Chargeback multiple transactions

[Lily55]

Hello. I am new here and didnt know where else to ask to be quite honest.

I have made a right mess of managing my bank account and need some advice.

 

Back in August, I

began saving money every week for my electric/gas bill which was due on the 1st September.

 

 

I get charged quarterly and it is usually around £250.

The £253.17 that the bill actually was was in my bank on time (to my knowledge).

 

 

Now here is where it gets a bit tricky.

 

 

I checked my bank a few days after the bill was due and sure enough, the balance was about £20, which meant the bill had been taken.

I thought nothing more of it, until

 

 

this month. I received a letter from EDF informing me that my account is in arrears.

It appears they never took the payment (mind I don't know why its taken them 2 months to contact me about it )

 

I don't understand much about banks,

I asked my son to check my online banking.

 

 

He went back to my august/september statement and it appears an online gambling company have taken 25 payments of £10 over the course of 3 weeks.

 

 

The funny thing is, I used to actually use this company, but I self excluded in November of last year.

I have NOT used their sites since then, partly because I don't think I could (self-exclusion means your accounts are closed and you cant open more)

and partly because I self excluded as I thought the site was dodgy.

.so why would I put any more money into it.

 

this other company took my gas bill money.

 

 

I don't know if it was actually the company, or someone accessing my account (that should have been closed according to the companies policy)

but something strange has gone on here, and I definitely did not authorize any payments to that site.

 

I have tried speaking to the site in question but have pretty much been palmed off with

'it was an error on our side not closing your account, and the money was spent by someone.. so you aren't getting refunded'

 

I told them as they are unwilling to investigate,

I will raise the issue with my bank I am aware of something called chargebacks

as I did one a few years back when I was double billed for something

(the company who doublebilled me actually advised I chargeback as it would have taken 7 days to get a refund from them, whereas chargeback is in a few hours)

 

My question is can I actually charge back 25 transactions in one go?!

 

 

They are all to the same company, all for the same amount too.

 

 

I have checked and I am still within the 120day limit.

 

 

Just..its going to be fun explaining to my bank why it has taken this long to actually realize there were fraudulent transactions.

 

 

I seriously need to keep an eye on my fiances from now on, I realise its partly my fault for not checking statements and such

[renegadeimp]

If they are unauthorised and you cna prove that you didnt make the transactions, then yes. However, if you get it chargedback, and the investigation shows that you did make the transactions, then the entire amount would be charged back to the company.

 

If you used a credit card, then the money stays with you and you are liable for the money owed with the company.

[Lily55]

Its a debit card, not a credit card.

 

I'm not too sure how I can prove I didn't make the transactions?

 

 

When I spoke to the company in question though,

they originally had my wrong email address and phone number on the account that the payments came from

(as they weren't going to discuss it with me at first, as my message was from a different email to the registered one),

which I guess could be a start?

 

 

Its quite hard to prove that something didn't happen..

[renegadeimp]

Go to your bank and tell them its unauthorised and possibly fraud. They are obliged to chargeback and carry out an investigation. DOnt let them tell you it will take a week or so, they can do it immediately.

 

If you want to force them, you can contact actionfraud, and get a crime number, but ONLY do this if you have evidence it is fraud.

[dx100uk]

go do a CPA, that would have been how they got the money

 

 

theres no limit on transactions nor time limit on CPA cancel/refund

 

 

you should get them all back.

 

 

dx

[Lily55]

Go to your bank and tell them its unauthorised and possibly fraud. They are obliged to chargeback and carry out an investigation. DOnt let them tell you it will take a week or so, they can do it immediately.

 

If you want to force them, you can contact actionfraud, and get a crime number, but ONLY do this if you have evidence it is fraud.

I have no evidence besides knowing I did not make any payments to that company

 

go do a CPA, that would have been how they got the money

 

 

theres no limit on transactions nor time limit on CPA cancel/refund

 

 

you should get them all back.

 

 

dx

What is a CPA? And how did they get my money with one? I don't understand this post at all sorry.

[renegadeimp]

CPA (Continuous Payment Authority) is a bank mechanic which allows a company to take money as and when they feel like, regardless of you cancelling the card.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?336569-How-to-remove-a-lender-s-continuous-payment-authority

[Lily55]

OK, so how do I do one of those for a refund? Thats how I read the post :S

 

If I call my bank tomorrow, I can do these 25 chargebacks at the same time then? Really dreading them thinking I'm an idiot when I explain why I have only just contacted them about problems back in August

[renegadeimp]

You can do a million chargebacks at the same time. Just dont listen to the phone operator. You may need to escalate it to a manager.

[dx100uk]

We have been telling people to put a letter into their bank instructing them not to make any payments under any circumstances to these companie

http://whatconsumer.co.uk/visa-debit-chargeback/- it works!

 

banks MUST follow written intructions from their customers !

This fsa guide has now been updated:

 

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pubs/consumer_...ghts_guide.pdf

 

Here's the text:

 

Cancelling a regular

card payment:

 

When you give your credit or debit card details to a company and authorise them to take regular payments from your account,

such as for a gym membership or magazine subscription,

it is known as a ‘recurring transaction’ or ‘continuous payment authority’.

These are often confused with direct debits, but do not offer the same guarantee if the amount or date of the payment changes.

In most cases, regular payments can be cancelled by telling the company taking the payments.

.

However,

you have the right to cancel them directly with your bank or card issuer by telling it that you have stopped permission for the payments.

