Debit card refund

Serz28

First post ever so if I have posted in the wrong place please let me know where I need to go!

I have a question that I am struggling to find the answer to. Can I do a refund in a shop putttibg money back onto a debit or credit card that isn't mine?

I tried to do this today on a joint account with my husband and luckily I had my own card with me but was told by the cashier that by law he could take my husbands card and cut it up as it was being used fraudulently?

SuperAllyB

No idea on the legality, but I have had refunds put on my wife's card numerous time without any problem. One shop, can't remember which, required a PIN so she had to go back herself with that one but never had any other issue.

dieselv2

When I worked at Argos they changed their refund rules so it didn't matter who come back for refund as long as it got refunded onto the same card as payment.

It's fraud really for spending money not having money added to the account?

agrinnall

I think the cashier was being over-officious and to my mind acting a long way outside their authority. The most they could have done was refuse to accept your card. It was in no way fraudulent given that the money would end up in the same account whichever card was used. To be honest if it had happened to me I'd have taken their name and made a complaint afterwards, and if it was a big chain I'd have made the complaint as high up as I could.

jonesMUFCforever

agrinnall wrote: »

I think the cashier was being over-officious and to my mind acting a long way outside their authority. The most they could have done was refuse to accept your card. It was in no way fraudulent given that the money would end up in the same account whichever card was used. To be honest if it had happened to me I'd have taken their name and made a complaint afterwards, and if it was a big chain I'd have made the complaint as high up as I could.

Retail staff used to be rewarded for spotting fraudulent transactions.
Giving anybody your pin number and card is in violation of the issuing bank's terms and conditions.
IMO your complaint would be unfounded.

Ben8282

The refund should be made to the same card as the original purchase. If your own debit card number on the joint account is different to the number on your husband's debit card the shop assistant was correct in refusing to process such a transaction. He would have no way of knowing it was a joint account. As has been said above, there should be no need for the cardholder to be physically present so long as you present the card and the goods. A PIN number is not normally required for a refund transaction.

It is not his place to take your card and cut it up unless specifically instructed to do so by the bank during an authorisation telephone call. However, that sort of thing does not happen these days.

I confess to having said a very similar thing once to a customer in manual charge form days, although the circumstances were slightly different in that the wife had presented her husbands credit card and falsified his signature on the charge form, although I don't think there was any actual fraud intended because she was genuinely the wife and the ticket being purchased was in the husbands name.

agrinnall

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

Retail staff used to be rewarded for spotting fraudulent transactions.
Giving anybody your pin number and card is in violation of the issuing bank's terms and conditions.
IMO your complaint would be unfounded.

As Ben has stated, it is no longer the place of non-bank staff to take such action of their own volition, and I still think it's worth a complaint. And there has been no suggestion that the OP had her husband's PIN (she may have had, but it hasn't been said, and in most cases would not have been required for a refund).

Haylescom

As the OP had both cards they would show the same account number and sort code, and therefore it being a joint account.
When I worked in a shop we were on the look out for fraudulent card use all the time (fake cards more than anything). We wouldn't cut the card up though! We'd keep the card rather than giving it back and make a call to the bank, by which time the card user had usually tried to leg it out of the shop.

[Deleted User]

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

Retail staff used to be rewarded for spotting fraudulent transactions.
Giving anybody your pin number and card is in violation of the issuing bank's terms and conditions.
IMO your complaint would be unfounded.

Going back to the late 70s early 80s in the days of access and barclaycard we got a tax free £50 for keeping hold of a card that was lost/stolen. Happy days

rtho782

The retailers don't like refunding onto a different card as this could be construed as money laundering.

But there isn't a specific rule against it. After all, what if you close your account after purchasing an item? If you have a statutory or contractual right for a refund they still have to refund you.

jonesMUFCforever

rtho782 wrote: »

The retailers don't like refunding onto a different card as this could be construed as money laundering.

But there isn't a specific rule against it. After all, what if you close your account after purchasing an item? If you have a statutory or contractual right for a refund they still have to refund you.

............In that case they would issue a cheque in name of cardholder.