Advice Needed - Card Declined Transaction Debt recovery

Newton680

Purchased Petrol value £20.01 tapped the card reader and left the store.  4wks later received a Notice of Enforcement for £65.01 stating I drove off without paying for fuel.  I contacted the Garage who have CCTV evidence showing me tapping the card reader.  At no point did the Cashier say my card had been declined or ask me to repeat the payment or make any request for me to return to the till.  I left the store believing I had paid for the fuel.  I do not dispute the fact that I owe and are willing to return to the garage and pay £20.01 but I object to having to pay £45.00 because the Cashier made an error.  Contacted the Garage I either pay £65.01 or a CCJ will be issued.  The Notice of Enforcement has come from a Fuel Debt Recovery Company.  Your comments and advice would be greatly appreciated  

born_again

If you tapped the card, then decline/enter pin message will have come up on screen. So sadly you must have walked away without checking. So you are as much at fault as cashier, who may have been distracted by pumps needing resetting.

No consumer right here, over this. So you will have to pay up.

Phoenix72

Don't think there is any legal basis for the £45 charge. Pay for the fuel you owe and let them decide what they want to do. They can't just issue a CCJ and would need to go to court and as you have a valid defence they would lose.

As an aside I alwaya wait till the machine or cashier confirms it's gone through before waltzing off.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Pay the garage £20.01 OP, with regards to the extra fees, go to source on that one is:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5996209/debt-collector-fees

sourcrates said:

Easy, debt collectors don’t buy debts, they just act upon instruction from their clients, in a 3rd party capacity.

Debt purchasing companies such as Lowell, Cabot, and Arrow Global buy bad debts, usually in bulk, so unless you have received a “notice of assignment” in the post, and/or a letter confirming the sale to a new owner, this company are just acting on behalf of the original client, so have no right/power or creed, to charge you anything.

What you are referring to is an “LBA” letter before action, this has not progressed that far as yet, the Pre-action protocol only applies if they intend to take legal action, which the DCA cannot do, as, I said before, they don’t own the debt.

What they have sent you is a “pay up now” threatogram

eskbanker

Phoenix72 said:

Don't think there is any legal basis for the £45 charge. Pay for the fuel you owe and let them decide what they want to do. They can't just issue a CCJ and would need to go to court and as you have a valid defence they would lose.

As an aside I alwaya wait till the machine or cashier confirms it's gone through before waltzing off.

The Ts & Cs of the company may include reference to an admin fee for chasing non-payment, although in itself that doesn't necessarily constitute a legal right to do so, but worth checking first.

Personally I don't really think that waiting for payment authorisation is an 'aside', and that failure to do so is a valid defence, even though the expectation would be that the cashier would notice....

born_again

While the fee is a extra charge.
It could have been worse. Garage could have called the police for a drive away. Which would have been far worse for the OP.

sheramber

eskbanker said:

Phoenix72 said:

Don't think there is any legal basis for the £45 charge. Pay for the fuel you owe and let them decide what they want to do. They can't just issue a CCJ and would need to go to court and as you have a valid defence they would lose.

As an aside I alwaya wait till the machine or cashier confirms it's gone through before waltzing off.

The Ts & Cs of the company may include reference to an admin fee for chasing non-payment, although in itself that doesn't necessarily constitute a legal right to do so, but worth checking first.

Personally I don't really think that waiting for payment authorisation is an 'aside', and that failure to do so is a valid defence, even though the expectation would be that the cashier would notice....

It can take a while to change to approved if the  system is busy.  Plenty of time to walk away.

I do not put my card away until I see 'approved'.

Ectophile

born_again said:

While the fee is a extra charge.
It could have been worse. Garage could have called the police for a drive away. Which would have been far worse for the OP.

The police wouldn't have done anything.  Filling up with petrol and driving away is one of those offences that have effectively been de-criminalised, because the police are too busy to even investigate.

user1977

Ectophile said:

born_again said:

While the fee is a extra charge.
It could have been worse. Garage could have called the police for a drive away. Which would have been far worse for the OP.

The police wouldn't have done anything.  Filling up with petrol and driving away is one of those offences that have effectively been de-criminalised, because the police are too busy to even investigate.

And in any event it isn't a crime to attempt to pay but not realise the card was declined.

pinkshoes

It's a mistake. Not a crime.

The card accepted beep is the same as the rejection beep. I've often not realised my card has been declined and wants the pin until prompted by the cashier, especially when tired.

They can't just issue a CCJ. They'd have to take you to court. 

I'd go into the garage and say that you've just been informed that your card didn't work and the cashier didn't tell you so you would like to pay the £20 you owe. 

Yes you perhaps should have noticed but so should the cashier.