Made a big purchase - haven't been charge 6 weeks on!

VH

I wonder if anyone can help me?

I purchased something around 6 weeks ago (worth £600). The shop I used had a bit of trouble getting my debit card to go through their machine, as it was a new card and I couldn't remember the pin. They rung their merchant helpline for authorisation. The helpline approved the transaction and everything appeared to have gone through fine.

This was over 6 weeks ago and the £600 has still not come off the card. Now I don't want to rock the boat and ring the store to see what's happened, as I would rather they didn't notice the mistake!!

If I ring my bank and report my debit card as damaged, so that they issue a new card, will it still be possible for the shop to debit the old card if they spot the mistake?

Galstonian

If I am reading it correctly you are looking for advice on how to avoid paying for something which you did in fact purchase, I shall not comment on moral grounds but legally I don't think you have a leg to stand on. The error may come to light, it may not. Changing your card should not have an effect on that at all but I guess it might draw attention to the error more quickly.

Robert_Sterling_3

VH wrote:

I wonder if anyone can help me?

Do you mean "Help you to help yourself"?

InsuranceLiability

If you report your card as damaged and are issued with another one, previous transactions can still be posted to the current one. When you say this transaction 'has not come off the card' do you mean on a recent statement or do you mean from what the card issuer customer services has told you?


I would give it about 3 years before you can assume you will not be charged for this specific transaction but remember, they know where you live

nh

I think it's only natural, when a £600 purchase has not been charged to your card, to hope that it never will be. But then to try to change your card to purposefully evade paying - tut tut! That's naughty.

Incidentally I came back from Prague last week and the hotel payment has not gone through yet. I must admit I thought 'Wow, hope they don't charge me' but then that is very unethical and I hope that I will contact the hotel to tell them if it still hasn't been debited next week.

They have six years to pursue the payment, after all.

I (hope I) would contact the store to tell them. Easier said than done though!

davidcampbell

even if you dont contact them, the chances of it not coming to light eventually are very slim.

changing your card wont matter a jot.



DC

VH

Thanks for the stern replies!!! I'm well aware of the moral issues involved in this!

Some of you are implying that I should do nothing and wait around for my card to be charged. Surely not contacting the store and pointing out the mistake is just as morally wrong as stopping the card. Surely it's still evading payment, knowing full well that the store haven't charged you and doing nothing about it!?!?!

What's actually happened is that it appears the store have made no attempt to charge my card at all. It's my debit card and the money is still sitting in the bank waiting to be taken. There was evidently some trouble with their swipe machine and there was a long wait due to connection problems. Then they had to phone the merchant helpline to get it sorted. It's possible the payment may not have gone through and they have not realised.

I spoke someone at my bank, obviously didn't explain the full details, but they they advised me that if new card is issued and the old one is stopped, it isn't possible to charge anything onto the old card - apparently the card numbers will be different. The company would have to contact me and chase me for the money (they have my phone number which I gave them for devliery). Which is absolutely fine but I certainly won't be telling them about it in the meantime!

If they're sloppy enough to overlook a £600 transaction then I wonder how many other errors like this happen on a regular basis?

oscarhugo

I suspect the debit will trickle through eventually -- I once had a CREDIT card [not a debit card] transaction in Greece come through after about 12 months... Why dontcha stick the 600 quid in a high interest savings a/c to earn a little bit of pocket money until The Reckoning.

Galstonian

If they are sloppy enough to overlook a £600 transaction they may be sloppy enough to overlook delivery of £600 worth of goods. Have you actually got the goods yet?

As for the difference between sins of omission and comission I think that might be a little off topic.

VH

I've well had the goods, I collected them myself. Strangely enough, the goods weren't in store when I turned up, they had forgotten to send them from the warehouse, so I arranged to pick them up from the warehouse round the corner a few days later. So maybe they are just a sloppy outfit and they've forgotten to charge me...

I suspect it will filter through to the card eventually. Probably just delayed with the messing around with the swipe card machine.

fatboyonadiet

It's not empire direct by any chance? Know someone (not me - honestly!) who got the same item twice due to their error and they never realised! They had similar problems too.