Getting deposit back from "agent".

born_again

bap98189 said:

jonesMUFCforever said:

1 Name the company you are dealing with.
2 It seems that you have asked the bank to stop future payments to this company - they are treating it like a continuous authority - great nothing to worry about there - if they do debit the amount just ask the bank for it back citing the fact that you have already withdrawn your authority to pay.
3 The owner has confirmed no bookings this year - so ask your bank to chargeback the deposit amount. I am sure you have enough compelling evidence to support this.  

The website they booked through www.northumbrian-cottages.info but it seems is not an actual business, rather the website is just part of a larger network called cottages.com which is in turn owned by a company called Vacation Rentals (UK) Ltd. which appears to be owned by a company called Hoseasons Ltd.

There is no risk of future payments. The bank have ensured that.

As the original booking was made over 120 days ago I though a chargeback would not work. I don't know the original booking date but it was probably a year or so ago. I will get my Dad to ring the bank again and try to talk them into a chargeback. If they refuse then it looks like it is a letter before action against the owner.

Find out the date of the transaction before calling the bank. There is nothing worse that a customer calling without the details. It is not easy to search systems and find transactions when you do not know when it was. Especially at the moment with so many customers calling and long wait times.
Even had customers call and they had not used us for payments. Just called as their other bank had not answered 1st, on the off chance it was us....
So long as that 1st payment is within 540 days you are OK.

bap98189

Thank you everyone for the advice. The bank have agreed to process a chargeback for the deposit and blocked any further payments being taken from the card so it appears the problem is solved.

eskbanker

bap98189 said:

Thank you everyone for the advice. The bank have agreed to process a chargeback for the deposit and blocked any further payments being taken from the card so it appears the problem is solved.

Good news, but bear in mind that the merchant still has the opportunity to dispute the chargeback during the following 45 days, which may result in the (provisional) refund being reversed, so don't count those chickens just yet!  Based on what you've posted, they don't have a leg to stand on, but who knows how they might paint it to the bank....