Unauthorised payment taken - BuyMobilePhones

haldo

Hi, I'm new here and so I'm not sure if this is in the correct forum.

Basically, BuyMobilePhones.net took money from my credit card when I had not authorised them to do so. I cancelled an order with them, then they tried to process the order again and take payment for the phone again - after the order was cancelled. Full story below.

I ordered a phone through BuyMobilePhones.net website. They wanted some proofs of address and identity before processing the order. They asked for drivers licence/passport for proof of identity and bank statement/utility bill for proof of address.

I send drivers licence, credit card statement and car insurance doc for proof of address, however, they wouldn't accept them and told me it had to be bank statement or utility bill.

I don't have a utility bill as others I live deal with that so I sent a bank statement which I had blanked the account number, balance and all transactions and money in/out since I thought it's not really any of their business if its only for proof of address.

I received an email asking to call customer services (this was after they'd seen my bank statement). I was informed that they couldn' accept my bank statement as they needed to see my balance in my bank account. Then I was told that they couldn't accept a document which had been 'tipexed' out.

This process had already taken days to get this far so I decided that instead of submitting more documents I'd just cancel the order.

I received an email confirming the order had been cancelled immediately following my chat with customer services.

The next day they started sending emails saying that my documents had now been approved! I replied stating that the order had been cancelled the previous evening. They didn't take any notice of this and continued sending me emails that the order was getting processed, and another stating that it is out for delivery.

Then I get a call from my bank fraud department to confirm some transactions.

BuyMobilePhones.net had taken money for the phone from my account on Monday (when I placed the order). I'd cancelled that order on Wednesday evening. They then tried to take the same amount again on Thursday, without my approval.

I obviously called their customer services to cancel the order a second time. The girl didn't know why it'd been processed because it was clear that the order had been cancelled.

BuyMobilePhones.net tried to process an order and took money from my account with out my authorisation. The first transaction was authorised by me, but the second one was not.

Anyway, I would like some advice on the situation. Is there anything I can do or do I just accept that they're a dodgy company?

Are there any governing bodies or organisations that regulate online credit card transactions, and if so, can I complain about this company? Surely, once an order is cancelled its cancelled. BuyMobilePhones.net seem to disagree and they seem to do what they like and continue to process an order.

I think that its ironic that their fraud department were so concerned with proof of my identity and then they go and try to fraudulently draw money from my account.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

meer53

Call them and ask for a refund ?

haldo

I am (apparently) getting a refund for the first payment they took, and the second one got declined by my credit card fraud department when I asked them not to precess it.

I should have made that clear.

I'm annoyed that they tried to process the order and take money after I'd cancelled it.

Isn't it illegal to take an unauthorised payment? That's what I'd like advice on.

meer53

No it's not illegal. If you haven't lost out financially, why do you need advice ?

A lot of companies have departments who don't speak to each other, your order was probably being processed at the time you cancelled, it's just the delay in the cancellation being actioned.

[Deleted User]

haldo wrote: »

Isn't it illegal to take an unauthorised payment?

Fortunately for all of us, most admin errors don't carry prison sentences.

As meer says, if you've got your money still, then you're fine.

haldo

Thanks guys.

I think 'illegal' was the wrong word to use. I guess meant forbidden by regulations or something...

Anyway, thanks for clearing this up for me.

chattychappy

haldo wrote: »

I think 'illegal' was the wrong word to use. I guess meant forbidden by regulations or something...

It would be fraud if there was a criminal intent. That is hard to prove and quite probably absent here anyway.

Probably against their merchant agreement - processing something for which they haven't got authorisation. But that is a contractual arrangement between the merchant and their provider. As the cardholder you are presented with a statement and have the option to dispute transactions you don't agree with. Bear in mind with CCs, its not your money until you've paid the bill.

Generally financial institutions are meant to have procedures in place to ensure things are done properly with proper complaints handling, fraud prevention etc. Here the bank refused the transaction anyway so in some way "the system worked". The phone company would have been unregulated - so no particular regulations broken.