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

milkydrink

I just called both my credit cards (I never keep statements), one was able to tell me I didn't use it to pay for the holiday, I kinda knew I didn't pay with them. The other I have to write in 7 pay £10!!!! To get the info.

First choice can't even tell me how I paid!!!!!!

magyar

kimevans wrote: »

I just called both my credit cards (I never keep statements)

To rather unhelpfully state the obvious, you should always keep statements for a minimum of six months, if not much longer.

milkydrink

Just spoke to First Choice head office.
Its the 28th Feb 06 bug again & they have had more than me that this has happened too.
I am going to bring them (they are close to me) my husbands bank statements with bank charges detailed & they are hopefully going to refund those too. I'm trying to explain that we are in a real mess & are incurring charges by the day.
Its disgusting, makes you aware of how UNSAFE card transactions are, if we had paid by cheque they couldn't do this.

milkydrink

Has anyone got any advice for me before I go & bring them in my husbands statements about what I should say?????

I have made it clear to them that everyday this is unresolved is costing us more. There are bank charges from two accounts (as DH has no money to put in mine to cover my DD), there are charges from the companies who are nothing being paid, we had to cancle nearly all our DD & will be charged extra for this by the firms that give us a reduction for paying by DD.
There are numerous phone calls to First Choice & banks & other companies, like credit cards to explain why they are NOT being paid.
There is petrol for taking the bank statements to them today.
Then their is our time trying to sort out their mistake & bl**dy stress suffered (& we have suffered stress over it - we always pay our bills & have never been in this situation before).

ANY ADVICE???

Oh & our credit rating is fooked

magyar

So have you actually worked out what happened yet? This is my understanding

You booked a holiday costing ~£800 in Feb 06, which you took May 06. The payment for the holiday was due immediately,and was taken in Feb 06 but - for no reason that you know of - was refunded in May 06.

Then in Jun 07 your bank told you that First Choice had tried to charge £800 to your debit card but couldn't because it was out of date. You were told by First Choice that the money had been paid, but - at some point in between then and now - First Choice called on the money again, and this time the bank paid them.

As a result, you went over an overdraft limit and have incurred various costs due to this.

So my questions...

- is the above right?

- do you now have copies of the bank statements in question showing the two transactions: the original payment to FC in Feb 06 and the refund in May 06?

- was the recent £800 payment on the same debit card (and against the same expiry date) that the bank had previously told you it wouldn't pay?

magyar

Just so you know my train of thought, the last point is crucial. You clearly have a responsibility to ensure that there are sufficient funds in your account to make any Direct Debits or any other payments, and this would include any payments - however old - that might have been promised against it.

However, if the bank had told you (in Jun 07) that it would not pay the £800 because the card had expired, and if you never gave First Choice any more up to date details, then it's perfectly reasonable to assume that the bank would not pay it if it was re-presented.

Hence, you did uphold your responsibility to have sufficient funds in your account, and the bank should refund any charges it has made on your account. Expecting the bank to cover any charges that other companies may levy on you is probably pushing it, though.

magyar

Just been re-reading your last post, and I misunderstood what you meant by 'husband's bank statements'. I assumed you meant the originals showing the First Choice transactions, but now I think you mean the recent one showing the charges.

Personally, I think that until you can verify when and from where the money was taken, you'll struggle to get anything from anyone.

milkydrink

Sorry, we paid for the holiday in 06.
We tried to pay on 28th feb 06, but they had a problem with EVERYONES payments on this date & had to write to us to say soorry & that they were putting it through again as they had lost it in their system.

All is fine, holiday is paid.

Now the same mess up that caused us to have a little glitch & delay in the Feb 06 balance is the same glitch that has meant that everyone has been debited AGAIN for their holiday in June 07.
The ONLY reason we got a sniff of advance notice is because the card had expired & it was flagged as a fraud transactions.
We told the bank NOT to pay it as we had already paid, they didn't say they had too.
First Choice claimed to know nothing about it, well they didn't it was their card people who were doing it as they were making yet ANOTHER mistake.
The bank paid.
We found out when the DD started being bounced & the charges came rolling in.
The bank (Abbey) said they had to pay even though we told them it was fradulant a maistake whatever, they said you pay first then get it back after?????????????

milkydrink

magyar wrote: »

So have you actually worked out what happened yet? This is my understanding

You booked a holiday costing ~£800 in Feb 06, which you took May 06. The payment for the holiday was due immediately,and was taken in Feb 06 but - for no reason that you know of - was refunded in May 06. Booked in Oct 05, final payment in Feb 06, actually paid a little after due to their mistake, never refunded in May 06, another of First Choice not knowing what they are doing.

Then in Jun 07 your bank told you that First Choice had tried to charge £800 to your debit card but couldn't because it was out of date. You were told by First Choice that the money had been paid, but - at some point in between then and now - First Choice called on the money again, and this time the bank paid them. Yes

As a result, you went over an overdraft limit and have incurred various costs due to this. Yes

So my questions...

- is the above right?

- do you now have copies of the bank statements in question showing the two transactions: the original payment to FC in Feb 06 No and the refund in May 06? That never happened

- was the recent £800 payment on the same debit card (and against the same expiry date) that the bank had previously told you it wouldn't pay?No, that first card has expired

First choice admitted that I have paid in full for the holiday last year.
The same bug that caused a payment problem in Feb 06, has caused loads of people to be re charged for the same holiday 18 months later.

magyar

Sorry Kim, I'm getting confused.

1) Do you have the statements yet showing what was taken and when? *Edit - sorry just seen you've answered that question*

2) I'm now reading it as: they took one lot of £800 in Feb 06 and another lot in June 07. Is that right?