Debit Card Misuse

zagfles

See http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20140402142426/http://www.oft.gov.uk/business-advice/treating-customers-fairly/cpa-principles/

In particular

If a CPA is to be used, the business should prominently disclose this to potential customers as soon as possible. In particular, the scope of the agreed authority should be clear. The consumer should specifically agree to the amounts to be debited (or the basis on which these will be calculated), the timing/frequency of payment attempts, and the account to be debited. These should be documented appropriately and explained to the consumer.

All relevant terms of the CPA agreement should be set out clearly and in plain, intelligible language, and brought prominently to the consumer's attention. They should not just be contained in 'terms and conditions'.

iainscomputer

I agree with the OP, CPA's are really not required or needed, a debit card is sufficient for one off payments & recurring payments can be paid by a direct debit.
CPA's can continue without the payer realising for things like Gym memberships, mobile phone insurances. I avoid them like the plague.

masonic

uncreative wrote: »

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?

The customer can hardly give the petrol back, can they, so they would be agreeing under duress, which would likely invalidate the contract.

However, if the customer was given the opportunity to sign up to a loyalty scheme and pay a monthly subscription in return for a 20% boost to the funds that they could then use to purchase their fuel, I don't think it would be unreasonable to expect the card details they provide to be used in the manner described.

As you point out, the only way to judge whether the OP was treated fairly is to understand whether it was made clear that the transaction was not a one-off. To me, wine by the case automatically makes me think "wine club" and monthly subscription, but looking at the site it isn't obvious pre-checkout that a one-off order would translate into a subscription.

EssexExile

uncreative wrote: »

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?

But there is no small print & you're not asked to do so.
Perhaps I'm just more experienced but I would've read whatever small print was available in this case.

alexmi

EssexExile wrote: »

But there is no small print & you're not asked to do so.
Perhaps I'm just more experienced but I would've read whatever small print was available in this case.

They're not saying there is, they are asking what would you do if there was and making the point that expecting people to read reams of T&Cs at a point of sale is not really reasonable. Even if you are buying online, it can be fraught reading pages of T&Cs as you are worried that the session will time out on you. Plus, in the case of just buying some consumables I wouldn't expect there to be onerous conditions tucked away in the T&Cs, unlike, say, if you are opening a new bank account, where it is crucial to check them carefully before continuing.

SeduLOUs

If I turned up to a petrol pump, and the screen asked me to agree to some terms and conditions before filling my car, then I would immediate wonder what was going on. If I didn't have time to read said terms to decide whether I was happy with them, I'd be getting back into my car and driving to the next petrol station.

I always at least skim read terms and conditions when presented with them, particularly online. These loyalty type sales are so commonplace now that just tickin the box is a big risk. If I'm signing up to any sort of 'free trial' that requires me to enter card details I'll spend as long as it takes to read all of the terms so that I know what I'm getting myself into before signing on the dotted line. It's really not that difficult.