Hotels4U.com left us stranded abroad

Jamie_Carter

dalesrider wrote: »

So does a AI holiday cover everything?

What would you have done if you lost your card?

How do you know they never contacted the bank.
When we get contacted by a retailer to double check a transaction (very rare) they tend to do these themselves.
General call center staff will not have access to our notes. Most would also have no idea if a retailer had contacted your bank or not as it would not be recorded.

Read posts 8, 12, and 17.

Jamie_Carter

arcon5 wrote: »

How much did you pay for the hotel through H4U and how much did you pay the hotel to stay on after it was cancelled?

To clarify again, they do not contact the bank to verify address. The merchant accoun performs an address verification check and returns the result as a match or non-match. The retailer goes on this. Although it would prudent for them to have t reject payments where address doesn't match.

There are various levels of security setting on the merchant services accounts. It is often best to not just reject if addresses don't match exactly, as there can be a number of reasons for this. The seller would also receive a possible fraud score. If the fraud score is high, then normal practice is to call the buyer. But in this case it appears that the OP typed their number wrong.

So a high fraud score combined with a incorrect phone number would ring alarm bells. And this would be why they cancelled the transaction.

unholyangel

OlliesDad wrote: »

There is a possibility of claiming for "Loss of Enjoyment", however as they rescinded the contract, I doubt you will get too far, particularly as you have had no expenses from it.

Hmm I disagree, partly anyway. I feel the reason OP wouldnt get far is because of no costs incurred. The fact that they rescinded the contract doesnt have a bearing on it for me as any term allowing them to cancel the contract would likely be unfair - given the consumer wouldnt have been able to rescind the contract at the same stage and for a contract to be fair, it has to be equally binding on both parties.

dalesrider

Jamie_Carter wrote: »

Read posts 8, 12, and 17.

And these prove what......

As someone who works in a banks fraud department. I know how often retailers contact a bank, to check transactions with the card holder. Given that the OP WAS NOT the card holder in this case. Contacting THEIR bank would make no difference.

I also know that this info is not shared with front line staff. So If the Op contacted the bank. Odd's on unless they spoke with the banks fraud team. They would have no idea of any contact.

I am well aware of companies fraud checks as well.

Company have done nothing wrong. In fact I wish more companies would do this. Would save them a lot of money as losses for fraud would drop no end.

comeandgo

I must admit when I read this post first I thought the OP was using her mums card and could not understand why everyone thought this was ok. I would be livid if a bank allowed my daughter to use my card.

anteena1

i was using my mums card as she was with me and i am a faster typer. the card number was correct, they claim i typed my phone number incorrectly ie 0205 instead of 0208. My mum would not have a high fraud score etc as we used the same card to pay for all the other costs the same way,
they could have cancelled the transaction on mon but they waited until the day i flew out
for those going on about credit cards - i do not have one, i am 45 years old and dont believe in them as i dont want to get caught in a credit trap my my mum is the same she has the one she used but only ever uses debit cards like me. I do not think we are strange etc we just dont want to fall into a money pit trap. I carried £500 cash not enough to pay a hotel for a weeks stay. as for medical costs they are covered by insurance .
I wont be using hotels 4 u again as they dont have the decency to respond to my complaint

dalesrider

anteena1 wrote: »

My mum would not have a high fraud score etc as we used the same card to pay for all the other costs the same way,
they could have cancelled the transaction on mon but they waited until the day i flew out

So you are now a expert on fraud scores.....

A lot of that will depend on the rest of the details used.
Such as, was it All booked in your mum's name? Or did you use your details as the main person and then her card details.
Did you book some parts under your mums name and hotel under yours?
That would flag a issue.
Remember H4U are only a 3rd party in this.
Many transactions to the same company will raise a fraud score.

Fraud to travel co's booked at short notice is rife.

meer53

anteena1 wrote: »

i was using my mums card as she was with me and i am a faster typer. the card number was correct, they claim i typed my phone number incorrectly ie 0205 instead of 0208. My mum would not have a high fraud score etc as we used the same card to pay for all the other costs the same way,
they could have cancelled the transaction on mon but they waited until the day i flew out
for those going on about credit cards - i do not have one, i am 45 years old and dont believe in them as i dont want to get caught in a credit trap my my mum is the same she has the one she used but only ever uses debit cards like me. I do not think we are strange etc we just dont want to fall into a money pit trap. I carried £500 cash not enough to pay a hotel for a weeks stay. as for medical costs they are covered by insurance .
I wont be using hotels 4 u again as they dont have the decency to respond to my complaint

If you have a credit card, you aren't forced to spend on it. Credit cards are not money pit traps, they are an essential when travelling abroad these days. It's a bit like travel insurance, you will probably not need it, but always wise to take it out. It's always wise to take more than one means of payment when travelling abroad, you might not need it but invaluable in any emergency. Medical costs are covered by travel insurance BUT you would have to pay them upfront first. How would you have paid if they'd been in excess of £500 ?

Carrying £500 cash is foolish, why not spend £500 on a credit card and just pay it off when you get back ?

Jamie_Carter

dalesrider wrote: »

And these prove what......

As someone who works in a banks fraud department. I know how often retailers contact a bank, to check transactions with the card holder. Given that the OP WAS NOT the card holder in this case. Contacting THEIR bank would make no difference.

I also know that this info is not shared with front line staff. So If the Op contacted the bank. Odd's on unless they spoke with the banks fraud team. They would have no idea of any contact.

I am well aware of companies fraud checks as well.

Company have done nothing wrong. In fact I wish more companies would do this. Would save them a lot of money as losses for fraud would drop no end.

I think you have misunderstood a number of posts.

As you say, the company wouldn't have phoned the bank direct, as this is not the correct process.

Jamie_Carter

anteena1 wrote: »

i was using my mums card as she was with me and i am a faster typer. the card number was correct, they claim i typed my phone number incorrectly ie 0205 instead of 0208.

If you typed the details on line, then you must have made a typo, entering a 5 instead of an 8. It is very common for people to do this without realising, especially as the 5 and 8 are next to each other on a numeric keypad.

What I would have done (but many companies don't, due to the extra admin time), would be first of all to look at the card holders address. If it was outer London, then 0205 would be wrong. If it was another number that was typed wrong, then I would have checked various databases to see if the card holder had a listed phone number.

anteena1 wrote: »

My mum would not have a high fraud score etc as we used the same card to pay for all the other costs the same way,
they could have cancelled the transaction on mon but they waited until the day i flew out

If your mother's card was being used for a number of transactions, that were outside her normal buying pattern. Combined with the wrong phone number. Then there would have been a high possible fraud score for the transaction. This also happens quite often when people move house, and all of a sudden start making a high number of transactions.

anteena1 wrote: »

for those going on about credit cards - i do not have one, i am 45 years old and dont believe in them as i dont want to get caught in a credit trap my my mum is the same she has the one she used but only ever uses debit cards like me. I do not think we are strange etc we just dont want to fall into a money pit trap. I carried £500 cash not enough to pay a hotel for a weeks stay. as for medical costs they are covered by insurance .

I don't use credit cards either. But I would have my debit card with me.

anteena1 wrote: »

I wont be using hotels 4 u again as they dont have the decency to respond to my complaint

They may not have handled your complaint as quickly as you would have liked. But they haven't actually done anything wrong. I'm afraid the onus is on you for typing the wrong number.