Hey all,
I'm staying in Birmingham 3 nights a week at the moment, and have been for the last 7 months, mostly in the same hotel, which I'm actually very happy with.
This hotel is a German chain, and it seems that all of their payment processing goes via Germany. I found this out as I receive SMS alerts from Lloyds Bank whenever an odd transaction takes place. I was staying in the hotel last week, but am in a different hotel this week. Yesterday, I received that SMS notification to my phone stating that a transaction had taken place in Germany. I checked my bank and noticed that £33 had been taken out of my account by this hotel. Whenever I stay there, I book and pay via Hotels.com and sign off my bill completely on a thursday morning when I check out, so there wouldn't have been any outstanding transactions. I then called the hotel to be told:
"Oh sorry Mr Equalizer, I was processing these transactions and made a mistake. I will credit this back to your account immediately."
My question is this: has this company committed credit card fraud? Or at least broken some PCI compliance standards? If so, should I get the police involved? I picked up this transaction because my bank notified me, but how many other people could have had money taken from their account and not realised? Also, what if I was never to return to that hotel, how come they still have my credit card details and are able to make payments?
My thanks in advance!
Eq
They will say it was a genuine mistake and so no crime was committed. They will also say people should always check statements or however they pay their bills. They will say their system went wrong and they have now improved it and hope it will be unlikely to happen again.
The Police will only be interested if there is a history of complaints against this hotel. Even then Credit Card fraud is hard to prove unless the card is stolen.
lighthouse is spot on, I had a similar thing a couple of years back in Belgium. I was told must credit card fraud is on transactions under 25 pounds as very few people pick that up. In my case it was 35 pounds from a hotel for drinks. They claimed a mistake and had put the drinks on the wrong room in error, hard to prove even if like this hotel it had happened several times before, new staff make the error etc.
Send me your PIN number and password and I will get my Lagos office to look into it
Quote from: sunburywhite on July 23, 2014, 11:23:49 AM
Send me your PIN number and password and I will get my Lagos office to look into it
:005:
I'd mention it to Trading Standards, at the very least.
And put a stroppy review on Trip Advisor!
Lighthouse is correct.
Sounds like a genuine mistake - no hotel worth it's salt would risk their reputation with petty fraud.
I think companies are obliged to keep card details on file for a certain number of years - something to do with audits and to prevent laundering.
Personally I would give them the benefit of the doubt this time.
I had credit card fraud happen to me after i checked out of a hotel in Ypres Belgium. Somebody used my details to purchase all sorts of high value things. Luckily my bank picked it up and they put a stop on my card very quickly.
I'd let your bank know, then they will contact the appropriate places.
Interestingly, I phoned the Lloyds Bank fraud line to question this, and they advised that if I had previously authorised a transaction with the hotel, they would maintain the ability to take payments, whether or not I'm there to authorise again.
I find this extremely scary. What's the point of having security codes in this case? Either way, I'm going to escalate this to the general manager of the hotel in question and get them to tighten up their payment process and controls.
Quote from: sunburywhite on July 23, 2014, 11:23:49 AM
Send me your PIN number and password and I will get my Lagos office to look into it
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Quote from: The Equalizer on July 23, 2014, 12:37:10 PM
Interestingly, I phoned the Lloyds Bank fraud line to question this, and they advised that if I had previously authorised a transaction with the hotel, they would maintain the ability to take payments, whether or not I'm there to authorise again.
I find this extremely scary. What's the point of having security codes in this case? Either way, I'm going to escalate this to the general manager of the hotel in question and get them to tighten up their payment process and controls.
They always take a credit card details so they can get paid if you did a runner, damaged the room or broke no smoking rules, it is standard throughout the world, surprised as a traveler you are not aware of this.If you want to waste your time taking this higher then do so, you will be pointed to the terms and conditions to which YOU agreed to by booking with them
Quote from: The Equalizer on July 23, 2014, 12:37:10 PM
Interestingly, I phoned the Lloyds Bank fraud line to question this, and they advised that if I had previously authorised a transaction with the hotel, they would maintain the ability to take payments, whether or not I'm there to authorise again.
I find this extremely scary. What's the point of having security codes in this case? Either way, I'm going to escalate this to the general manager of the hotel in question and get them to tighten up their payment process and controls.
It's because people walk out of hotels without settling their bills or take stuff after their have settled up.
I had some fraudulent transactions on my card after I'd stayed at a hotel in Rotterdam.
I blamed Jol.