Santander not reimbursing unauthorised debit card transactions

BoyoIsntItBoyo

Hi Folks,

New account for privacy reasons.

I'm hoping you can give me a little advice. My old man signed up to an online sports tipping service some time ago for which he was paying £10 a month on debit card. He cancelled it after a couple of months but (I believe) they took another payment so he removed his card details from the site and closed his account. This website has since closed down.

Last week he got hit for his entire balance and a considerable overdraft over numerous payments between £10 and £500, all to this same 'company' as above.

He has contacted Santander but they have advised that they are unwilling to refund the amount because he authorised the original payment. He has provided proof that the organisation doesn't exist in the form of emails saying they were stopping the service, and links to the now defunct website. He has since been passed around to various people, put on hold, not had calls returned, etc, etc.

I have advised him to contact the police and escalate to the complaints department of the bank. This is really worrying him, and so naturally, the rest of the family.

He should get this money back, right? Can anyone offer any helpful advice?

Sorry if the details are a little sketchy. I'm trying to get my head around it all myself.

molerat

He needs to raise a complaint and follow it through to the FOS if necessary. Even if he did authorise some transactions it does not give them the right to just keep dipping in.

18cc

Yes tell Santander you want to make a complaint let them follow their procedure and see what happens in the end i

if there is deadlock you can escalate it to the regulator as stated above giving someone your debit card details does not entitle them to take what they want

jonnygee2

My old man signed up to an online sports tipping service some time ago for which he was paying £10 a month on debit card. He cancelled it after a couple of months but (I believe) they took another payment so he removed his card details from the site and closed his account. This website has since closed down.

Santander are correct. In this situation this is not seen as fraud which the bank is liable for under FOS rules. He gave his card details to the site, the site Ts and Cs probably mentioned that they would keep
taking money (there are a lot of these sites around).

Although this would be seen as unfair transaction, it's not fraud, so the bank itself won't be liable.

The best way to recover your money would be through a chargeback. You have no automatic right to a chargeback, though, and it has to be started within 120 days of the transaction, but chargebacks in these situations are almost always successful.

But if Santander won't start a chargeback for you (they don't have to, but it makes them a terrible bank if they won't) then the money is unfortunately gone.

[Deleted User]

Was it a CPA?

That may not have been cancelled.

As above the payments were authorised so there’s not really grounds for any refunds or chargebacks.

18cc

There are two ways to attack this t

the 1st is what were the terms conditions when he signed up did they specify a minimum term or was he able to cancel at any time if the latter then clearly since he did cancel they were not authorised to take any further payments


the second thing is that even if he was tied into a minimum term did he get the service they promised you say the website is closed down if you didn't get any tips then again that is a breach of contract and he can try and get the money back from the bank by claiming that it was there an authorised charge because the service wasn't provided

jonnygee2

the 1st is what were the terms conditions when he signed up did they specify a minimum term or was he able to cancel at any time if the latter then clearly since he did cancel they were not authorised to take any further payments


the second thing is that even if he was tied into a minimum term did he get the service they promised you say the website is closed down if you didn't get any tips then again that is a breach of contract and he can try and get the money back from the bank by claiming that it was there an authorised charge because the service wasn't provided

In neither situation is this the banks liability. They aren't responsible every time a merchant you use mistreats you.

I appreciate that there's some vagueness in situations where you authorise one charge with a merchant, and they go on to take more from you, but it's well established that this is not treated as third party fraud by FOS.

A charge-back would almost certainly be successful though, but of course the money would come from the merchant not the bank.

BoyoIsntItBoyo

There's some good information in here, thanks all-- I'll pass this along.

wavelets

BoyoIsntItBoyo wrote: »

Hi Folks,

New account for privacy reasons.

I'm hoping you can give me a little advice. My old man signed up to an online sports tipping service some time ago for which he was paying £10 a month on debit card. He cancelled it after a couple of months but (I believe) they took another payment so he removed his card details from the site and closed his account. This website has since closed down.

Last week he got hit for his entire balance and a considerable overdraft over numerous payments between £10 and £500, all to this same 'company' as above.

He has contacted Santander but they have advised that they are unwilling to refund the amount because he authorised the original payment. He has provided proof that the organisation doesn't exist in the form of emails saying they were stopping the service, and links to the now defunct website. He has since been passed around to various people, put on hold, not had calls returned, etc, etc.

I have advised him to contact the police and escalate to the complaints department of the bank. This is really worrying him, and so naturally, the rest of the family.

He should get this money back, right? Can anyone offer any helpful advice?

Sorry if the details are a little sketchy. I'm trying to get my head around it all myself.

As you suggested, your old man needs to report this to the police

This can be done online here:
https://www.actionfraud.police.uk

If your old man gives you consent, you can even do this for him via the above website.

If you obtain an incident number, or better still a crime number, this can only assist in the request to the bank to reverse these unauthorised payments.

BoyoIsntItBoyo

Hey All, Been meaning to post an update back here for a while. After your advice, my old man went to actionfraud and reported the issue with all transaction history, etc, and the people he spoke to were very helpful with the steps he should take. The bank again refused to refund briefly and he escalated to the Ombudsman and he was refunded within about 48 hours.

So, anyone with similar issues in the future, let this post offer you a little hope. With a little perseverance you will get your money returned.