MSE News: 'I got £23k back under Section 75 after paying just £200 on credit card'

Voltron

I was wondering why I've been underchanged twice in Tesco in the last few weeks, it's obvious they're trying to make their money back that way.

Yeah, I'm not going to feel sorry for them given how many smaller businesses they've put out of business over the years.

Pincher

Solid wood! I got a gloss white set of kitchen units from Wickes about five years ago, at the so called 50% OFF price, which was only full price 10% of the time, for about £5,000! The cabinets were particle board! The whole kitchen must have cost £50,000. We did dig up the concrete floor to put in under floor heating, new ceiling, total re-wire with a dedicated consumer unit for the kitchen, and new tiles. I truly think itwould have been at least £100,000 if it was from a kitchen design shop. Or £30,000 if I could find the right Romanians.

tripled

Something to think about for those thinking "poor old Tesco". Ignoring the cost of doing business they were aware of before entering the market, the maths suggest it doesn't cost them a lot.

Just taking into account people exploiting this "loophole" to get S75 protection and putting £100 on their credit card for the maximum £29.9k protection (other £100 under chargeback), and conservatively assuming Tesco only get 0.5% of a transaction in fees, it would take 59,800 transactions of this type to cover the risk. In reality, the average payout will be significantly less than £30k and therefore the number of transactions required much lower, so I doubt Tesco is losing very much.

eddddy

As I understand it, the point of section 75 was to make sure credit providers vetted firms that they worked with.

(i.e. To discourage banks from lending you money to buy dodgy stuff from dodgy people.)

So in this case, the fault was with the Kitchen Company's own bank. They failed in their duty to keep an eye on the Kitchen Company. They should have noticed it was in financial difficulty earlier, and withdrawn it's Credit Card merchant account.

(In fact, I wonder if the Visa/Mastercard network internal t&cs allow Tesco to reclaim some of their losses from the Kitchen Co's bank, as it seems they may have been negligent.)

nevmon

To me it is very clear. I take insurance to protect me fairly from suffering a loss. If I have paid a value of £200, and my loss is a value of £200; then what I should reclaim if matters go wrong is (my protected) £200.

That this couple have used the law to gain what they had not paid nor lost is/was wrong; it is plain dishonest!

That MSE are heralding it as a great victory, is disappointing. My greatest admiration for Martin has always been that he stands up for fairness and protection. In this case however he and I see fairness and protection from opposing perspectives.

It is a short term gain which has longer term adverse implications at various levels even perhaps to adversely affect other (less advantaged) people who are unconnected with this dishonesty.

Hanky_Panky

nevmon wrote: »

To me it is very clear. I take insurance to protect me fairly from suffering a loss. If I have paid a value of £200, and my loss is a value of £200; then what I should reclaim if matters go wrong is (my protected) £200.

That this couple have used the law to gain what they had not paid nor lost is/was wrong; it is plain dishonest!

That MSE are heralding it as a great victory, is disappointing. My greatest admiration for Martin has always been that he stands up for fairness and protection. In this case however he and I see fairness and protection from opposing perspectives.

It is a short term gain which has longer term adverse implications at various levels even perhaps to adversely affect other (less advantaged) people who are unconnected with this dishonesty.

Sadly he has history for this - just look at the bank charge reclaim debarcle. Previously only those that deserved the fees incurred them now everyone does - but hey at least it's a lot fairer now though right ?

It wont be long before we lose free banking entirely. I was talking to the Head of Operational Risk for a major bank the other day and in the current economic climate with low interest rates, higher costs around regulation and compliance together with things like forcing banks to offer basic accounts to people they don't want to do business with they would make more money if they closed about 50% of their current accounts. The obvious solution to this is to start charging for that service.

FaTbOyGp3519

I would love to know what C C Pincher has if he/she can have a C C limit in excess of 24k?. I know I certainly can't. Remember TESCO is not some little corner shop, they have people scrutinizing ALL of their dealings, so if they didn't want to suffer the consequences they shouldn't have issued Credit Cards to customers should they.

bongoali

nevmon wrote: »

To me it is very clear. I take insurance to protect me fairly from suffering a loss. If I have paid a value of £200, and my loss is a value of £200; then what I should reclaim if matters go wrong is (my protected) £200.

That this couple have used the law to gain what they had not paid nor lost is/was wrong; it is plain dishonest!

That MSE are heralding it as a great victory, is disappointing. My greatest admiration for Martin has always been that he stands up for fairness and protection. In this case however he and I see fairness and protection from opposing perspectives.

It is a short term gain which has longer term adverse implications at various levels even perhaps to adversely affect other (less advantaged) people who are unconnected with this dishonesty.

Wot u on abat???? They did pay the balance direct to the company. Spec savers in the morning?

grumbler

bongoali wrote: »

Wot u on abat???? They did pay the balance direct to the company. Spec savers in the morning?

????
The point was that the balance was paid not by the CC, hence it was 'dishonest' to hold Tesco responsible for the total cost, not just for the deposit.

'Legal'/'lawful' and 'fair'/'honest'/'moral'/etc. aren't synonyms.

Indeed, Specsavers...

Pincher

FaTbOyGp3519 wrote: »

I would love to know what C C Pincher has if he/she can have a C C limit in excess of 24k?. I know I certainly can't. Remember TESCO is not some little corner shop, they have people scrutinizing ALL of their dealings, so if they didn't want to suffer the consequences they shouldn't have issued Credit Cards to customers should they.

You can pay with multiple credit cards, or the same credit card several times, having paid into the account to clear the balance.

I do have a Barclaycard limit £13k+, and I did have an MBNA Amex £15k+ Limit. When I was a student, my first credit card was a Barclaycard with £100 Limit. They just keep sneaking it up.

Back in the 80s, flash !!!!!!!s used to walk into car dealerships and pay for VERY expensive sports cars by card, but I think they must have been charge cards like AMEX, "with no pre-set spending limit".