Booking Direct With Hotel - Section 75

A_Geordie

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81920067#Comment_81920067

I don't think I'm saying that but to be clear, I am suggesting there are viable mechanisms and it's like any other process you would do with a breach of contract which is gather the evidence.

For a s75 claim such as this where there may be a question of the DCS chain breaking, I would probably look at:

• the terms and conditions if it mentions anything around payments and how they are processed
• what does it say on the invoice as to who I've paid.
• check the bank statement, does that match the invoice and terms and conditions. If not, why not and challenge it with my CC provider under the PSRs. The response time under PSRs is 15 business days and not treated as a complaint in the usual way.
• Do some research into the payee and see if there's anything to suggest how they operate e.g. payment processor or something more than that.

All of the above will feed into whether there's a viable claim for s75 and also allow you to anticipate the CC provider's response, especially if the named payee on the statement is different to the supplier. The onus will be on the CC provider to prove otherwise and all of this information is within their remit to verify since they have the ability to trace the payment transactions back to the account where the funds were deposited. In the OP's case, this will either Tripla or the hotel provider.

The CC provider can choose not to provide evidence, but that would suggest if they did disclose evidence, they would be doing something that contradicts their position.

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81920074#Comment_81920074

Really? Would be interested to know more about that case.

Certainly banks and insurers have asked for judicial reviews and the ombudsman has lost those but that doesnt quash the actual decision because FSMA makes the decision binding. It does however impact future decisions by the ombudsman on the same subject.

Ive not heard of any case where the courts have changed an actual decision. Would be interested to know if its the customer that appealed and the FS firm that showed the non-binding FOS decision as part of their defence or a mechanism does exist for the FS firm to take it to court outside of the judicial review.

eskbanker

Is this the case referred to perhaps?

https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2025/1369.html

A_Geordie

Linear Investments Limited v Financial Ombudsman Service Limited:

https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewca/civ/2025/1369

The facts of the case are dull and boring but the pertinent comment from the court is here:

101. I therefore consider that the Ombudsman’s Decision proceeded on an inaccurate approach to the law of contributory negligence. Whilst I fully accept that the Ombudsman was not obliged to apply the law in this respect, he was obliged by DISP 3.6.4R to take it into account. That implies that he should take it into account accurately. Moreover, according to the principles in Heather Moor, as explained in Options UK  (above), if the Ombudsman was departing from the law, he ought to have explained why. I do not consider that he did either of those things correctly, and the Judge was wrong to hold otherwise.

Th award was quashed and remitted back to the FOS for a decision to reconsider what award should be given and/or reduction based on the contributory negligence of the complainant.

MyRealNameToo

I work in insurance, Im used to dull and boring.

It'll also at least provide an alternative to negotiating over a CoC clause and the weird and wonderful proposed wordings the vendor keeps suggesting today… whilst some were technically acceptable they were just such nonsense drafting couldn't accept them on principle and it could lead to a dispute in the future.

Civvy21

Once again thank you all for your extremely interesting comments.

Just for the record....

I decided to cancel this hotel booking. Regrettably the chances of us being able to go on this holiday are now 50/50 at best. Cancelling the booking on the Tripla website was straightforward. I received an email acknowledgement confirming the refund. The refund was received within two days.