They took money from my card!?

L

lockwoodisbored

CAG Veteran
Hello, some backstory first. I ordered a game from ShopTo.net a few months ago using an online voucher (to save a couple pounds). The voucher went through fine and I got the game and few days later (the item being the Arabic version, incidentally - are they able to sell that in the UK?)

Anyway, after getting the item, I got an email saying the voucher could not be honoured and had been revoked. Fine, I checked my account balance and it was £0 - it was not a minus number.

Now, I have ordered another game from them and it's just sat there, not processing, with a credited balance of the cost of the game I purchased today, minus the few pound saving from the previous transaction. It looks as though what they have done is taken money from my card for a service, and deducted the previous amount without my permission. I will call them tomorrow, but what can I say? The voucher I used was validated by them. It went through fine. And now, they are trying to recoup the few pounds I made from them? I paid for a service, I agreed on a service - they are not honouring it. What can I say to them? How can I get the full amount I paid back? I think this will be the last time I use this company!
 
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I hope I'm understanding you correct, if I am and the bank I work for employs industry standards, then... Can you PM what bank you're with (and I'll tell you if it's the one I work for)? I'd prefer not to put it on a forum.

If Shopto are arseholes and try to keep the extra money then you can do something that's called a Visa Dispute with your bank. You will have to try and get the money back from Shopto for 30 days before they'll look at it though. It's not guarenteed to work but someone at the bank will try to recoup the money.
 
That's not the bank I work for but if the bank I do work for employs industry standards then I'm pretty sure you'll need to wait 30 days before you can ask them to get involved.

Now that I don't have to say which bank I do work for for I'll happily say that I really don't like the process my bank employs even though it may be what all banks do. I don't like the fact we won't even try to help our customer until 30 days have passed.



C'est la vie. If I didn't do it someone else would and I really enjoy the other aspects of my job. My bank sounds great overall, that's the reason I haven't considered moving my accounts from them in over 20 years. And yes this part of the post is mostly in case it gets traced back to me via some high tech sorcery but it's true so, you know... HR dept don't sack me for publicly disagreeing with a single process. :D
 
best option is ring them and ask them but if you used a voucher code off a forum/website then it could have been sent out to certain customers so their computer automatically accepts the code but when they have looked at it your account was not sent a code so you were not allowed to use it but they should have cancelled the first order and refunded money and asked you to reorder so it is their fault not yours so you should only pay for the last order at the price you agreed to hope this helps you a bit :) had problems myself with other places but never with shopto.net myself allways have been good for me but have heard a few stories of people having trouble with them.
 
strange, ive used shopto loads over the past few years and they have always been bang on, sorry to hear about the trouble you have had with them.
 
(To keep you in the know: ShopTo took the £3 from my account without my consent along with the money for the game I ordered recently. I was furious with them - I had given them no permission to remove the funds. Yes, it is only £3 but it is the principle of the situation. I ordered an item with a legitmate voucher. I get sent the item then several days later an email informing me that the voucher had been removed. When I checked my ShopTo account, it was £0.00. It wasn't a minus number. If there was an issue with the voucher, that's there issue. Taking money from my account, that is my issue, and I have been in touch with Trading Standards. I have sent a formal complaint (by email to expedite a reply, which takes away some of the weight but I wanted to take action quickly in this case).

Again, I know it's only £3 but it's the principle of it. I know we all like to save money (I found the code on CAG!) so I write this to tell you to be wary. I had made a few orders with ShopTo in the past and I'm not saying not to use them, just be wary! And if they send you an Arabic version of a game, send it back - you can't trade it at your local Game when you're done with it.)
 
Ha.

Similar thing happened to me, but i paid by paypal and after ordering 2 games, they cancelled one, and refunded me for the price of that game, minus £3.

I took the claim through to paypal's dispute team who ruled in my favour, and ended up refunding me.

I should also note this was after a very public argument with them on twitter, and emails to their managing director about it. They still swore they were legally entitled to just take more money than the order confirmation screen.
 
I had one very nice, albeit ridiculous, incident with ShopTo.net in 2009 after I recommended a game to a friend. When I alerted them to it though, ShopTo.net refused to talk to me until they fixed it. Here's the twitpic i took of it: http://twitpic.com/633gx/full
 
Before you call them, make sure you read the terms and conditions agreement that you checked when you signed up, so you can see what they can and can not do with your card.
 
lol, what is it about ShopTo and £3??!! I had a bit of bother recently about the same amount... back in Jan 2009 I ordered a couple of titles and for whatever reason prior to the order I had £3 credit so I used it.

Fast forward to end of last year and I pre-ordered Medal of Honor (£37.85 IIRC). Before it was released it dropped to 34.85 so I called them and was told the difference (since I'd already paid) would appear on my account. Release came and went, no money appeared on my account. So I rang them (on principle, didn't really care about the money!) only to be told my Jan 09 order wasn't sufficiently funded so when the £3 appeared as surplus they took it to balance the previous order!

As luck would have it I still had the order email from 09 showing my credit and when I sent it back to them they relented and gave me the money back since clearly it had been fully funded, even if their system couldn't say where the £3 credit had originally come from.

Mind you, they couldn't get MOH right either... day before release day I get a package from them, tears it open only to find FIFA 11! The one game on this planet I would never ever purchase. All fairness to them tho' they sent me out a copy of MOH for the next day (thus saving them from having to give me another £3 for their pre-order promise!) and trusted me to send back FIFA in the SAE they also sent...

Still makes me think twice before I click the buy button now tho'...
 
lol @ shopto. They think they can just take your money to make up for a previous order they decide they didnt want to honor? Laughable.
 
The vendor accepted the terms of the initial transaction (when the coupon/voucher was used) and completed it. You paid in good faith and the seller sent the item as a result. I think it might be illegal what they have done. They cannot charge your card without your authorization, and surely if they even thought they were authorized, they are not supposed to take a different sum of money than was agreed upon by both parties prior to completing the transaction. Before you do anything though, I would follow pippo's advice and review the terms you agreed to when you made your purchase to ensure that you are in the right (if they have terms that state that they can void out a coupon/voucher after the sale if they find some "valid" reason, and collect the balance owed as a result of the coupon's removal from the transaction...then they *may* be in their legal right...although that seems rather shady. You should check your local laws regarding the matter - as I am in the USA and not familiar with consumer protection laws in the UK.)

If the company is smart they will just refund your money if you contact customer service (I would phone them if possible).

At the very least, if you think you were wronged and can resolve it no other way, you can dispute the charge with your bank or Visa (provided you used a debit card or a Visa card)
 
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