Unauthorised Credit Card Charge

[iloveglee]

does anyone know what to do about a charge made to my credit card, which i had not authorised. this is not exactly fraud, as i have not had the card stolen, or hacked. i purchased a service from this company (taxi booking), for which i authorised the payment, plus any charge for a change to the booking. there was a voucher on offer for a £5 reduction in the price, which i accepted. the taxi payment went through, no problem. i received an e-mail suggesting i had subscribed to some rewards scheme, which i did not. then a payment for £25 has appeared on my card. i then looked at reviews for this company, and wish i had done so before using them. apparently you somehow, without being asked, sign up for the rewards scheme, for which there is a charge of £25, without any mention of paying for it. the terms and conditions of this company say they do not store credit card details, so how are they able to take further payments from your card, with no authorisation. i am not sure what they have done is illegal but it is definitely sharp practice. as i did not authorise this payment, is there any way of stopping them getting the money. apparently there is no refund of this from them. no-where in their terms and conditions, which i have read several times, is there any mention of this rewards scheme payment, and i cannot find any specific terms and conditions relating to it. nowhere on the website are you asked if you would like them to store your card details for future use. something i would never do anyway. has anyone had experience of this company (taxicodes)

[iloveglee]

I think that anyone seeing an abta logo on a company's website would think they are members of abta. i didn't know, and im sure many people would not know that abta membership is not available to companies such as this. as well as all the other suspect business practices they use, another one is to take a booking, even though they know, from a previous booking they cannot fulfil it, and of course take your money. it seems to me that they must be making quite a good living out of keeping peoples money in their accounts for a few weeks, even though they end up having to give it back eventually. i am just not sure what, if anything, can be done about them. i have seen the links to trading standards but past experience of them has not been positive.

[alphacentaurus]

If you dont get any joy with the company ask your credit card provider to put the item in dispute. Keep a record of any communications with the company and keep any emails to forward on to your credit card provider. Amex is superb at sorting this type of problem.

[iloveglee]

Thank you. Having done further trawls of online law etc. i believe that in law, when buying goods or services at a distance, i.e. internet, phone etc. you have the right to cancel said goods or service within 14 days, and get a refund, minus any benefit you might have had so far from the service, or goods. in which case, it seems to me that the terms and conditions of the actual taxi booking might be in conflict with this law, as they do not allow any cancellation with return of payment after 14 days prior to the service being provided. i might have to look further into this.

[iloveglee]

just as an update to this. the payment did hit the account as a continuing payment, despite many e-mails to them formally cancelling this so called service, and warning them that if they insisted on taking the payment, i would report it as fraud. which i have had to do. i have had numerous interactions over e-mail with them, all of their responses are 'script' messages, and they have totally ignored all my letters of cancellation, no response at all. they deserve everything they have coming. there are now many reviews on trustpilot about this very situation.