£149.50 Order - £600 held for almost 1 month

[Reser]

Hi,

 

I made on order on 27/12/2010 on Pixmania.com for a graphics card + Adapter for £153. Item was shown as 'In Stock' and was listed on their website as one item, a bundle. Within a week they dispatched the adapter and not the graphics card, on my order it said there was one awaiting dispatch. Later this changed to 0 awaiting dispatch and the stock changed to awaiting stock 8-10 days.

 

I was charged a fee of about £3.50 for the adapter and the remaining money was 'held' from my account.

 

What happened next is my major problem. Every week since then another £150 has been held, constantly building up untill finally i have ended up with my entire bank balence held by this company, I did not realise until they had the entire £600 held and I could no longer withdraw any money.

 

Now I am in a situation where I have NO money thanks to this company holding £600 for an order of £149.50. I rang the bank to dispute the hold and ask them to cancel it, and they told me because there is no proof it is a duplicate hold since they can not see the company holding 3 of the charges, even theough the amount held is identicle for each hold, they imply I have orderd 4 things for the exact same price! and refuse to do anything about it and tell me to ring the company.

 

I then rang Pixmania, they admitted they had done it, said it was a mistake and it would be fixed and they would ring me back in an hour or two, this was on Thursday, still no call back.

 

My question is what are my rights here? Is this legal that they have held my entire bank balence when I only made an order of £150? I am having major problems with the lack of money and the bank tells me i have to wait 10 Business days for the first hold to wear off.

 

Also another problem is as soon as a hold wears off they hold another £150! £150 of the hold wore off yesterday and now they have held another £150, and this is AFTER the phone call I made to them and after i made them aware and they said it would be fixed.

 

Another question I have is my legal right to this order, they have dispatched part of the item and not the rest, they have held the money, and charged me for the adapter at an indidual price when it was not listed individually it was part of a bundle that was sold for £153 all as one item, so in theory they have reached the dispatch stage and so are they now obligated to complete this order?, and if so what do I do if they keep telling me they have no stock when it said it was in stock when I orderd and then chaged to 8-10 days and then still after 8-10 days still is apparently not in stock? They have similar products but of different brands I would be willing to accept in place of the one I ordered, however cost slightly more, would they be legally obliged to provide me with an alterantive now they have dispatched part of the item?

 

Thank you for any help.

[dx100uk]

how did you pay?

 

if you gave them your debit or credit card number then do a chargeback

 

cancel [say its lost] the card and make sure no dd exists in their name.

 

dx

[Reser]

I paid with a Visa Debit card and none of this unholds my money without me having to wait 10 working days.

 

Also my question was is it legal and is there anything I can do against them for it if it is not legal?

 

Also this order I would prefer not to cancel, I can not find this product any cheaper and I would like to know if I have a right to this product given they have already dispatched half of the item and I orderd it all the way back on the 27/12/2010 when it said it was in stock and then changed it to 8-10 days wait for stock about 16 days ago.

[dx100uk]

i wonder if distance selling rules apply here.

 

might be worth a look

 

dx

[mrpenguin]

So this company has taken an additional number of unauthorised payments?

 

Surely there is some form of legal recourse - In my eyes, if someone takes my money without my permission that is theft!

 

The facilities do exist to reclaim your money but any other costs incurred as a result of the unauthorised taking of funds I would claim back from the retailer - plus interest!