refused a refund under section 75 - Santander

Allan1859

I paid for something a year ago on my Santander (asda) credit card. They are refusing to refund the purchase as the company is still trading. According to information on this site and the consumer credit act they have equal liability, but they are denying this.

I have now referred my complaint to the financial ombudsmen, but I don't understand that what seems to be black and white, Santander are disputing!

PLEASE DO NOT GET ANY FINANCIAL PRODUCTS FROM SANTANDER!

And any advice would be great!

Thanks for reading my moan!

lisyloo

Have you tried to get the money back from the company themselves?
What did they say?

In the first instance you should try the company.
The full story isn't clear here.

dunstonh

I don't understand that what seems to be black and white, Santander are disputing!

can you make it black and white for us what you reason for claim is?

Obviously, ASDA are still trading so that eliminates a number of reasons you can claim under section 75. Not all of them but unless we know what your claim is we cant say

dazza.mk

I think the OP was referring the ASDA credit card issued by Santander rather than Asda itself.

As above can you confirm why you are claiming, as it would need to be due to a breach of your Sale of Goods Act rights (or similar) for the credit card company to entertain the claim, and although they normally point you in the direction of the seller first you can legally claim against them in the first instance (just generally it is easier to claim against the retailer).

They do have equal liability for any legal breaches, customer services may deny it, in which case it would take an official complaint or, at worst a FOS claim/small claim courts claim for them to back down, but, as you are talking about months (more than weeks) to potentially reach this resolution (if it goes all the way)it is 'easier' to deal with the retailer in the first instance.

Allan1859

thanks for the advice. I have tried contacting the retailer - a holiday scam company based in Gibraltar - but they are not responding to me and Santander are also using this as an excuse as they have also tried contacting the company and they are not responding to them either! My claim is for gross misrepresentation (yes I was foolish enough to buy into a holiday company!)

Allan1859

Just wondering - as the sandander card is a mastercard, can I go straight to Mastercard? I have tried to find out, but all I can find on the internet for Mastercard is their own cards, not those issued ny other companies and 'endorsed' by them?

onlypaddy

No you cant. They just make the cards and own the payment systems

dazza.mk

Allan1859 wrote: »

Just wondering - as the sandander card is a mastercard, can I go straight to Mastercard? I have tried to find out, but all I can find on the internet for Mastercard is their own cards, not those issued ny other companies and 'endorsed' by them?

Nope, Same as above, Mastercard have no liability to you.

Sounds like your next step is a formal complaint:

Complaints
By phone: 0845 602 1582*
By post: Santander Cards Complaints
PO Box 983
Bradford
BD1 9FE

then after 8 weeks or you get a final response from Santander saying, No we deny all liability fo onto the Financial Ombudsman Service. (8 weeks from starting the complaint, unless your previous contact was an official complaint the clock won't have started)

gdp1701

I too am having the run around from Santander. I first claimed back in November and they replied to say it is nothing to do with them as the supplier is still trading. I wrote back (to both of their complaints addresses) urging them to review their response as that was not a valid reason to deny the claim and they have just written back to say it is nothing to do with them. I am about to go down the small claims court route as doing that will force them to mount a defence.

The background to this is that goods that were supplied last July failed after six weeks and the supplier is refusing to honour warranty obligations even though he initially said he would do. Amount at stake is £1300.

I honestly believe Santander has a standing policy to push back on all S75 claims in the hope that people will just give up.

dazza.mk

GDP1701,

Note if you want to go the Small Claims route best to send a "Letter before Action" to Santander, just so that the court can see you've given them every opportunity to pay, and just ensure there are no Section 75 issues (ie £1300 goods rather than spent £1,300 on 1300 individual £1 items).

chattychappy

Very good advice from dazza.mk.

Seems like you've done the decent thing - tried to contact the company and given Santander a chance to do likewise. Now you have to keep it formal - written formal complaint and then escalate if necessary.