Section 75 refund claim

ChriR

I paid a large deposit for a new bathroom, but the company concerned has gone into liquidation. I paid the deposit using 2 different credit cards and my bank debit card. Do I claim a 'section 75' refund from both credit card companies for their share of the money? And will 1 or both of them also pay for the bank debit card part? 

born_again

No you do a chargeback for non receipt of goods on both Debit & Credit cards.
No need for S75.

Sandtree

S75 only applies to credit cards not debit cards. In theory you have two options, a chargeback on each card for their proportion or a S75 against the credit card for the whole amount.

Chargebacks are much quicker to be processed and given it will give you back all the monies owed it would seem the simpler route

TadleyBaggie

If the company in liquidation, then they may have no money to fund the chargeback.

[Deleted User]

That doesn't matter. It'll be paid by the bank which holds their merchant account.

born_again

TadleyBaggie said:

If the company in liquidation, then they may have no money to fund the chargeback.

Refunds come from retailers merchant bank. How they get it back is their problem...

ChriR

Unfortunately I paid the deposit over 2 years ago, and I understand that Chargeback has a time limit of 120 days. Work was initially due to start Nov 2019, then postponed to March 2020, and then completely postponed by the pandemic! The bathroom fitter said he would do the work 'when Covid calmed down', and unfortunately his company has folded in the meantime. So only section 75 can apply. Will the 2 credit card companies cover the debit card part as well as their own?

born_again

ChriR said:

Unfortunately I paid the deposit over 2 years ago, and I understand that Chargeback has a time limit of 120 days. Work was initially due to start Nov 2019, then postponed to March 2020, and then completely postponed by the pandemic! The bathroom fitter said he would do the work 'when Covid calmed down', and unfortunately his company has folded in the meantime. So only section 75 can apply. Will the 2 credit card companies cover the debit card part as well as their own?

You are going to have to speak to both CC's then and hope they can reach a agreement on the % to payout.
S75 should cover the debit card payment.

Sandtree

born_again said:

ChriR said:

Unfortunately I paid the deposit over 2 years ago, and I understand that Chargeback has a time limit of 120 days. Work was initially due to start Nov 2019, then postponed to March 2020, and then completely postponed by the pandemic! The bathroom fitter said he would do the work 'when Covid calmed down', and unfortunately his company has folded in the meantime. So only section 75 can apply. Will the 2 credit card companies cover the debit card part as well as their own?

You are going to have to speak to both CC's then and hope they can reach a agreement on the % to payout.
S75 should cover the debit card payment.

Is there a requirement for that? As far as I read the S75 it creates joint and several liability with the merchant. Therefore if there are multiple credit providers its the OPs choice if to claim from one, the other or both just as long as the total claimed doesnt exceed the total liability (which would be undue enrichment)

Cant see anything in the legislation saying if there are multiple credit providers that you have to involve all of them

born_again

In effect you can't just claim off one, as they will realise one of the claimed payments is another credit card payment. As such they will want to minimise their exposure. Asking you to contact the other card provider.

In effect what should happen is each provider refunds their CC payment & half the debit card payment. But that is far to simple & easy. Expect them to argue over the payout.

In reality if only contacting one CC, then go to the one that the 1st payment was made by. Which as a legal person would you agree. That they would be the party that is most liable as that is where any agreement would lay?

But you are correct there is nothing in the legislation about this. Which again shows S75 was never designed for CC's 🤷‍♂️

Sandtree

born_again said:

In effect you can't just claim off one, as they will realise one of the claimed payments is another credit card payment. As such they will want to minimise their exposure. Asking you to contact the other card provider.

In effect what should happen is each provider refunds their CC payment & half the debit card payment. But that is far to simple & easy. Expect them to argue over the payout.

In reality if only contacting one CC, then go to the one that the 1st payment was made by. Which as a legal person would you agree. That they would be the party that is most liable as that is where any agreement would lay?

But you are correct there is nothing in the legislation about this. Which again shows S75 was never designed for CC's 🤷‍♂️

This must be a very common scenario, go to any car dealership, furniture store etc and you'll see many people buying by paying the deposit on a credit card and then getting tied finance for the balance. So both would provide S75 protection for the full amount (assuming under £35k etc)

As the legislation is drafted it is joint and several liability meaning the vender and credit provider(s) are each fully liable to the consumer for the full amount... were that not the case then even if there was 1 credit provider they'd argue they should go 50/50 with the merchant. There is nothing in the legislation to say if there are multiple credit providers that the claim must be split or how it should be split.

I dont think it is common practice for credit providers to try and tell consumers that they must make a separate claim off each credit provider as otherwise this forum would be awash with cases where someone says they've done a S75 claim which Barclaycard have refunded their deposit but Blackhorse have declined the claim for the balance or are asking for extra info etc. Even checking on FOS, though not thoroughly, there are no similar complaints there about any issues between two credit providers. 

I wouldnt be surprised if there werent behind the scenes agreements between various lenders such that costs will be shared after the fact but those are invisible to the customer... I've seen many similar sorts of agreements/MOUs in the past between banks, insurers etc