Restaurant closed after taking deposit

willmilller

Hi, 
I booked a nice restaurant for my wife's birthday and paid a deposit £140. The restaurant then cancelled the reservation and has closed permanently. When they cancelled the reservation they said that refunds would be issued. Well so far no refund and all the email address I corresponded with to make the booking no longer exist. I paid for the deposit by debit card or BACs , i can't remember which but it was not on credit card. Is there anything I can do about this or is it just a case of tough luck?
Any advice gratefully received

eskbanker

If you paid by debit card then you should be able to invoke chargeback via your card provider, but that's not an option for a direct bank transfer - you should be able to tell which it was from your current account statement?

ArbitraryRandom

You could try checking on companies house for the business owners details - then ask them if there's a delay with refunds. 

I'm not clear if it's possible they're still trading in a different location or if the business is in the process of being wrapped up. 

DullGreyGuy

Debt cards have the same chargeback abilities as credit cards so that would be the normal route. 

If you paid by bank transfer instead, which would be really unusual, then you need to do more digging to find out what has happened... has the company gone bust or just decided to cease trading etc. 

Hoenir

How long ago was the last communication? 

willmilller

Hoenir said:

How long ago was the last communication? 

The email I received saying the restaurant was closing and that refunds would be issued was from 22/12/23. They asked for a bit of time to administer refunds. I emailed them for an update this week and the email just bounced back.

willmilller

Thanks all for your advice, I was not aware that you could dispute a payment or ask for chargeback on a debit card. I am currently on hold with my bank to start the process.

Hoenir

willmilller said:

Thanks all for your advice, I was not aware that you could dispute a payment or ask for chargeback on a debit card. I am currently on hold with my bank to start the process.

If the business has gone under then be surprising if there's any funds in the account. Most likely the Bank will have frozen the account. 

DullGreyGuy

Hoenir said:

willmilller said:

Thanks all for your advice, I was not aware that you could dispute a payment or ask for chargeback on a debit card. I am currently on hold with my bank to start the process.

If the business has gone under then be surprising if there's any funds in the account. Most likely the Bank will have frozen the account. 

Chargebacks are paid by the bank providing their merchant services. It's their problem as to if they can get any money back from their client though typically they'll be holding onto X days of transactions to cover these sorts of liabilities.