parkingeye have debited my credit card

[neilpierce]

As a newcomer I may be posting this in the wrong thread, but to be honest I'm not sure if this is an issue with Parkingeye or whether I have to question my credit card provider, M&S Money.
We have just received a monthly statement from M&S Money and one item on it, is showing a debit on my credit card of £52.95 (transaction dated September 21, date applied to account 22 September).
I have no knowledge of using the credit card for such an amount or to a payee called Parkingeye. At that time we were on holiday in NE England but we dont recall using the credit card to pay for parking. And anyway, why would we be racking up such a bill for parking!?!
I have done some research to discover that Parkingeye appear to be using technology to send parking charge notices to people who have parked in a wide range of locations that they 'manage'. They seem to also have some relationship to a company called Verrus. There seems to be lots of advice on various sites and forums, including on here, to people suggesting that they should ignore demands for payment.
However, I dont have a demand for payment that I can ignore. I have a debit that has already been applied to my credit card and it appears in the bottom line of my statement.. so I guess that means Parkingeye already have the money.. and if I dont pay M&S Money I will start to rack up interest with them.
I'm rather intrigued at the manner in which they have managed to apparently link my car (presuming it was my car) to a credit card account, but of course I have no proof that they have actually done that.
I have queried the transaction with M&S Money and am currently waiting someone to investigate and get back to me.. however I'm disturbed that this is happening and that Parkingeye appear to now have a way of charging people's accounts without any transaction having taken place (or at least not authorised by me). In the past they have just been issuing parking charge notices.
Any advice or thoughts would be gratefully received.
Cheers

[labman]

Re: parkingeye have debited my credit card

I have never heard of this happening before. I think you have done the correct thing in disputing the charge with M&S Money. I would also ask for it in writing that you won't incur any interest, late payment costs or adverse markers on your credit reference file pending the outcome of their investigation.

I trust you have asked for a chargeback as you only have a limited time in which to do this (30 days?????)

[neilpierce]

Re: parkingeye have debited my credit card

Labman. Thank you for your prompt response. We will ask them for the interest waiver on the charges in writing.. but sorry, I dont know what you mean about asking for a chargeback. Please could you explain?
Thanks

[labman]

Re: parkingeye have debited my credit card

If you have not received goods or a service for which you have paid, under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act you can ask for your money to be refunded - in this case removing £52.95 from your balance.

When I talked about getting it in writing, I meant getting it in writing from them they are not going to add interest etc... to this balance as they may claim they may agree to it verbally now, then claim they never said it later on. There is a golden rule with anything like this - everything in writing for the avoidance of doubt.

[teaboy2]

Re: parkingeye have debited my credit card

Likewise, i have never heard of this. Though i suggest a strong complaint to the OFT be made here, as well as the ICO as their clearly must have been a data breach somewhere that enabled them to obtain your card details. Either that or someone else was find and fraudulent gave you card details. So may be worth asking for a replacement card too.

[bluebottle]

Re: parkingeye have debited my credit card

Did you pay for parking by phone at all? This Verrus company specialise in this sort of technology. If you didn't, then I suspect your credit card has been scanned in some way, the data extracted and an illegal transaction raised. The changes of your card details being tendered by someone else is unlikely unless they physically had the card in their possession. Teaboy's advice to ask for a replacement card is sound and you should follow this advice.

In addition to contacting the OFT and ICO, you may need to contact the police as an unauthorised transaction on a credit or debit card is an offence at law, i.e. Fraudulently Obtaining A Money Transfer.

[neilpierce]

Re: parkingeye have debited my credit card

To all replies so far, many thanks! I am still waiting for M&S Money to provide me more details of the transaction before i take my next step. I'll update on here at earliest opportunity.
Cheers
N

[neilpierce]

Re: parkingeye have debited my credit card

Oh just one thing to add and to partly explain why we are waiting for M&S Money... My wife and I have 2 cards on the same account and we are currently unsure which card number was used for the debit.. Hopefully M&S Money will confirm that to us.

[alham]

Re: parkingeye have debited my credit card

Don't wait for any investigation - ask for an immediate chargeback and replacement cards, then let parkingeye and M&S sort it out amongst themselves.