Where do I stand on this matter? (DVD rental by post)

Scuzi

Scuzi

Scuzi

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I have just received this email from a competitor who offer a DVD rental by post service...

Dear MR KELLY,

Your *** DVD Rental by Post account was closed on 19 Oct 2007, but we did not receive the following DVD's back from you:
- My Left Foot
- Alan Partridge - I'm Alan Partridge - Series 2 [Disc 1]
- Anchorman - The Legend Of Ron Burgundy [The Legend Of Ron Burgundy]

In accordance with the DVD Rental by Post terms and conditions we will charge a replacement fee of 15 GBP to your credit/debit card for each DVD we didn't receive back from you.

To review the DVD Rental by Post terms and conditions or for answers to other questions, please visit h*****

Note: this e-mail was sent from a notification-only e-mail address that cannot accept incoming e-mail. Please do not reply directly to this message.
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Now, the last time I rented a DVD from them was January 2006. The three DVD's mentioned were rented some time late in 2005, i.e. 2 years ago and were returned. I never received any notice saying that they had not been received. This is the first I have heard of it.

I have fired off an email to explain the situation but I doubt it will have much effect. Can they get away with charging me £45 for 3 DVDs that I returned 2 years ago? They didn't use a registered post service, just RM 2nd class so there will be no official proof of delivery.

Where do I stand? Thanks :)
 
Your best bet is to write to them. How did you pay - is the card/bank account still active? You could eventually try your luck and tell them you have proof of postage for the films and see if they actually ask to see them. You have nothing more to lose. Very poor of them not to notify you, in case the films never made it back to them. I believe film rental companies were on Watchdog at some point.
 
Well I am well and truly miffed. I have just checked my bank account and they have taken £45 from me today.

Now, this is a big retailer and I had 2 cards registered with them, a credit card and a debit card. I used my credit card for payments of the DVD rental. My switch card was for other purchases.

They have tried the credit card which was cancelled a few months ago and have obviously reverted to the switch card when the credit card was rejected. The switch card they had on file had an expiry date of 09/07 yet the payment has still been taken.

1 - I did not authorise them to take payment from my Switch card. Are they allowed to do this?
2 - How the hell did payment go through when my switch card supposedly expired in September?

I'm going to call my bank to tell them that it was a fradulent transaction and was not authorised by me. I'm then going to call said retailer to tell them what my intentions are.

I'm fuming :mad:
 
Amleto said:
sounds well dodgy. give em what-for.
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As far as I can see it is extremely dodgy. I thought that they had to have authorisation to make a charge to a card. They had authorisation for the credit card but not for the Switch card. I'll also be having a stern word with my bank for allowing the transaction to continue on an expired card.
 
Happens all the time I recently got a stung for 10 quid for an auto renewal (that i didn't ask for) on a website using an expired AMEX card.
 
Might be an idea to post the T&C's since that's the contract you signed up with. It's hard to say otherwise.

Seems strange though. I've (read RM) lost about 5 or 6 DVD's and Blockbuster are never bothered. Once lost 3 in a month and I had to phone up but they didn't care. Probably different when you cancel.

Out of interest were they posted in the same envelope?
 
Scuzi said:
As far as I can see it is extremely dodgy. I thought that they had to have authorisation to make a charge to a card. They had authorisation for the credit card but not for the Switch card. I'll also be having a stern word with my bank for allowing the transaction to continue on an expired card.
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It was likely in the T&Cs when you registered that they could charge you if dvds were not returned, so technically that would make it an authorised transaction.

I'd recommend calling up their customer services to find out exactly what is going on. I would be especially suspicious if you sent the dvds back in separate envelopes.
 
Yes, each DVD was sent in it's own separate envelope as supplied by the company.

Vixen said:
It was likely in the T&Cs when you registered that they could charge you if dvds were not returned, so technically that would make it an authorised transaction.
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The thing is, the DVD rental payments were allocated to the credit card. When the payment was rejected as the credit card is now cancelled, they have made an attempt on my Switch card. I don't think they are allowed to charge a different card just because they have it on file, are they? The Switch card was never used for the DVD rentals, it was used for purchasing other items separate to the rental account.

And, the Switch card expired in September. The payment shouldn't have went through and they shouldn't have attempted to charge a card after it's expiry date.
 
I think Vixen may have got it here - they probably sneak something into the T&C's that allows them to take payment for non-return of DVDs.

Personally i'd just go to the bank and register it as a fraudulent transaction, if you sent the DVDs back then you've got nothing to worry about. Just tell them they got them back and they're not getting a penny.
 
Using a different card does indeed sound illegal but I imagine only your bank can confirm that. As far as you are concerned, your payments to the comapany were via the cc.
 
Scuzi said:
Yes, each DVD was sent in it's own separate envelope as supplied by the company.


The thing is, the DVD rental payments were allocated to the credit card. When the payment was rejected as the credit card is now cancelled, they have made an attempt on my Switch card. I don't think they are allowed to charge a different card just because they have it on file, are they? The Switch card was never used for the DVD rentals, it was used for purchasing other items separate to the rental account.

And, the Switch card expired in September. The payment shouldn't have went through and they shouldn't have attempted to charge a card after it's expiry date.
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It's possible that they have some sort of clause which says they can use any payment method on their records to claim debts. It does sound very dodgy though.

Unfortunately, transactions can go through on a cancelled card. Have they taken it as 3x £15 rather than one transaction for £45? I would be a bit concerned that a transaction had been forced through if it was a single transaction.
 
Vixen said:
It's possible that they have some sort of clause which says they can use any payment method on their records to claim debts. It does sound very dodgy though.

Unfortunately, transactions can go through on a cancelled card. Have they taken it as 3x £15 rather than one transaction for £45? I would be a bit concerned that a transaction had been forced through if it was a single transaction.
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I'll have another look at the T&C's but from what I have seen there is no mention of it so far.
It was one payment of £45. How do they force it through?

Thanks :)
 
What is actually supposed to happen when DVDs are genuinely lost in the post?

Looks like it is automated, so I would try phoning them as it is 2 years ago.
 
Scuzi said:
I'll have another look at the T&C's but from what I have seen there is no mention of it so far.
It was one payment of £45. How do they force it through?

Thanks :)
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I've sent you an email, because I don't want to give any random readers ideas about debit card fraud ;).
 
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