kazjumilla

Has anybody experienced problems with funds being fraudulently taken from your bank account ???:

Econ

Why exactly do you ask?

kazjumilla

It has happened to me and I am having problems getting my 300 euros bank from the Halifax Bank in Spain. They have received an email from Visa in Madrid saying that it is a legal transaction even though I have never visited Madris and on the day the money was withdrawn in Spain I was withdrawing cash in England???

Who can I complain to???

Econ

I left a credit card swipe as a deposit on a hotel in New York and then paid in cash, the hotel charged the swipe on my card after I left, this was on June 1st and I have just got the money refunded about 2 weeks ago. The amount of time it took me to get the refund and the doubt cast on my claim when I had a receipt of payment made me seriously think about cancelling my Visa card with my Spanish Bank, and I know the management in the Bank on a personal basis.

Correct me if i am wrong... The card company makes the charge, it is taken from your bank account, you make a fraudulent claim to the CC company, the card company refund the money into your account or onto the cards credit.... how is the Bank the problem?

Econ

Sorry, I think I have misread your post, I actually read it as Visa in Madrid saying it an 'illigal' and not 'legal transaction'...

Phone the Bank and speak to them. I remember a few years back I had a to cancel a charge that was made to my card and visa refunded the charge after I insisted they did. The last time I had to cancel a charge 'as I mention on my last post' Visa would not refund the charge, you need to talk to the bank you have the account the card is linked to with.

The only thing that you may have a problem with here is that... I had to go to the Police station and make a denuncia against the Hotel in New York and present that to my bank before they would proceed.

Have you spoken to your Bank 'branch' about this as yet or just the bank support number?

You could see the 'protector de defensa' but this is a slow process although free, for example in Fuengirola there is a consumer office in the town for these issues. I have done this once for a problem I had with Tiscali, to be honest it was a lot of hastle and took much of my time up although it did stop any legal process they threatened me with. I couldn't have done all they needed and asked of me if I was not living locally.

The other is a lawer, but this will cost you more than 300 euros, although I don't see why it should come to this, if you don't get any response from the person you speak to in the bank ask to speak to the manager or sub manager.

kazjumilla

Many thanks for your reply. I have already spoken to the branch in Playa Flamenca. I reported to the European Call Centre way back in April of this year. They gave me a reference number etc. They reassured me that it was nothing to worry about and should be resolved shortly.

I then went into the Branch in July 2007 and explained the full story. They bank assistant was supposed to have responded to me in 2 weeks. That way pie in the sky. I then reported the incident to the Spanish Police who told me to contact my local police station and report it in Wantage, Oxfordshire and then they would issue the report via Interpol etc. My local police station in the UK said they do not report any financial bank issues as that is purely between banks etc.

I have reported back to the Halifax in the UK and this has now been channelled via the Halifax Bank in Spain etc etc. I have more chance of inspector clouseau resolving this. The Spanish branch told me that this was impossible as it is illegal in Spain. I told them to get into the real world.

Econ

I have lived here about 27 years now and if there is one thing I have learnt about the Spanish process it is that you need to keep on top of everything until it is sorted... totally, even if they say it's all fine and hunky dory you will most probably find it is not. I have found you have to make a pain of yourself, if someone says 2 days and they have not called on the morning of the second day then call them.

It seems a long time between talking to your card company and your bank, maybe this is not important. Keep your cool with the bank people you are dealing with as they can loose interest very quickly if you start to loose your temper with them, if you feel the person you are dealing with isn't helping then ask to speak to someone higher up.

If it gets to the stage where you feel you have nothing to loose then mention to them about writing a small article in the Sur in English about your experiances, even better write one and print it out then show them it, and be prepared to do it.

Hope you get your money back.

tim hortons man

I had the same problem, had a parking machine eat my bank card, went straight to the bank and cancelled the card but I still had a 100€ in charges come through, I only noticed becuase it was 5 small amounts. The bank checked it out and basicly said that it was under the 150 euro limit so sucked to be me. The worse part was it put my account into 50€ which the bank charged me 25€