Refund from Euro Star

dana1973

Hi,

I am looking to claim back £500, which Euro Star took from my bank account but which should have been paid back, but never was.

The Background
In August of 2007, my Mother booked a 2 day trip to Paris for her and my Father with Euro star.

In her initial conversation with Euro star, she used my debit card for payment but a few hours later changed her itinerary and used her own debit card for payment, she was told that no money would be taken from my bank account.

It was not until several months later that I noticed the money had also been taken from my account. I emailed Euro several times but they insisted that without a booking reference they would not look further


Euro star Response
“Sorry to insist but we cannot do anything for you without the booking reference. If you don't have it, then I will respectfully advise you to contest this charge with your bank.
We do not keep records of our passengers, except the one that have registered to our mail list.”

I did contact my bank but they said as it was after three months and the Transaction was not fraudulent so they could not do anything.


Next Steps
It has now been over three years and hopefully it is not too late to get the money back.

Any help or advice on how to get the money back from Euro Star would be welcomed, routes to go down or look into.

Thanks in Advance
Dan

roonaldo

Did they actually take money from your parents too? If not, then they had a holiday courtesey of you.

If they did, you would probably need your parents to complain due to the data protection act.

ERICS_MUM

Sorry, I've just read this back before submitting and it's a bit long-winded, hope it makes sense and allows you to take matters up again.

Which bank are you with? What they have told you doesn't seem right to me, as they are obliged to keep info on accounts for 7 years (or is it 6/8 ?) for tax purposes. They will also have access to electronic records of payments claimed and received and will be able to say with certainty which bank got the money. They could also contact that bank and establish an investigation, which would then be tracked back to the account that got the money (theoretically Eurostar). Now they might charge for this but if it turns out that someone along the line made a boo-boo then they should pay or waive the charge.

If your mum's account was also debited then she can do the same thing in reverse and both queries should arrive at the same point, proving duplication and triggering a refund. Sounds complicated but this is bread-and-butter to banks and should not have taken 3 years and no resolution.

Good luck.

Linda

P.S. As a retired banker this sort of thing drives me nuts, I would never have allowed my staff to get away with such shoddy work. I used to really watch queries and investigations like a hawk and analyse the reasons so we could improve our processes. Standards have fallen since I left !

dana1973

Hi,

Thanks for the responses.

The money was taken from both mine and my Mums bank accounts.

I bank with Barclays and the response I received from Barclays is below. I contacted Barclays 10 months after the event.


"
Unfortunately after initial reviews of your case, we are unable to persue this matter on your behalf.


Visa have strict time limits which means that transactions which date back as far as your disputed debit, are too old for us to investigate.

Our best advise for recovering your funds, would be to contact the merchant direct, or seek assistnace from your local citizens advise bureau.
"


I would like to persue the issue with Euro Star direct. Apart from small claims courts what other action can I take?

All advice welcomed.

Regards,
Dan

roonaldo

dana1973 wrote: »

Hi,

Thanks for the responses.

The money was taken from both mine and my Mums bank accounts.

I bank with Barclays and the response I received from Barclays is below. I contacted Barclays 10 months after the event.


"
Unfortunately after initial reviews of your case, we are unable to persue this matter on your behalf.


Visa have strict time limits which means that transactions which date back as far as your disputed debit, are too old for us to investigate.

Our best advise for recovering your funds, would be to contact the merchant direct, or seek assistnace from your local citizens advise bureau.
"


I would like to persue the issue with Euro Star direct. Apart from small claims courts what other action can I take?

All advice welcomed.

Regards,
Dan

It is not your banks fault, from their point of view they are not a fault as it was a genuine transaction and not fraudulent.

It is Eurostar's fault, they took the payment. You need to persue the complaint with them as they took the payment twice, but you will need your parents to do it as it was their booking.

Eurostar would not be allowed to disclose details of your mothers booking directly with you due to the Data Protection Act. You really need to find out the booking reference number. Your parents should have it so it can be persued.

From a personal moral point of view, I would be really mad at them as you've clearly been shafted trying to help them out.

dana1973

The issue I have is the lack of a booking number. All documents relating to the trip were not kept.

EuroStar have said they will not act without a booking reference, so with out a booking reference, how do I get EuroStar to look into the issue?

What are my options:
1. Small Claims Court?
2. Debt recovery Company?
3. Other?

ERICS_MUM

dana1973 wrote: »

The issue I have is the lack of a booking number. All documents relating to the trip were not kept.

EuroStar have said they will not act without a booking reference, so with out a booking reference, how do I get EuroStar to look into the issue?

What are my options:
1. Small Claims Court?
2. Debt recovery Company?
3. Other?

I think I mentioned earlier that your parents must look at the debit on their account statement. It will defintely have a reference number of some sort:
1. It might be the actual Eurostar booking reference, in which case you're half way there
2. Even if it's not, it will allow your parent's bank to trace the debit back to the bank that claimed the money and they can trace it back etc until they can find a ref that Eurostar recognise.

Other than that I don't think you'll get very far. It's up to you (well your parents) to prove that the item has been duplicated.

dana1973

Thanks to all those that have posted and read this thread.

The bottom line is that I am unable to obtain the booking reference for the Euro Star transactions.

I now have bank statements showing money being taken from both my Mums and my banks accounts by Euro Star on the same day.

Today I will email ES with the bank statements and will try and get them to look into this issue. The money should be repaid and I will now push to get my money back.