Double payment of £25,000

Bidding

Hi,

I recently bought a car and paid with £25k by debit card. For some reason it showed as coming out of my account twice, putting me at -£23,500. I didn't realise this until the next day when I tried to buy something online and my card was declined. I phoned Barclays who said it was the car dealer's fault and the money would be back in my account within 10 working days. Obviously I was not very happy with this and to make matters worse I was supposed to be going on holiday 3 days later and had not changed up my money yet.

The bank mentioned that sometimes car dealers will pre-authorise a payment before they take it which was the probable reason, although when checking with the dealer they ran me through the exact process and there was no pre-authorisation. I was with them when they did the transaction and I'm fairly confident that they are not at fault. They've put it in writing that they did not take two payments, although Barclays are still claiming it is not their error.

It took me a total of 9 phone calls over 3 days for Barlcays to return the money, they gave some pretty terrible customer service and told me the money would be in my account by a particular time and then this did not happen, it took about another 4 hours past that, by which time it was too late to get money for my holiday etc. I had raised a complaint and they offered me various amounts of compensation, £50 at first before I got the money back. They then offered me £20 compensation even after they let me down by not getting the money back when it should have been returned. I kept asking how it was even possible for this to have happened - if it was the car dealer's fault, how could they have been allowed to authorise 2 payments for £25k in the first place! I was given a final offer of £75 compensation but this whole debacle ruined my bank holiday weekend, meant I had to borrow money from a friend for my holiday money and a few other things It would take me too long to list.

I've sent a detailed report of the complaint on to the financial ombudsman, but is there anything else I can do? It's made me not want to bank with Barclays anymore and I've been with them for over 16 years.

Any help much appreciated.

Thanks,

maninthestreet

Exactly what losses did you incur as a result of this?

molerat

A strange one. There can be many reasons why a transaction gets duplicated (pre auth, system/equipment/line failure, sticky fingers) but I find it weird that a transaction for such a large amount was authorised by your bank when it would take you into such a large overdraft, £10 yes but £25K ! I suspect the fault actually lies with Barclays.

pinkdalek

Bidding wrote: »

I've sent a detailed report of the complaint on to the financial ombudsman, but is there anything else I can do? It's made me not want to bank with Barclays anymore and I've been with them for over 16 years.

Any help much appreciated.

Thanks,

Until you complain with either the bank or the car company the ombudsman will not do anything.
The purpose of an ombudsman is to settle a complaint once it has not been resolved between the customer and the company. They act as a go-between. You need to complain with the company first and see what they offer you, they generally have a set guideline to reply and resolve your complaint fully.

As for your problem, it won't be the bank who will have put two pending transactions on your account. However if you can get the car company to send confirmation to your bank that only one payment has been authorised and the other was cancelled by them then the bank should be able to remove.

Complain to both. It is the only way banks will listen to their customers and try to come up with an industry solution in general to what is a very frustrating situation for a customer to be in.

Sadly nowadays common sense cannot be used.

lippy1923

Take the £75 compo that's been offered and switch banks, never dealing with Barclays again. Move on.

Flobberchops

That's a weird issue and one I've seen several times, most commonly when people book hotels or buy travel tickets online. One transaction appears on the statement, and a duplicate one for the same amount appears as a pending authorised payment, often tipping the customer's account into unarranged overdraft - sometimes to the tune of thousands of pounds. The authorised payment has an expiry date, typically a couple of weeks, but the customer can rarely afford to be out of pocket for that kind of duration.

The cashier should be able to withdraw authorisation for the pending payment, thus bringing the account balance to its proper figure. Still, I have no idea why this happens, or whether withdrawing the authorisation has unwanted consequences at the customers end (the company deciding to void the reservation, for example).

This is something that has been bugging me for some time, so if anybody knows why...? I'll also ask at my bank and report back if I get a concrete answer.

jonesMUFCforever

Flobberchops wrote: »

The cashier should be able to withdraw authorisation for the pending payment, thus bringing the account balance to its proper figure. Still, I have no idea why this happens,.

.

I don't think so.

takman

The first thing you should do is apply for a Halifax Clarity Credit Card. This will mean you will always have money available to spend in a situation like this
It also offers cash withdrawals and foreign transactions fee free and at the best exchange rate!.

JuicyJesus

maninthestreet wrote: »

Exactly what losses did you incur as a result of this?

That's a stupid question. If this happened to me, I may not incur any direct loss but I'd be without access to my own money for a good long while through no fault of my own.

Flobberchops

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

I don't think so.

Is that general skepticism, or from experience?

Dan83

I've had this with a hotel, it was there fault and gave me a refund a month later when my bill arrived, which I was more then happy with.

What are you expecting from Barclays?

I'd of thought a refund of and charges for being over drawn and £75 compensation which should cover any phone calls is more then a reasonable offer.