please help

johnny_donnie

I am distraught! I wanted to pay for my licence renewal and typed in the DVLA website on the renewal notice. I clicked on the first thing that came up which said 'DRIVING LICENCE APPLICATION' and so I proceeded. Long story short, as well as the £14 I was expecting to be charged as I thought I was on the DVLA website, I was charged a total of £94 of which £80 is apparently their admin fee that wasn't made obvious and that I only realised when I checked my online banking! I immediately contacted my bank and after a long conversation and huge relief, I was told that the money would go through and show up BUT my money would be returned to me a couple of days later. When I saw this hadn't happened, I again called my bank who now tell me differently despite being told I was getting it back via the original phone call and in a message via the banks chat.  I feel so utterly stupid and never thought I would fall for something like this. I have contacted the company who's website I stupidly went through to ask for a refund and am waiting to hear back.  As well as feeling utterly stupid, I have lost money that was to be used for my child's birthday in a couple of days which is a real smack across the face. How can the bank having assured me I would get the money back and me feeling utter relief to now being told that I have been given misinformation by them and now have to go through a process which may or may not result in me getting my money back. The name of the company that has taken my money is called LICENCE ASSISTANCE which I didn't find out until I saw the payment as pending on my statement and when I looked back on the website DRIVING LICENCE APPLICATION is what is says, no company name. Should the bank stand by what they assured me of in the initial conversation and online chat? Any advice would be appreciated. No need to tell me I've been foolish, I already know and at the end of the day it's my daughter missing out.
Sue Wood 

pbartlett

Unfortunately you have fallen for what is a fairly common trap, and used this company to renew your licence.

No-one can blame you  - many have fallen for it.

You won't get your money back as you agreed to use them to renew your licence and £80 is what they charged for this.

They pay Google to come top of the search results. Google don't care one iota as long as they get paid.

tacpot12

While you have a right to expect the adviser you speak to give you the correct advice, but it's not a perfect world and mistakes can happen. The adviser may have misunderstood your explanation of what happened, or may have not met the situation before and told you what they thought was correct without checking that it was. This should not happen, but it does.

You could complain to the bank, but please realise that you wanted to pay the company £90 and so your bank paid them £90 when you asked them to. They didn't make a mistake until they misadvised you that the money would be recoverable. You have lost nothing as a result of them mis-informing you. I don't think it will be as you didn't make a mistake in who you paid or the amount you paid. 

You best option to get the money back is to complain to the company that took your money.

johnny_donnie

When it came to paying who I thought was the DVLA. It said I would be paying £14! it only became apparent that the total was £94 when I checked my online statement that I realised something was obviously wrong and that it wasn't the DVLA that I had paid.

pbartlett

do you have the website address you went to?

johnny_donnie

www.gov.uk/renew-driving-licence  
I then clicked on the first thing that came up which says Apply Online-Renew-Change-Replace. when I clicked on it the first thing that comes up is Driving Licence Application. It wasn't until I checked the small print later (after seeing what had been taken) which is not obvious that a fee was involved and I stupidly didn't scroll down.  All of their info should have been at the top and obvious, so yep, stupid is an understatement to how I feel. When I paid it showed a total of £14 was the total payable and I only discovered what was taken and who I'd paid and what had happened when I looked at my statement.

sheramber

Would it be this one?

https://www.vehicle-services-online.co.uk/?theme=v5&gclid=CjwKCAjwi9-HBhACEiwAPzUhHASNiVlZf3zhdIfK94ob4tWrYh8snGUHkapzQLlhg7jpSwmuh5cZOhoCYQoQAvD_BwE

We only charge £80 for our services for a full year: no subscription, no hidden cost; and are detailed below:

• ....................................

• Please note, Licence Services is in no way affiliated with the government. You can apply onto the UK Government website or DVLA to benefit from a reduced cost.

• ........................................

We are in no way affiliated with the government of the United Kingdom or the DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency).
We are a third party processing agency which charges a service fee for additional benefits.

Tornimäe tn 5 Kesklinna Linnaosa Tallinn, 10145 Harju Maakond

cymruchris

johnny_donnie said:

www.gov.uk/renew-driving-licence  
I then clicked on the first thing that came up which says Apply Online-Renew-Change-Replace. when I clicked on it the first thing that comes up is Driving Licence Application. It wasn't until I checked the small print later (after seeing what had been taken) which is not obvious that a fee was involved and I stupidly didn't scroll down.  All of their info should have been at the top and obvious, so yep, stupid is an understatement to how I feel. When I paid it showed a total of £14 was the total payable and I only discovered what was taken and who I'd paid and what had happened when I looked at my statement.

Did you put that address in the url bar at the top of your browser - or In a google search bar in the middle of your browser? I think you’ve performed a ‘search’ for gov.Uk rather than gone directly to the site - then the search results came up - and you clicked the first link - which would have been an advert for one of these companies that charges these fees. 

Many have fallen into the trap - by just clicking through and not really paying much attention until the Payment shows on a bank statement.

have a look at your browser history - I’ll bet you a chocolate eclair that the ‘actual’ website you visited wasn’t a gov.Uk one. 

Most of these companies do provide several warnings that they are not the Dvla - but in our rush to get things done - many people don’t notice them or read the small print. 

Unless the company themselves agree to a refund - it’s unlikely you’ll get anything back - so it’ll be an expensive lesson to read the screen carefully when you’re buying something - and that if you’re supposed to be on a gov.Uk website - that you’re double checking you’re actually on one, by closely monitoring the url bar. 

user1977

johnny_donnie said:

www.gov.uk/renew-driving-licence  

No, that's the real DVLA website, not the site you went to.

johnny_donnie

That is it but as I said above it wasn't obvious to me when I clicked on the link thus feeling totally stupid. My issue now is of course trying to get my money back and the misinformation from the bank. I'm not rolling in it and feel utterly foolish. I'm the person who always said I wouldn't fall for it! I did it all through an iPad which shows the amount of information apparent differently to a computer. Still there is the small print in light grey which passed me by as I was intent on renewing my licence. 

johnny_donnie

plus when I paid it said I was paying £14 in big bold numbers.