Update: Any help please? credit card/win thing

blackmidnight

This may be better on the credit card board but I don't feel comfortable there so hoping there are some helpful people here? Won a holiday that I took in April. Hotel & Flights were all booked for by the PR Company. Hotel was booked through Hotel Connect via PR Company. Holiday was great etc..

Today.... over £1000 taken from credit card from the Hotel we stayed at. Phoned them to ask why (international calls on Pacific coast so cost & time difference is a big issue). Spoke to them twice, kept saying they would call back and neve did. We keep phoning. Eventually... oh the taxes weren't paid for on the room from Hotel Connect so we've charged you, we couldn't get in touch with Hotel Connect - i look on website, they've ceased trading. Keep trying to get info from hotel they are very unhelpful. Oh we couldn't get the debt from them so we took it from you. We owed the hotel nothing! We checked with them, our account was clear. We didn't book it - the PR company did. Surely they should have persued debt recovery from Hotel Connect or the people that booked the hotel and not us? The only reason they had our card on file was becaused I paid for internet on one day - $14.95 not $1700!!!! I have contacted the PR company tonight but are they going to be able to help? The letter from them clearly states room & taxes have been paid for. Is this an unauthorised credit card transaction? Should they really still have the credit card details on file after 4 months? I can't claim back from my credit card company as I never paid for the hotel originally? I really can't afford this, it's more than I earn a month! Contacted the bank to freeze the card so they can't take any more payments. I just don't know what to do I'm so stressed about this.

Really wish I hadn't won this now. I deal very badly with stress

Sosdon

Awful stuff , i am no help but i hope you get a decent outcome ..
Truly shocking stuff ..

blackmidnight

Sosdon wrote: »

Awful stuff , i am no help but i hope you get a decent outcome ..
Truly shocking stuff ..

thanks, i just have no idea where i stand or who i can get help from

jaibaby

Wouldn't have a clue, but will suggest you phone your CC company and ask them. Tell them it was a win, if you have any "proof" (confirmation, letters, anything) say you will forward it to help prove you didn't have to pay.

Hope you get it sorted soon x

Milsey-Girl

That is outrageous that 4 months later they take money from YOUR credit card because they are unable to claim from Hotel Connect:mad::mad: If the PR Company are unable to help (and I can't see why they shouldn't) have you thought about the actual company you won the prize from in the first place? Really feel for you and hope you manage to sort this out, best of luck

blackmidnight

Milsey-Girl wrote: »

That is outrageous that 4 months later they take money from YOUR credit card because they are unable to claim from Hotel Connect:mad::mad: If the PR Company are unable to help (and I can't see why they shouldn't) have you thought about the actual company you won the prize from in the first place? Really feel for you and hope you manage to sort this out, best of luck

Well i only discovered this tonight. I've emailed, the PR people but obviously they won't be back at work until the morning. Phoning the hotel again now they just keep being so unhelpful. Will name & shame if nothing gets sorted. I can try and contact the company who offered the prize in the first place i guess. But they probably won't know what i'm on about as it was orignally meant to be Tokyo, then earthquake happened so I had to change it all but that was done with PR company. I jsut can't believe that they have the right to charge me! I would get it if i had gone then and they told me at the time that Hotel Connect hadn't paid but they didn't! They said it was all sorted, I checked as I was still paranoid that something would go wrong as it was all too good to be true! Surely that is why these big hotel chains ( i think it's probably one of the biggest in world! according the wiki the biggest by number of rooms!) have lawyers and deal with debt recovery and insolvency all the time!!

bishopsgirl

Have you spoken to the credit card company yet?

I feel the hotel will not try to help you because all they want is the rent for the room.

I know you are wary of using others boards but the folks on the credit card board have more expertise with cards than here and may be able to give you much better advice-may even be able to put your mind at rest.

Hope you get this sorted quickly.

blackmidnight

bishopsgirl wrote: »

Have you spoken to the credit card company yet?

I feel the hotel will not try to help you because all they want is the rent for the room.

I know you are wary of using others boards but the folks on the credit card board have more expertise with cards than here and may be able to give you much better advice-may even be able to put your mind at rest.

Hope you get this sorted quickly.

You're probably right

surgeoner

I would contact the credit card company again - surely this is an unauthorised transaction? You used your card to pay for internet access and nothing else. How terrible for you, but hopefully you will get it sorted out. Just makes you wonder how long exactly these companies keep your card details on record! Would also have thought there must be a time limit on how long after the event they can take money from your card. Hopefully someone on here will know and advise you x

blackmidnight

surgeoner wrote: »

I would contact the credit card company again - surely this is an unauthorised transaction? You used your card to pay for internet access and nothing else. How terrible for you, but hopefully you will get it sorted out. Just makes you wonder how long exactly these companies keep your card details on record! Would also have thought there must be a time limit on how long after the event they can take money from your card. Hopefully someone on here will know and advise you x

Despite what the credit card company website says, they are not open 24 hours... the only thing that they can do 24 hours is put a stop on a credit card. They can only help between 9am-5pm :mad:

glacier

Oh that sucks. I would of thought this was an unauthorised transaction too. No expert, but I would ask CC company about disputing it and doing a chargeback.