Please help! Booking.com taken £194 from me

la531983

Voyager2002 said:

Booking should have cancelled the transaction rather than issued a refund.

Raise a dispute with Barclays on the grounds that you paid for a villa and it was not provided. Note that the merchant gave only a partial refund.

That's likely not true. The actual reason has likely been posted above  

Hoenir

Barclays stated terms and conditions when paying by debit card. 

The non-sterling transaction fee

If you use your debit card abroad or pay in a currency that’s not sterling, we’ll charge you a 2.99% non-sterling transaction fee. This includes cash withdrawals in a foreign currency outside the UK, debit card payments in a foreign currency, refunds and shopping online on a non-UK website. If you’re withdrawing cash, the cash machine provider may apply other charges.

brianposter

This is a regular problem with US companies. To "refund" you they have to reverse the original transaction, not initiate a refund; ie it is a Booking.com problem.

Perhaps a banker will come along to explain the details.

martindow

brianposter said:

This is a regular problem with US companies. To "refund" you they have to reverse the original transaction, not initiate a refund; ie it is a Booking.com problem.

Perhaps a banker will come along to explain the details.

On my site I can void a transaction, but only if it is very soon after the payment - often a matter of hours.  This as Brian says reverses the transaction and it's as if it had never existed and I pay no merchant fees.  I suspect it depends on the bank as debit payments can be allocated but not taken until some time later - overnight maybe.

Once past this time refunding is the only option and with my card processor I pay the fees even though I have taken no money.  It maybe that Booking.com were not able to do anything but refund.  With international payments this is a real problem as the customer takes the hit with fees as the OP has found.

Voyager2002

la531983 said:

Voyager2002 said:

Booking should have cancelled the transaction rather than issued a refund.

Raise a dispute with Barclays on the grounds that you paid for a villa and it was not provided. Note that the merchant gave only a partial refund.

That's likely not true. The actual reason has likely been posted above  

From the customer's point of view that is true, presuming that what actually happened is as posted above.

zagfles

Voyager2002 said:

la531983 said:

Voyager2002 said:

Booking should have cancelled the transaction rather than issued a refund.

Raise a dispute with Barclays on the grounds that you paid for a villa and it was not provided. Note that the merchant gave only a partial refund.

That's likely not true. The actual reason has likely been posted above  

From the customer's point of view that is true, presuming that what actually happened is as posted above.

If, as seems likely, booking.com charged 1000 EUR and refunded 1000 EUR then that is a full refund, not partial. They've refunded the exact same as the amount paid. 

The problem appears to be OP is using a bank account that charges for those transactions. 

zagfles

martindow said:

brianposter said:

This is a regular problem with US companies. To "refund" you they have to reverse the original transaction, not initiate a refund; ie it is a Booking.com problem.

Perhaps a banker will come along to explain the details.

On my site I can void a transaction, but only if it is very soon after the payment - often a matter of hours.  This as Brian says reverses the transaction and it's as if it had never existed and I pay no merchant fees.  I suspect it depends on the bank as debit payments can be allocated but not taken until some time later - overnight maybe.

Once past this time refunding is the only option and with my card processor I pay the fees even though I have taken no money.  It maybe that Booking.com were not able to do anything but refund.  With international payments this is a real problem as the customer takes the hit with fees as the OP has found.

Only for customers who use accounts which charge forex fees. 

This sort of thing really should act as a wake up call to people who use cards which charge for foreign usage. They pay those fees every single time they use the card abroad, it only becomes obvious when they get a refund and it doesn't match and they then complain. 

daveyjp

I think the thread title needs changing.

'Beware using booking.com (and other overseas based sites) using a forex fee card' would be more accurate,

saajan_12

zagfles said:

Voyager2002 said:

la531983 said:

Voyager2002 said:

Booking should have cancelled the transaction rather than issued a refund.

Raise a dispute with Barclays on the grounds that you paid for a villa and it was not provided. Note that the merchant gave only a partial refund.

That's likely not true. The actual reason has likely been posted above  

From the customer's point of view that is true, presuming that what actually happened is as posted above.

If, as seems likely, booking.com charged 1000 EUR and refunded 1000 EUR then that is a full refund, not partial. They've refunded the exact same as the amount paid. 

The problem appears to be OP is using a bank account that charges for those transactions. 

Well no the problem is we're talking about refunds when it's really a breach of contract. Booking.com stated there was availability and contacted to provide the room on a certain date. As a result, OP incurred costs of €X to Booking.xom and 3% to the bank.

While not universal, this is a wholly anticipatable charge as most major UK banks charge 2.9% for FX and Booking.com expect to cater to UK customers since they're doing the conversion for them. Upon breaching, OP is entitled to recover all reasonably anticipated damages including the FX charge for the payment and refund if Booking.com can't pay in another way. If OP had to spend further money to chase this eg court costs then that would also be claimable if reasonable.

zagfles

saajan_12 said:

zagfles said:

Voyager2002 said:

la531983 said:

Voyager2002 said:

Booking should have cancelled the transaction rather than issued a refund.

Raise a dispute with Barclays on the grounds that you paid for a villa and it was not provided. Note that the merchant gave only a partial refund.

That's likely not true. The actual reason has likely been posted above  

From the customer's point of view that is true, presuming that what actually happened is as posted above.

If, as seems likely, booking.com charged 1000 EUR and refunded 1000 EUR then that is a full refund, not partial. They've refunded the exact same as the amount paid. 

The problem appears to be OP is using a bank account that charges for those transactions. 

Well no the problem is we're talking about refunds when it's really a breach of contract. Booking.com stated there was availability and contacted to provide the room on a certain date. As a result, OP incurred costs of €X to Booking.xom and 3% to the bank.

While not universal, this is a wholly anticipatable charge as most major UK banks charge 2.9% for FX and Booking.com expect to cater to UK customers since they're doing the conversion for them. Upon breaching, OP is entitled to recover all reasonably anticipated damages including the FX charge for the payment and refund if Booking.com can't pay in another way. If OP had to spend further money to chase this eg court costs then that would also be claimable if reasonable.

The PP said "Note that the merchant gave only a partial refund.". That appears not to be true. That was the point I was addressing. 

Whether the OP could claim costs from booking.com on top of the full refund is another issue. But I'd have thought it'd be easier to complain to the bank who may well waive their charges as a good will gesture.