Part payment by credit card, can it be refunded?

Krystaltips

I'm getting married later this year and MIL to be made a payment towards the cost of the reception, £1,280 out of about £3,000. She paid this money direct to the hotel on her partners credit card and it was deducted from our bill, we've also paid some money off the bill to make the final amount less scary...

Now my future MIL being an *Insert expletives here* has changed her mind and decided she doesn't want to make a contribution... Is there a way she can reclaim this money from the hotel via a direct refund or a chargeback on the credit card?

In an ideal world we would be able to give her the money ourselves and tell her where to stick it to make the world a happier place.... But this isn't an ideal world and the wedding is costing as much as we can afford as it is....

PROLIANT

Sounds like a nasty piece of work to me, tell the !!!!!! to get stuffed, bumped. But you may have to check with the hotel first.

Krystaltips

Tried to check with the hotel but the wedding coordinator is away till Tues and she's the one who took the payment... Suppose we'll just have to play the waiting game...

PROLIANT

Krystaltips wrote: »

Tried to check with the hotel but the wedding coordinator is away till Tues and she's the one who took the payment... Suppose we'll just have to play the waiting game...

People should not make a gift then retract it later, family or not, tell her she is not getting it back and to stop being so bloody selfish and nasty, if I give a gift to somebody I dont ask for it back a week later, tell her it is not possible to retrive the money and you will give her a tenner a week until it is paid off.

Belnahua

Why not cancel the reception, and just make it a small affair with a few trusted friends and close relatives and make it a meal at a local nice pub. Then explain to others that money's tight and due to a promised contribution being withdrawn you cannot afford a lavish do anymore. Some may well contribute and make it big again, and others should know why you've had to pull the plug and blame the right person. No point in starting your new life in debt and then the blame spirals out of control for your debts?

Krystaltips

Cancelling the arrangements is not really an option, we've already paid £1000 ourselves and if we cancel less than 6 months from the date of the function are liable for 50% of the full cost so would basically end up losing what we've already paid.

We do have a back up plan via my Mom's credit card which has nothing outstanding on it so it would just be ours to pay off (if I make sense there) but we don't want to start married life together paying for the wedding...

If it turns out that she can't claim the money back from the hotel or from the credit card company then she can basically whistle for it...

Alfie_E

Could she do it legally? No. In practice, could it be reversed? It’s possible.

The credit card issuer can be asked to start a chargeback. ‘I’ve changed my mind’ isn’t a valid reason, so she’d have to lie. As it’s her partner’s credit card account, I assume she’ll have to persuade him to start the chargeback. The offence itself probably comes under the new fraud act. If she lies and manages to convince the credit card issuer to start a chargeback, it will come down to how the hotel acts. The hotel might not want the hassle of defending the chargeback and just refund your MIL’s contribution. After all, they’ve also got £1000 of your money. So, if it all falls through, the hotel isn’t likely to be out-of-pocket. If the hotel took the card details over the phone, defending the chargeback could be a real hassle for them.

Krystaltips

Thanks Alfie, they actually went to the hotel together in person to pay so I suppose that makes it harder to chargeback...

What I'm hoping is if she does call the hotel and talk to the wedding coordinator she will just say she can't discuss the account because it's in our name... But who knows... MIL is claiming she's spoken to the manager and he's said she can have a refund... But then she's full of what most people flush away...

Ugh, as if organising a wedding wasn't stressfull enough!