Company taking money from bank with no notification

[Monty]

Three months ago my sons girlfriend rented a car. My son wasn't with her and she signed all the forms and took out insurance. She also added my son as a second driver and paid with her bank card.
Unfortunately she crashed the car and paid the company the £600 excess required.
Three weeks ago my son hired a car from another branch of the company and paid by credit card. As he only had one form of ID on him, they said he could use his debit card as the other form of ID.
Three days later his bank informed him that a direct debit payment had not been paid due to lack of funds. When he checked his account 5 separate payments, 3 x £100 and 2 X 150 had been taken from his account by the car rental company.
He immediately rang the company and was told that only his credit card payment had been taken from that branch but if he rang back in 2 days, head office would be able to tell him more.
Head office said that the payment had been taken at the branch where his girlfriend had hired her car and to take it up with them.
He did this and was told he needed to speak to the head office.
It transpires that the money taken was for his girlfriends accident.
His girlfriend has never been contacted by the company nor been issued with an invoice.
When my son asked where they had got his card details from they declined to answer but it is obvious that one branch has given it to the other as the payments were taken within 10 minutes of him giving his debit card as ID.
Can the company legally hold him responsible for her debts and take unauthorised payment, bearing in mind he didn't sign any agreement or indeed drive the car? Can they also take money from an account without prior notice as he has incurred bank charges as a result of this?

[leclerc]

Re: Company taking money from bank with no notification

Three months ago my sons girlfriend rented a car. My son wasn't with her and she signed all the forms and took out insurance. She also added my son as a second driver and paid with her bank card.
Did he sign to say he would be the second driver?
Unfortunately she crashed the car and paid the company the £600 excess required.
Three weeks ago my son hired a car from another branch of the company and paid by credit card. As he only had one form of ID on him, they said he could use his debit card as the other form of ID.
Three days later his bank informed him that a direct debit payment had not been paid due to lack of funds. When he checked his account 5 separate payments, 3 x £100 and 2 X 150 had been taken from his account by the car rental company.
He immediately rang the company and was told that only his credit card payment had been taken from that branch but if he rang back in 2 days, head office would be able to tell him more.
Head office said that the payment had been taken at the branch where his girlfriend had hired her car and to take it up with them.
He did this and was told he needed to speak to the head office.
It transpires that the money taken was for his girlfriends accident.
His girlfriend has never been contacted by the company nor been issued with an invoice.
When my son asked where they had got his card details from they declined to answer but it is obvious that one branch has given it to the other as the payments were taken within 10 minutes of him giving his debit card as ID.
Can the company legally hold him responsible for her debts and take unauthorised payment, bearing in mind he didn't sign any agreement or indeed drive the car?
Is his card a Visa Debit card? if so then they can do a chargeback on all the amounts that were taken.
Can they also take money from an account without prior notice as he has incurred bank charges as a result of this?

They cannot debit his account without any form of notification so unless they have your signature for the damage to the specific car that HE took then I don't think they have a leg to stand on.
Can you confirm with his girlfriend that the £600.00 was paid to them in full and get a copy of the letter which states the amount.
I would write a strong letter of complaint to the local office with all the details seeking compensation and rectification since other companies payments being returned would have tarnished his otherwise normal relationship with them.

[Monty]

Re: Company taking money from bank with no notification

Thank you for this.
No my son never signed to say he would be the second driver. His card is a visa debit card although as soon as he realised someone had accessed it without authorisation he cancelled it and has now received a replacement, so a chargeback could not be made to his original card.
His girlfriend has proof via her bank statement that the amount was paid and also has a copy of the agreement when she rented the car.

[leclerc]

Re: Company taking money from bank with no notification

Thank you for this.
No my son never signed to say he would be the second driver. His card is a visa debit card although as soon as he realised someone had accessed it without authorisation he cancelled it and has now received a replacement, so a chargeback could not be made to his original card.
His girlfriend has proof via her bank statement that the amount was paid and also has a copy of the agreement when she rented the car.

Why should the cancellation of a card stop a chargeback since it was live at the point it was made? That would like saying that we cannot re credit your account when a fraud is made because the card has been cancelled for security reasons....
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Monty, here is the Which? guide to chargebacks

Chargeback on credit and debit cards - Your rights when paying by credit card - Sale of goods - Which? Consumer Rights

[Monty]

Re: Company taking money from bank with no notification

Sorry, I misunderstood the term 'chargeback'. My son has informed the bank and they are in the process of investigating his claim.

[leclerc]

Re: Company taking money from bank with no notification

Sorry, I misunderstood the term 'chargeback'. My son has informed the bank and they are in the process of investigating his claim.

Get him to provide evidence, ie girlfriend's contract, receipt or proof of payment of £600.00 plus letter from car hire company of the amount required to pay. That should guarantee payment. I would furthermore write to their head office on that basis as well stating the consequence of the issue, ie payments not made, good name tarnished by returned payments, charges made by the bank, etc, etc,

[Monty]

Re: Company taking money from bank with no notification

Sorry, I misunderstood the term'chargeback'.
My son has informed the bank and they are currently investigating his claim.
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Thank you.
I will get him to do this and let you know how he gets on.

[Monty]

Re: Company taking money from bank with no notification

Hi
thanks for all your help and advice.
I wrote a strongly worded letter to the company giving them 7 days in which to respond. The bank advised that it could take up to 120 days to do a charge back. Ironically, a charge back occurred on the same day that the company issued a cheque for the full amount!!
Obviously we didn't keep both.
I then contacted the company again aregarding the bank charges incurred and received a visit from one of the managers from head office. He was full of apologies and my son received a cheque for all charges.
Case finally closed on 1st February.

[leclerc]

Re: Company taking money from bank with no notification

Great news and glad that it is all sorted out.