Your bank or card issuer must then stop them – it has no right to insist that you agree this first with the company taking the payments.

Be aware, though, that you will still be responsible for paying any money that you owe.

.

see: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?336569-How-to-remove-a-lender-s-continuous-payment-authority(2-Viewing)-nbsp

.

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/consumerinformation/product_news/banking/know_your_rights/solving/index.shtml

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2012/feb/24/continuous-payments-authority-know-your-rights?newsfeed=true

[Lily55]

OK thanks very much

[raydetinu]

Why oh why did you not cancel the DD with your bank when you decided not to use that site again.

And you should check your bank statements regularly.

Best bet is to report it as fraud and an unauthorised DD deduction and see where they go from there.

[Lily55]

Why oh why did you not cancel the DD with your bank when you decided not to use that site again.

And you should check your bank statements regularly.

Best bet is to report it as fraud and an unauthorised DD deduction and see where they go from there.

 

It wasnt a DD.

[raydetinu]

so how was it paid to them then??

 

 

if just a debit deduction/transaction, then they will have to prove you authorised it

and how did they get you security number on the back of the card!!!! ( usually record phone calls or keep records of on line transactions.

 

Defo sounds like fraud then, unless somebody else had access to your card?

[Lily55]

OK one last question.

 

 

Last time I did a chargeback,

I got the money within 2 hours.

Does this happen everytime?

I'm just wondering if I only got it so fast last time because the company in question had actually advised me to do one?

 

I kinda need it asap to pay the bill that it was meant for.

 

 

I know gas/electric companies cant just cut you off, and I have explained the matter to EDF and they seemed to understand. I just really don't like being in debt to anyone :/

[Lily55]

so how was it paid to them then?? if just a debit deduction/transaction, then they will have to prove you authorised it and how did they get you security number on the back of the card!!!! ( usually record phone calls or keep records of on line transactions.

Defo sounds like fraud then, unless somebody else had access to your card?

 

Must be a card payment, as as far as I am aware thats the only kind of payment that site do.

 

No-one has had access to my card.

[dx100uk]

its a cpa get it cancelled and you'll instantly get the money back

 

 

New june 2013

Regulator orders Banks and mutuals to review complaints about not cancelling recurring payments from November 2009.

Consumers who have set up a regular payment from their account will now be able to successfully cancel that arrangement

by contacting their card provider, the Financial Conduct Authority said.

The FCA has been examining how easy it is for customers to cancel Continuous Payment Authorities (CPAs)

due either to payday lendersicon or for other regular payments such as subscriptions or gymicon memberships.

CPAs, which are also commonly called recurring transactions or recurring payments,

are relatively easy to set up but can be hard to cancel, causing problems for consumers trying to manage their finances,the FCA said.

Now, following the FCA review of how the largest high street banks and mutuals process requests to cancel CPAs, they have agreed that they will ensure that when a customer asks for a recurring payment to end, that will be sufficient to cancel the arrangement. They have also confirmed that should a payment go through by mistake following cancellation by a customer the customer will be refunded immediately.

In addition to securing this commitment, the largest banks and mutuals have agreed to review every individual complaint they have received about the non-cancellation of a CPA and to pay redress where payments have continued to be made despite the customer cancelling the arrangement. This applies to all complaints since November 2009 when the Financial Services Authority, the FCA’s predecessor, began regulating banking conduct.

Clive Adamson, the FCA’s director of supervision, said: “It’s important that consumers are confident that banks are meeting their everyday banking needs. Today customers can be confident that when they ask for a Continuous Payment Authority to be cancelled – it will be cancelled - and that it can be done easily.

“We recognise that historically this is an area where some customers have struggled but the banks and mutuals have responded positively to our work on this issue. From now on we expect them to be getting this right. In addition, they have committed to review past complaints.”

http://www.ftadviser.com/2013/06/28/...J/article.html

http://www.ftadviser.com/2013/06/28/regulation/regulators/fca-banks-have-to-cancel-recurring-payments-if-requested-UxbeHUuYQIy0SEYbGRE4tJ/article.html

[renegadeimp]

Make sure you print that info out and show it to the bank. A lot of banks conveniently 'forget' the rules.

[raydetinu]

It would show on statement what sort of transaction it was!

[Lily55]

02 Sep 13 Company*** DEB 10.00 54.41

 

All seem to be just debits.

Edited November 26, 2013 by Lily55
My posts keep spacing out weirdly for no reason :/

[renegadeimp]

CPA's dont show on the user side. Only on the banks side.

[raydetinu]

yes they do! at least mine does.

noted as debit card purchase; on line, DD, STO, bank giro, etc. or should do!

[renegadeimp]

Yes, those markers show, but the use of a CPA only normally shows on the banks side. It is rarely shown to the account holder unless they request a SAR.

[Lily55]

Just to let everyone know how this turned out.

 

 

Halifax were extremely helpful and have opened a dispute against the payments and are refunding me within 24 hours.

 

 

They couldnt mark it as fraud apparently as I had used the site last year,

but they understood that these transactions made august/september were not me.

 

 

Couldnt block future payments to the company as it wasnt a continuous payment, just debits.

 

 

But it seems its all going to be fine.

 

 

Unless the company try to argue that the transactions were real,

 

 

but I dont see how they could prove that seeing as they weren't.

[raydetinu]

Good, but you must be able to stop this happening again? change your pin no. or card!

What do Halifax suggest?