Debit card protection abroad

bukko

Hi,

we are in UAE and my son thinks he may have been scammed.
Is there any debit card protection if used in UAE?

Thanks

(sorry if this is the wrong forum)

Edi81

There is something called chargeback - I'm sure someone more knowledgable may be along with more information.

Ben8282

Could you be more specific as to the exact nature of the problem?

bukko

Basically we were taken by our tour company to a diamond merchant. This wasn't a paid excursion, I think they just take all their tours there at some point.
(They also took us to a leather seller afterwards and that definitely felt like a scam so we just waited outside for an hour).
After our rep told us she would get us a good price and spoken in Turkish to the sellers my son ordered a ring from them for his wife.
Checking online afterwards, the price is way too high, and the company has 100% bad reviews on TripAdvisor, saying you don't get what you order etc (and not being diamond experts, how would we know anyway?).
The ring has not been delivered yet so I guess technically the contract is not complete, unfortunately it seems to be in Russian and we don't know the law here.
We don't know how best to proceed now.

[More info]
There are a few options we have thought of:
1. Four of us were witnesses when they said they guaranteed that a valuation in the UK would show at least double the value that we were paying; we took that as part of our contract
2. The purchase would not have been made without the involvement, encouragement and incentivisation of the tour company so we hold them jointly responsible and will speak to their rep (when he appears)
3. The ring has not yet been delivered so the contract is not complete. If it is not delivered or they do not deliver what was ordered that should be a clear case for chargeback (if that works in UAE). To be honest, I don't think this will happen though.

We could really use some advice...

eskbanker

bukko wrote: »

If it is not delivered or they do not deliver what was ordered that should be a clear case for chargeback

Chargeback should indeed protect you if undelivered or if you can prove that it's not compliant with the contract, but it won't help you with the issue of whether the ring was overpriced or not.

I suspect that your best bet will indeed be to lean on the rep(s) to try to sort this out, rather than relying on a card provider who I fear are unlikely to be in a position to help....

phillw

bukko wrote: »

1. Four of us were witnesses when they said they guaranteed that a valuation in the UK would show at least double the value that we were paying; we took that as part of our contract

Did you get that in writing?

You will need to get a valuation when it arrives, but then the bickering will start. I think it's absolutely outrageous that unrelated tours stop off at these places, they know that people are ripped off and only do it for the kickbacks. I was taken on a tour of a jewelry factory in Turkey. We spent about 20 seconds in the workshop and then 20 minutes in the showroom. They picked out the marks and ushered them into separate rooms. So I understand how easy it is to get suckered in.

I don't know what bank you are with, but lloyds have a process for debit cards. You will need to check with your bank whether they have a similar process, but it's not worth doing anything until it doesn't arrive or it arrives in an unfit state. They may say that transactions outside of the UK are not covered.

http://www.lloydsbank.com/help-guidance/customer-support/debit-card-disputes.asp

"I expected a better quality of goods. What can I do?

If you are unhappy with the quality of goods or services you have received and have been unable to resolve the issue with the company directly, we may be able to raise a dispute against the company for the amount paid.

Before we can raise a dispute, you must have tried to resolve the issue with the company. You must have also returned or attempted to return the goods to the company. When returning goods we suggest you use a method which will track the goods as we will need proof of the return.

When you contact us we will need to know the date and the amount of the payment that was taken from your account and the name of the company it was paid to. We will also need to know the following to progress the claim:

A full explanation of what was not as described and detailed information regarding the quality of the goods or service.
The date you received the goods or services.
The date you returned the goods or cancelled the services. Please include the location of the goods, the name of the shipping company and the tracking number if available.
If it has not been possible to return the goods or cancel the service please supply information relating to how you attempted to return the goods or cancel the services and the response from the company.
Once we receive the documentation, we will be happy to review this for you. We recommend that you only send in photocopies of receipts and invoices."

eskbanker

phillw wrote: »

bukko wrote: »

1. Four of us were witnesses when they said they guaranteed that a valuation in the UK would show at least double the value that we were paying; we took that as part of our contract

Did you get that in writing?

Presumably a rhetorical question - if it was included in writing there wouldn't be any need to mention witnesses to what was said!

meer53

You need to get proof in writing of what you agreed to buy. If what you receive doesn't match this, your bank can attempt a chargeback for goods not as described. Without proof you won't have a leg to stand on.

jonesMUFCforever

Just thinking aloud here - but if I had some goods worth double the value over here than over there why would I share them with anybody else?

Unless of course I was conning people!"

eskbanker

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

Just thinking aloud here - but if I had some goods worth double the value over here than over there why would I share them with anybody else?

Unless of course I was conning people!"

I think the valuation issue is something of a moot point anyway (no card provider is going to underwrite their customers paying over the odds), but there are many legitimate examples of goods being valued significantly differently between countries, such as technology products being much cheaper in the USA than here, or alcohol being much more expensive in, say, Scandinavia (for a variety of tax/duty/competition/market/legal reasons), so I don't think that the 'bargain' valuation necessarily signifies any wrongdoing.... Is a half-price sale at a retailer here automatically suspicious?

jonesMUFCforever

eskbanker wrote: »

I think the valuation issue is something of a moot point anyway (no card provider is going to underwrite their customers paying over the odds), but there are many legitimate examples of goods being valued significantly differently between countries, such as technology products being much cheaper in the USA than here, or alcohol being much more expensive in, say, Scandinavia (for a variety of tax/duty/competition/market/legal reasons), so I don't think that the 'bargain' valuation necessarily signifies any wrongdoing.... Is a half-price sale at a retailer here automatically suspicious?

Yes as most sales in shops these days are fake - most have sale after sale after sale :rotfl: