Travel company double charge

Smallet

The travel company Destination2 charged my credit card twice for the same holiday.. an overcharge  of £3300. They have credited my credit card account but too late for this month’s statements. Therefore I have had to move deposit account  funds in order to avoid 20% interest payments. I only discovered this error when we had the monthly statement- they refuse to give me compensation. I write to their MD but I just had another email from customer services. Not sure what to do next…

Mark_d

Compensation for what?  The overcharge of £3300 was refunded and you avoided the 20% interest.

DullGreyGuy

You have the best part of a month to pay off your statement. Will take a week or so for their refund to hit and you pay off the other 50% yourself before the payment due day. 

sausage_time

Be aware that not all credit cards offset refunds against any Direct Debit to be taken - and may take for the statement balance (assuming you normally settle in full by Direct Debit).  So you may have to speak to the card company, or make a manual payment (balance less the refund) this month.

grumpy_codger

Mark_d said:

Compensation for what?  The overcharge of £3300 was refunded and you avoided the 20% interest.

DullGreyGuy said:

You have the best part of a month to pay off your statement. Will take a week or so for their refund to hit and you pay off the other 50% yourself before the payment due day. 

The problem is that many CC companies don't count refunds for payments. If so, to avoid the interest the OP has to pay the statement balance in full, i.e. £6.6K instead of £3.3K.

A recent thread: Refunds don’t count towards payments

And my comment in it:

grumpy_codger said:

zagfles said:

It doesn't make sense for a refund to be treated as a payment, but some cards do eg Barclaycard as above. A refund is negative spending, so should count like spending (negative obviously).

It does make some sense. E.g. if you pay £10K before the statement day and get it refunded soon after.

Nasqueron

A refund if putting the card in credit could be taken back into the bank account after to balance off, it's not ideal of course 

MEM62

Smallet said:

I only discovered this error when we had the monthly statement- they refuse to give me compensation.

What is your actual (financial) loss?  

grumpy_codger

Nasqueron said:

A refund if putting the card in credit could be taken back into the bank account after to balance off, it's not ideal of course 

Debit £3.3K x 2
Statement balance £6.6K - to pay to have the interest waived.
Refund £3.3K
Current balance £3.3K

The refund doesn't put the card in credit. The OP has to pay £6.6K first and then claim £3.3K back.

MEM62 said:

Smallet said:

I only discovered this error when we had the monthly statement- they refuse to give me compensation.

What is your actual (financial) loss?  

The interest on £6.6K (and then on £3.3K after the refund) if the OP dosn't pay £6.6K before the due date. I think the OP used their money from some 'deposit' account (whatever this means) to pay extra £3.3K - and made some financial loss as a result.

Nasqueron

grumpy_codger said:

Nasqueron said:

A refund if putting the card in credit could be taken back into the bank account after to balance off, it's not ideal of course 

Debit £3.3K x 2
Statement balance £6.6K - to pay to have the interest waived.
Refund £3.3K
Current balance £3.3K

The refund doesn't put the card in credit. The OP has to pay £6.6K first and then claim £3.3K back.

MEM62 said:

Smallet said:

I only discovered this error when we had the monthly statement- they refuse to give me compensation.

What is your actual (financial) loss?  

The interest on £6.6K (and then on £3.3K after the refund) if the OP dosn't pay £6.6K before the due date. I think the OP used their money from some 'deposit' account (whatever this means) to pay extra £3.3K - and made some financial loss as a result.

Hence IF qualifier  

MEM62

grumpy_codger said:

MEM62 said:

Smallet said:

I only discovered this error when we had the monthly statement- they refuse to give me compensation.

What is your actual (financial) loss?  

The interest on £6.6K (and then on £3.3K after the refund) if the OP dosn't pay £6.6K before the due date. I think the OP used their money from some 'deposit' account (whatever this means) to pay extra £3.3K - and made some financial loss as a result.

I am not asking for the basis of the calculation, I am asking for the actual figure - which will depend on how the OP arranges the the card payment and how the refund is dealt with.  Whatever the amount it is not likely to be a big figure and it is this that will dictate how much effort it is worth putting into pursuing this.    

grumpy_codger

It can be a 'big'(ish) figure if the 'deposit' account is a notice one or a fixed rate account allowing early withdrawals with some fine.