It's been a while since I was involved with Point of Sale card transactions but I am sure I remember something whereby it is against most card issuers/ merchants terms to do a transaction on a card where there is a reoccuring sub component.
So you can't/couldn't do a transaction as yours where there is a total amount and a reoccuring smaller amount without authorising twice (and therefore requiring you to authorise two transactions)
If neither the card receipt (if separate) or the till receipt show the £7.99 as a reoccuring payment (with the interval) and/or they are listed under the same totals and transactions as the main payment then I think you may have a reasonable case of fraud...it's pretty obvious from your description that they were trying to mask the reoccuring payment at the point of sale by discounting the first occurrence so you didn't notice it on the sale total.
As John says this experience needs to go everywhere, blogs, facebook, in a letter to the store manager, the card issuer and the merchant...there are plenty of people who don't check their statements as thoroughly as you and will be getting charged for this.
On Wed, 2009-05-27 at 17:43 +0100, Ted.Harding@manchester.ac.uk wrote:
Long story, so apologies -- but the details matter.
A few days ago I was checking my bank account online. I noticed a Direct Debit for £7.99 made that day. Puzzled, I checked the full transaction details: it was to PC World. I checked back earlier -- another one, a month earlier.
Well, I had been to PC World in Cambridge a couple of months earlier. Objective: pick up a cheapish laptop to play with some Linux distros, then do a proper installation.
I noticed a quite nice Hewlett Packard T2390 on special offer at £329.97 (not too keen on the keyboard, but it's OK. The rest seems fine). While I was looking around, one of the shop-floor assistants latched on to me assiduously. I tried asking him something about printers, (built-in PostScript with auto-duplex capability) but he didn't know much. While I was at it I picked up an ethernet switch and a laptop carrier bag. Total bill £387.20 (added up in my head).
He then offered to help me carry the stuff (cardboard box with the laptop in, switch box, bag) to the checkout, which I didn't really need but since he offered ...
He then stood beside me at the checkout while I paid. Total payment £387.20 (as added up in my head). I got the receipt, along with what looked like some publicity leaflets, and went out to my car. I didn't get an offer of help for that bit.
I didn't check the details on the receipt at the time -- I felt that things had basically taken their expected course.
After checking my bank account, however, I did check the receipt in detail. At the top:
HEWLETPACK A961EM T2390 £329.97
and beneath that, in very small print:
Discount Manager Offer - Manager Discretion -£7.99
then:
PC PERFORMANCE £7.99
followed by the items for the network switch and the bag.
So I had been signed up for their "PC Performance" cover, including the first instalment of £7.99, without noticing (it had not changed the total price).
And I have no recollection of being asked at any time if I wanted this. If I had been, I would have said no -- because the first thing I intended to do was to wipe off Windows and put on Linux, which would probably have voided any warranty. (In any case, I never take up these "product cover & support" things).
I then phoned "PC Performance" (a PC World sideline), and was told that they would cancel the cover, and cease the D/D, but I could not get a refund because more than 2 weeks had passed. If I wanted to get the money back, I should contact my Bank to initiate an "Indemnity Claim".
So I phoned my Bank, and described the situation. "Oh, it looks as though they've been a bit cheeky", she said. We discussed Indemnity Claim, and it seemd a long shot (there had been two of them at the till, one the cashier, the other the shop-floor assistant), so I dropped the idea. But she said she would immediately close the D/D.
She rang back a few minutes later, to say that since the D/D had been cancelled on the same day a debit had been made, the debit of £7.99 for that day would be refunded. So that left me overall £7.99 out of pocket (break-even on the first one, due to "Manager's Discretion"). Not worth trying to take further, though I felt annoyed enough to want to!
Well, that's my PC World experience! Moral: look closely at the receipt! (Though by the time I could have done that, it would all have been set up already -- but at least I would have been within the 2-week period for getting any money back).
(And I didn't get the impression that it was the first time the Bank lady had heard such a story ... ).
Best wishes to all, Ted.
E-Mail: (Ted Harding) Ted.Harding@manchester.ac.uk Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 27-May-09 Time: 17:43:46 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------
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