HSBC - Fraudulent Debit

[Beesnees]

Long story short.

 

 

Returned from holiday in Florence in early July booked thru Booking .com to find an unauthorized debit (around £170) on our HSBC statement in favour of Best Western Hotel.

 

Transaction date was prior to our departure from the UK, and we stayed at a B&B, not a hotel.

 

CrCards cancelled & replaced to forestall further unauthorized debits.

 

Immediately queried debit with bank,

who magnanimously credited the charge, and will send us a form to complete.

Never arrived.

 

 

Two further enquiries at our local branch, and we were told we'd get it eventually. Nope, never did.

 

Complained to both BWH and Booking.com - twice.

No response from BWH, and Booking.com were next to useless.

 

 

All they did was query the charge with our B&B (Locanda di Mosconi), who had absolutely nothing to do with the unauthorized debit.

 

Now received a letter from HSBC saying that their investigations turned up zip, and the debit will now be re-imposed, along with charges, interest, etc.

 

'Phoned to complain, and advised to ignore letter, as it was sent prior to completion of their enquiries!

Also assured that form will be sent this time. Hmm.......

 

Sorry, but I just don't believe them.

Sod's law stipulates that our a/c will be debited in around 2 weeks regardless of what we have been told, then a right royal battle to get it back again.

 

Now seriously considering closing the a/c to forestall re-imposition of the fraudulent charge, which I thought was their baby.

 

If we do that, can they still legitimately pursue us for the fraud?

 

Any advice appreciated, & apologies for the length of the short version.

[dx100uk]

well a little tip

cancelling the card does not stop these things

you need to instruct your bank to cancel the CPA..

 

 

GENERAL NOTES ON CHARGEBACK & Continuous Payment Authority & BACS

.....

We have been telling people to put a letter into their bank instructing them

not to make any payments under any circumstances to these companies

.

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

usually this should be done using the number on your debit card

.

banks MUST follow written intructions from their customers !

.

CANCELLING YOUR DEBIT CARD DOES NOT STOP CPA'S

.

This fsa guide has now been updated:

.

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/static/pubs/consumer_info/know_your_rights_guide.pdf

http://www.fca.org.uk/news/continuous-payment-authorities-your-right-to-cancel

https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/unauthorised-payments-account

.

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.

and that CANELLING YOUR CARD WILL NOT STOP THE CPA

.

..

.

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.”

.

.

Also mentioned your displeasure that as whomever took your money had obviously attempted this many times

probably activating your banks own anti fraud software - nobody had the decency to inform my you this was going on.?

.

.In the FSA's own words:

.

..

What should I do about a payment from my account that I didn’t authorise?

.

Your bank must refund an unauthorised transaction.

Money can only be taken from your account if you have authorised the transaction

or if your bank can prove you were at fault –

.

see below.

Contact your bank immediately if you notice an unauthorised payment from your account.

.

If you are sure you did not authorise the payment, you can claim a refund.

.

However, your bank does not have to refund you if you do not tell it about the payment until 13 months

or more after the date it left your account.

.

Your bank must refund an unauthorised transaction

.

------------------

.

Your bank may only refuse a refund for an unauthorised transaction if:

.

? it can prove you authorised the transaction

– though your bank cannot simply say that use of your password,

card and PIN proves you authorised a payment; or

.

? it can prove you are at fault because you acted fraudulently,

or because you deliberately,

or with gross negligence, failed to protect the details of your card, PIN or password in a way that allowed the transaction

.

-----------------------

.

How quickly must my bank refund me for an unauthorised transaction?

.

The bank must make the refund immediately unless it has evidence that one of the above reasons applies.

Your bank may ask you to answer some questions and fill out a form confirming what has happened,

but it cannot delay your refund while it waits for you to return the form.

If the bank has evidence that one of the above reasons for refusing a refund applies,

it may investigate before making a refund

but must look into it as quickly as possible.

If your bank rejects your claim for a refund it should explain why.

If the transaction was on a credit card, the refund may not happen immediately.

But the card issuer cannot charge interest or ask for repayment of the amount unless it can prove you are liable to pay

 

................

 

 

complain to the FOS/FCA if they do re charge you

sounds like it might be card fraud whilst abroad [ card got skimmed?}

[Beesnees]

Thx for the advice dx. I'm still inclined to close the a/c & be done with it, unless you think that might be a serious mistake.

 

sounds like it might be card fraud whilst abroad [ card got skimmed?}

 

Not possible. The trxn date precedes our departure, and only Booking.com and the B&B had our card details at that time.

 

A more likely explanation is that Booking.com were hacked, but kept quiet about it, or else someone at the B&B (possibly an employee?) used our card details to settle a debt with BWH.

 

Locanda di Mosconi is a family-run business that relies on word of mouth recommendation and jealously guards its reputation for honest, good-value service. The proprietors were mortified when Booking.com were quizzing them about this charge. They denied any knowledge, and seemed genuinely concerned that our stay was spoiled by this 'experience'. I seriously doubt they would jeopardise their standing for such a paltry gain. I can't speak for their employees, but I doubt the B&B had anything to do with this.

 

My money is on Booking.com being the source of this charge, but of course they also deny any knowledge. Needless to say, we won't be using them again.

[dx100uk]

wasn't commenting on not closing the account

[Beesnees]

Noted, and thanks.

 

We can manage quite well without this account, and closing it would appear to save a lot of potential hassle.