendor wanted more money? :huh:
Or did you only pay a deposit using the credit card? (But £2k seems like the full price)

If the original transaction had not succeeded, then there would have been no fee involved, as I understand it.

There appears more to this than meets the eye. It appears that the offer of a refund was simply an offer by the vendor, for whatever reason, which you accepted. The terms of that offer are on whatever basis the vendor made it (although I would have expected them to say the amount to be refunded if not the full amount originally deducted). If that is the case, section 75 is irrelevent.

mikeykw

The vendor said the money was in their account but had not been authorised so they wanted us to pay another £300 to secure the tickets. We said no we werent prepared to do that because as far as we were concerned they had the money.

Their accounts department agreed to refund and start the transaction all over again.

We expected the refund to be procesed before midnight in which case no one loses anything as it is considered as a void and as if the transaction didnt happen at all.

They then spent the next 3 hours calling us trying to get more money out of us - we said no as we had already been promised a refund and we would then start again.

The next day the agent told us that he had secured 1 of the 4 flights and the rest were being dealt with. We felt this was very suspicious as normally when you buy flights you get them all in one go.

We told him that we wanted a full refund as we were promised the night before. He more or less pleaded with us , trying to offer us discounts. we said no and said that something was very desparate in the way they conducted their business. We said to them as a measure of good faith to us - refund the money and we will then discuss our travel arrangements once we had the money back. we also emailed stating to cancel the tickets and give a full refund

He then agreed to refund the money but only refunded less the credit card charge. we have since challenged him on this and he said - he's not paying it back. We then mentioned to him section 75. he said if we wanted to get legal he would charge the amount to the credit card again as he has our details and confirmation of order.

We wrote to the bank as soon as all this started telling that we were expecting a refund and any further charges from this company were not authorised.

Regards

mikeykw

Am I correct in thinking that in order for section 75 to be applicable in this case the transaction needs to be direct with the airline and not through a travel agent that then pays direct to the airline??

CONFUSED!!