Debit Card Misuse

Rob_Wills

WARNING :eek:

On 02 September I used my debit card, not my credit card which I would usually use, to purchase a case of wine from Virgin Wines and the transaction was completed satisfactorily.

On 01 October I was doing my monthly bank accounts housekeeping and noticed that my available balance was £25 less than my actual balance, but couldn't understand why as there were no pending transactions.

I contacted the bank and they informed me that Virgin were taking £25 using my debit card details.
Further investigation reveals that somewhere in the Virgin small print is a statement that says they will take an amount each month, minimum £15, to credit to my account for future usage AND add to the account with them 20% as a bonus...presumably only if you spend the balance with Virgin. Now that in itself is a good deal as nowhere am I aware of such a return on investment.

The problem is that this system is not obvious, a "DEB" transaction without an authorisation in person on every particular occasion could easily be missed; it is not like a direct debit or standing order.
I may choose to spend elsewhere on wine, not least as the prices may be lower, and in any event I would not spend £25 monthly on wine when I can purchase bottles at £2-3 each.

eskbanker

It's not really debit card misuse though, is it? It's you authorising a Continuous Payment Authority with a retailer who would appear not to be handling this particularly transparently but who are apparently authorised to do so.

Check the Ts & Cs you signed up to and firstly validate whether they are doing what they said they'd do and if not, complain.

Then you need to decide whether or not to cancel the arrangement, again dependent on the terms as to whether you can do this or if you're committed for a year or whatever.

Ultimately this is more of an 'unwary buyer duped into CPA' rather than 'debit card misuse' though....

Rob_Wills

There was no "Continuous Payment Authority", whatever that is? I have never heard of the term and all regular payments are done by direct debit or standing order.

There was no mention of this when payment was made for the original order by completing debit card payment for a one-off purchase of £22.98 NOT £25. Maybe I should have guessed that not being able to use my credit card, possibly because this "continuous payment authority" isn't allowed on them, was a warning?

NB: The CPA is not shown as such it is shown as a DEB (debit card) payment.

DevCoder

You should acquaint yourself with the continuous payment authority, its been around for years.

Its basically recurring "debit card" payments but doesn't require authorisation each time.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/recurring-payments

Most subscription sites such as virgin wines etc use CPA's, you can of course cancel this under Section 55 of the payment services regulation 2009 which deals with CPA's

molerat

You stated

Rob_Wills wrote: »

Further investigation reveals that somewhere in the Virgin small print is a statement that says they will take an amount each month, minimum £15

so you authorised the CPA when you clicked the "I accept the terms and conditions" box.

bengal-stripe

Rob_Wills wrote: »

I have never heard of the term .....Maybe I should have guessed that not being able to use my credit card, possibly because this "continuous payment authority" isn't allowed on them, was a warning?

You might never heard of the term, but Continuous (reoccurring) Payments can be set up on either credit- or debit card:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/recurring-payments

Whether it was obvious or well-hidden that you enrolled on a wine subscription scheme, I wouldn't know.

Rob_Wills

krisdorey wrote: »

...you can of course cancel this under Section 55 of the payment services regulation 2009 which deals with CPA's

I appreciate the UK is a bureaucrat and lawyer's paradise :mad: but most of we plebs aren't, we do useful things like trying to provide a health or education service.

k3lvc

Rob_Wills wrote: »

I appreciate the UK is a bureaucrat and lawyer's paradise :mad: but most of we plebs aren't, we do useful things like trying to provide a health or education service.

Hopefully if in the education service you accept you should have read/understood the T&C's before clicking 'yes' and you pass this important information on to those who you 'educate'

Paul_1977

You signed to say you had read the small print, no "misuse" here.

There people never give anything away for nothing.

PeacefulWaters

Rob_Wills wrote: »

I appreciate the UK is a bureaucrat and lawyer's paradise :mad: but most of we plebs aren't, we do useful things like trying to provide a health or education service.

Somebody just gave you some helpful information. I think you should consider thanking them.

This link maybe worth a read:
https://www.virginwines.co.uk/help/terms-and-conditions


Where you enter into an agreement to be supplied with a regular delivery of wine (e.g. Discovery Club or justREDS) or to make regular payments to your account (e.g. WineBank) you agree to us holding your payment details and charging your registered payment method as agreed. You also agree to us requesting updated details from your payment provider should the details of your payment method change and to charge the updated payment method in the same way as the original payment method. This in no way restricts your rights to cancel as detailed under "Cancellations" below.

uncreative

Misuse? no, but 1000 thank you's for pointing this out. Not everyone reads the Ts & Cs for a transaction outside of loans/credit etc.. For a one off transaction of £20 I would simply blindly click the button and this post has just saved me a potential similar issue.

Is it reasonable? Is it well advertised at the time that you are joining a "wine club" as opposed to buying a couple of bottles of wine as a one off?

Here's a question: so the next time, for an example, you go to the petrol station and pay by card, would any of the responders to the OP stand in the petrol station and read pages of small print if asked to do so before paying for their petrol? No, I think is the answer. But then the petrol station starts taking £100 a month just to save you having to pay for it it the time?

Interesting....