Money taken for a trip that didn’t happen

[Petrus1983]

Not sure if I should post here - or a more financed based area of PH, but I’m looking for some help. I tried to book a few nights away but having filled out the booking form and card details the website popped up “unable to process card details” - when I went to go back through the process no rooms were then available. No biggy, these things happen. However - 2 days later I see they’ve taken the full amount (circa £400). I’ve phoned the hotel chain who acknowledged I didn’t have a reservation (which I would have been able to cancel up to the day before anyway) - but they did see they’d taken my money due to “an error”.

But here’s the thing really bugging me - despite acknowledging it’s their error and “must be annoying for you (me)” it’s going to take 15 days to refund my money. How the hell is it acceptable to use my card in such a way and hold those funds??

[Scrump]

Inform the bank/credit card company that this is a disputed transaction. Will still take time to get a refund but at least you will not be totally reliant upon the hotel chain.

[Petrus1983]

Scrump said:

Inform the bank/credit card company that this is a disputed transaction. Will still take time to get a refund but at least you will not be totally reliant upon the hotel chain.

Thanks. Do you know if it’s actually legal to have taken the money?

[Countdown]

Petrus1983 said:

Not sure if I should post here - or a more financed based area of PH, but I’m looking for some help. I tried to book a few nights away but having filled out the booking form and card details the website popped up “unable to process card details” - when I went to go back through the process no rooms were then available. No biggy, these things happen. However - 2 days later I see they’ve taken the full amount (circa £400). I’ve phoned the hotel chain who acknowledged I didn’t have a reservation (which I would have been able to cancel up to the day before anyway) - but they did see they’d taken my money due to “an error”.

But here’s the thing really bugging me - despite acknowledging it’s their error and “must be annoying for you (me)” it’s going to take 15 days to refund my money. How the hell is it acceptable to use my card in such a way and hold those funds??

They probably only do payment runs fortnightly (or it might be weekly but somebody "creating" the refund payment and somebody approving it might take 5 working days, and the Purchase Ledger team processes invoices 5 days after approval to improve cashflow etc).

Long story short - 15 days isn't surprising. Our bank normally tells us "6 weeks" to get our money back when a payment we have made has gone astray.

[Mandat]

Petrus1983 said:

Thanks. Do you know if it’s actually legal to have taken the money?

Well, you initiated the transaction, and attempted to make payment, therefore the transaction was authorised by you. On that basis why do you think that it was not legal for the money to be taken from your account?

I don't know what or why the booking error occurred, but since the hotel have acknowledged their error, and are processing the refund, what illegal activity are you alleging?

[Petrus1983]

Mandat said:

Petrus1983 said:

Thanks. Do you know if it’s actually legal to have taken the money?

Well, you initiated the transaction, and attempted to make payment, therefore the transaction was authorised by you. On that basis why do you think that it was not legal for the money to be taken from your account?

I don't know what or why the booking error occurred, but since the hotel have acknowledged their error, and are processing the refund, what illegal activity are you alleging?

I was just asking

At the point of saying the payment hadn’t gone through and the payment wasn’t taken I’d have assumed that then using my details down the line seem a little wrong.