Advice needed please - Misco double-charged for new laptop, unable to pay bills, pay cheque vanished into o/d

[exhale]

Hi everyone,

 

I ordered a £400 laptop from Misco a couple of weeks back. They took the money out of my account twice, leaving me over £700 overdrawn two days before payday, with me stranded in a Portsmouth hotel having no money to pay for my room bill or to get back home to London.

 

In the end a family member had to drive to Portsmouth and pay my hotel bill. The hotel cost isn't a problem, but all told I've had to fork out:

 

- £60 for bank charges

- £50 for fuel for the trip to Portsmouth and back

- Two days I was unable to buy anything, so I had to borrow money for transport to get to work, food, etc

- Many, many hours of my time and even more of my relative's time wasted because I had to be rescued

 

Misco have refunded the second £400 they took off me, but can I reasonably expect recompense for the bank charges, fuel, and the time lost due to their error?

 

Any help would be gratefully received!

 

Many thanks,

 

Al

[Hammy1962]

I may be mistaken but, two £400 withdrawls, to leave -£700, would have meant you only started with £100. That £100 was to be used to pay for 1 laptop and hotel bill?

 

Why couldn't the family member pay over the phone with a credit card. If you work away from home, why haven't you got a credit card?

 

Am I missing something?

 

Hammy

[gyzmo]

Err - overdraft? May have had £600 available? In any case, that's not the point.

 

I think some bank guru will be along to hep soon.

[Hammy1962]

It might not be the point, but it is a point. How can anyone help when it's not clear what the OP means.

 

Something is odd about the whole thing.

 

Hammy

[harrassed senior]

I do understand exactly where you are comming from. I have suffered something similar myself so know only too well the disaster anything like this can cause.

 

I would definitely go after Misco, draw up a full list of what their mistake cost you in actual terms (with receipts if possible). It is not just the money situation but the distress and worry that something like this can cause.

 

Many of us live from pay day to pay day, with no fall back funding available and when you know your reasonable expenses, someone doing this to your money can cause an absolute disaster. Once the chain of bank charges starts, it is sometimes impossible to get back to the status quo, so remember to factor in all the charges you are expecting and most importantly give them a date by which this compensation must be in the bank, and inform them that after that date, more charges will be added by the bank and you will then add these to your claim from Misco.

 

Hope this helps.