Hi and thanks! I didn't send any letters no. I spoke to the bank over the phone about them taking any more money and they guaranteed me that no more money would be taken or paid to ariste holdings ltd. But that was all. What does this mean?

Hi, any help/advice will be greatly appreciated. Four weeks ago Ariste Holdings aka Cash Genie debited four transactions totalling £503 from my account. I won't go over all the details again but they were completely unauthorised and unexpected. So I got some much needed advice from CAG and got my money refunded by my bank the following day, via chargeback. Several days later I got a letter explaining that whilst the bank had refunded my money they were now to investigate the charges and respond within 21 days saying it was possible the charges will be re-applied to my account. So needless to say that on the 21st day from that letter (yesterday), the bank had done just that and debited £503 from my account once again! On calling them and speaking to the fraud investigator who is apparently in charge of my case I was told that they had spoken to cash genie and that simply because they had my name, address and phone number, the charges were legitimate and so authorised. This by the way, is EXACTLY what he said! He told me there was absolutely no way of getting my money back and to take it up with cash genie. I rang cash genie knowing full well they were not going to be of any help whatsoever but did so just to satisfy the bank's request. They said they were allowed to take money whenever they wanted simply because I owed them it. £180 was the total amount owed if that makes any difference. I'm now left in a worse situation than I was originally and would like to know where to go from here. Ultimately, to get my money back for good! I'm prepared to write letters etc. and know this isn't going to be a quick and easy process but I really don't know where to start and even where I stand. Just a link to some template letters would be helpful to get me going. I have searched the internet but found absolutely nothing relating to chargebacks being re-applied to a customer. This is a very brief summary of the whole saga so if any more details are needed or would help then please ask! Thanks,

Ok thanks, will try and get to a bank monday morning!

Hi and thanks, I may just do that. My working hours make it hard to get to a bank during the day which is slowing me down in doing so. Does anyone know the chances of my bank re-charging me for the transaction? Because to be honest I would rather stay with my bank, for now at least. I've been told the investigation can take up to 9 days so after this point I'm assuming it will have been dealt with. In the meantime I have taken almost all my cash out of my bank and will keep doing so until I am certain it's safe in there! Also, do my bank need to notify me if they are to re-charge me? And what would happen if the balance wasn't available? Thanks

I'm no expert on this but as I said above I got my money refunded instantly. It took about 40 minutes on the phone but I was just persistent and basically didn't take no for an answer. The last thing I said before they agreed to refund me was something like: "You've got no right to refuse a chargeback and I'm not getting off the phone until this is done". As DX said they HAVE to refund the money! Keep on asking to speak to a supervisor. I don't know if this made a difference but I told them I had been in touch with the FSA and was reading quotes directly from the FSA guide. (Link is in DX's first post, pages 15&16). This appeared to speed things up. The bank have said they are now investigating the charges and if I'm found to be at fault they will debit my account for the full amount without notice. So I will have to wait and see. I never wasted my time ringing Cash Genie and would advise no one else does either! Good luck!

Hi and thanks for the advice. After about 40 minutes on the phone and fourth or fifth person I spoke to I eventually got the entire amount refunded instantly, which is of course exactly what I wanted. However, the guy who refunded the transactions said they were now to investigate the transaction with the retailer (Cash Genie), and knowing what they're like I know they will say and do anything to convince the bank they were not in the wrong! He also said something along the lines of: "If you are found to be at fault and theses transactions were authorised we will debit your account for the full amount instantly and without notification". Firstly, is this allowed? Second is there anything I should or can do now to ensure this money doesn't disappear again? I have already cancelled and ordered a new debit card. I mean like going to the police / oft / ofs? Many thanks once again!

Ok great! Thanks a lot mate, will post how I get on tomorrow.

Wow! Thanks for the quick response. I now have some knowledge to back me up when I speak to my bank rather than just swallowing everything they feed me. But if possible can you tell me whether this chargeback process guarantees a refund of my money? Reading through the links it just says they raise a dispute. From the details I gave before, would you say it is clearly fraudulent activity? From a bank's point of view I mean. Surely they have broken the rules somewhere along the line? Thanks again!

Hi, any advice or previous experience greatly appreciated! I have recently had my account emptied by ARISTE HOLDING LTD, which you probably know is a trading name of cash genie. I got paid on 07/09/12 for the first time since March as I have been out of work. I checked my balance on-line at approx 1pm, after using my debit card at a well known and reputable retailer. By 4pm I had £70 available. Now, the cash genie loan I took out was on 14th December 2011 for £180. I paid them £60 on 23/12, but was unable to pay them the remaining balance in January. Also worth noting that at the start of January I lost and so ordered a new debit card meaning cash genie could not possibly have my new card details, right? Anyway in the recent months I have been receiving a lot of e-mails and spoken on the phone to a company called Carter Forbes who I believed were now in "charge" of collecting this debt. I did also have quite a long conversation with them at one point telling them my situation, how I was unemployed, and that I simply couldn't commit to any kind of pay back schedule until I was back in employment. Also that once I was, I would arrange some kind of settlement. They didn't seem to understand this and were extremely keen to get me to sign up to any sort of repayment; I now know why! So the charges they made on Friday were as follows: £200, £193, £100 and £10. There were also a list of about 15 other charges for varying amounts which didn't go through as the bank had stopped my card by that point. I saw this list in person in a branch of my bank (HSBC). An employee of the bank told me I would definitely get the money refunded and even allowed me to withdraw £200 cash over the counter, money which I didn't have available. I have since spoke to the bank over the phone and they say I need to wait for the charges to leave the account before they can look into it further. I am planning to ring them tomorrow morning as the charges now appear on my on-line banking statement. I have read several similar stories on line but none seem to have such a delay from the original loan to the "stealing" of money. Also I don't know how they got my card details or if they even need them? Can they charge with just your account number and sort code? Also are they allowed to charge a different card to the one that I've knowingly supplied them, without first contacting me? Their T's & C's aren't the most transparent. I feel that as long as I can prove that they have acted unlawfully I should be fine. Ultimately what I want is my money back! I would very much appreciate any help and advice on this matter as I am completely lost as to what I should do first. I have no idea exactly what is and isn't allowed and have realised from searching the internet that my bank are not going to just hand me my money back no questions asked. Likewise contacting one of the many associates of Cash Genie seems to be.. pointless. Please let me know if you need any more details about myself or this whole situation. Many thanks,