Abbey have taken £800+ out of my account for a holiday 1.5 years ago

milkydrink

First Choice accounts department called today & said they know nothing about it & as far as they are concerned it must be some sort of fraud.
Strange that it was for the exact amount the final payment was for & the final payment was already mucked up once by FC.
So I don't really think it is likely to have been fraud, I think its ANOTHER mistake by FC & they don't want to admit it.

lynzpower

Am i right in thinking that if your card hadnt expired they would have just taken theb 800 quid today then?

milkydrink

lynzpower wrote: »

Am i right in thinking that if your card hadnt expired they would have just taken theb 800 quid today then?

Yep:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

But because the card had expired it went to the fraud dept, because an expired card showed up as a cancelled card.

milkydrink

UPDATE
It gets worse. I told the bank on the 28th DO NOT PAY THE MONEY OUT. They agreed that a card transaction is only valid for 6 months. Its not that I would dispute paying it if I owed it, but after waiting a year & a half for it, they didn't need it that day, was my attitude.
First Choice assured me on the phone that I have paid them, after all they don't normally send out your tickets unless you have.
The bank then paid the £800 odd on the card to First Choice, the strange thing is, paying it too us over our agreed overdraft limit, so its strange they paid it (after we had told them NOT too). They then bounced every DD & SO thereafter. My husband went into the bank when we realised what had happened & they said they had to pay it as it was a legitimate & authorised transaction (again I'm surprised they honoured it as it put us over our limit). They said there was nothing we could do. We seached on our bank statements & can't find it paid. I need to check the crdit card statements too, but I don't keep these so i will have to call during office hours.
Anyway, he recieved a letter from his bank today, saying they would be taking nearly £1,000 out in bank charges!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! at the end of the month, For the DD & SO bounced before we realised they had paid out the £800 & pushed us over our agreed overdraft.
I tried ringing First Choice again when I got in from work, but they are all closed, as is the bank department that deals with this.

Do we have any rights in this??????

meerustar

I think you should get WRITTEN PROOF from First Choice that this holiday has already been paid for, then get them to refund you, and then get onto your bank and ask for the charges back ... preferably go in and see them personally with ALL your paperwork etc, and hope the bank give you back the charges.

meerustar

Another thing, write to your banks for all your past statements and CC statements and it will show when the payment was first collected.

If for some reason it isn't on there, then I'm guessing there isn't much you can do apart from join the reclaim your bank charges board.

milkydrink

Yes, I'm thinking (apart from getting info from our credit cards during working hours, I'm off Wednesday cam do that then) that we HAVE NOT paid.
If we have not paid were the bank right to pay it taking into account that
a, we told them NOT too.
b, the tranaction was 18+ months old & they are susposed to do it within 6 months
c, to pay it took us OVER our agreed overdraft & had it have been anything else they would have bounced it.

I really think after a mistake like this we would have been within our rights to agree to pay it off in installments, not find out now they paid it already!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Any thoughts??????????

meerustar

kimevans wrote: »

Yes, I'm thinking (apart from getting info from our credit cards during working hours, I'm off Wednesday cam do that then) that we HAVE NOT paid.
If we have not paid were the bank right to pay it taking into account that
a, we told them NOT too.
b, the tranaction was 18+ months old & they are susposed to do it within 6 months
c, to pay it took us OVER our agreed overdraft & had it have been anything else they would have bounced it.

I really think after a mistake like this we would have been within our rights to agree to pay it off in installments, not find out now they paid it already!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Any thoughts??????????

My guess ...

a) I don't think banks can NOT pay can they, just because you tell them not to, as some people could order anything then tell the bank not to pay.

b) I have no idea,

c) If things need to be paid it is upto you to make sure the money is there. I know this is a bit of a unique situation, but still, the company want paying and so your account has been debited that amount. The reason so many are reclaiming bank charges are mainly because of this and it's what banks do.

The bank have paid now, so get your statements ASAP and check if you have paid twice. If you haven't, then First Choice have now got there money and you owe the bank. You could claim back the charges eventually, but you will still need to pay back the bank.

It is a mess and FC and the bank should have been sympathetic somewhat but now it's done, FC will be happy enough and the bank will want paying.

In hindsight, you should have checked all past statements anyway to double check and then you could have approached FC and agreed a payment plan prior to them making a full claim.

If I remember correctly, you say you moved house during this. FC may have been sending mail to your old address and been having it returned and so gone ahead and took the money.

It is a mess, but it seems all the transactins have gone through now, and you will have to deal with the bank. Maybe ask them for a higher overdraft limit to avoid further charges, explaining what has happened and do you best to pay it off.

I think thats the best you can do really.

milkydrink

meerustar wrote: »

In hindsight, you should have checked all past statements anyway to double check and then you could have approached FC and agreed a payment plan prior to them making a full claim. I did approach First Choice & they told me I had paid & they knew NOTHING about it, this was from their accounts department AND customer services. Hence no need to work out terms.

If I remember correctly, you say you moved house during this. FC may have been sending mail to your old address and been having it returned and so gone ahead and took the money. No, I moved in Jan 06, I "paid" in Feb 06 & I went on holiday in May 06.

.

As I said I really don't have any issue with paying if I haven't. But When I was told the money was due I contacted FC & they said it was a mistake, as I had already instructed the bank NOT to pay I thought all was OK.

I only found out AFTER they had paid it, that they paid it & when they started bouncing DD & SO.

Asked for an overdraft extension, they gave us a whopping £200.

I think First Choice have a damn cheek & don't know their ar5e from their elbow:mad: .
And the Abbey admitted they have 6 months to pay a card transaction & when hubby tried to sort it out after, it was tough, it was paid:mad: .

milkydrink

Phoned First Choice this morning & they are trying to tell me I did pay on 28th Feb 06 BUT that they refunded me on 11 May 06 (I was actually on holiday then & was not even in the country to be ringing them & demanding refunds).

They really don't know what is going on, I'm waiting for them to call me back after they have worked it out!!!!!!!!!!!

magyar

kimevans wrote: »

Phoned First Choice this morning & they are trying to tell me I did pay on 28th Feb 06 BUT that they refunded me on 11 May 06 (I was actually on holiday then & was not even in the country to be ringing them & demanding refunds).

They really don't know what is going on, I'm waiting for them to call me back after they have worked it out!!!!!!!!!!!

Just a note Kim, that you should make a note of all these conversations, if you haven't already done so.

Whatever the legal situation, it's pretty clear you've received some awful service from First Choice and you should consider - once all this is settled - writing to them and copying Watchdog and ABTA. That might make them cough up for your bank charges.

Make sure you get everything in writing from them (email is fine).