Beware of Meteor Top-up direct rip off

dimejinky99

Long story short, i'd gotten 4 or 5 top up directs last month-which is the one where you give them your laser card number & can top up directly from your account. Week and a half ago i was broke completely the day before i got paid but my bank called me & told me meteor were taking €100 out of my account, or were trying to but there was no money there. Went around to the bank next day, got a statement showing clearly that the top up directs had been taken out as i ordered them and the last thing on the statement is the meteor €100, which i know nothing about, being taken from the account. Rang them, they said they'd look into it (that money being taken completely screwed up my week, €100 being taken when your a student is a ****e buzz)

anyways they rang back today & they're saying the money being taken has nothing to do with them at all, yet it shows on my account AND my bank told me it was them taking it. So their either double charging and being **** to people or something shadier than that. I wouldn't mind at all if they said it was an honest mistake & we'll replace the money but they're saying it wasn't them despite all evidence to the contrary.



Any suggestions on what i can do?

tallaghtoutlaws

dimejinky99 wrote: »

Long story short, i'd gotten 4 or 5 top up directs last month-which is the one where you give them your laser card number & can top up directly from your account. Week and a half ago i was broke completely the day before i got paid but my bank called me & told me meteor were taking €100 out of my account, or were trying to but there was no money there. Went around to the bank next day, got a statement showing clearly that the top up directs had been taken out as i ordered them and the last thing on the statement is the meteor €100, which i know nothing about, being taken from the account. Rang them, they said they'd look into it (that money being taken completely screwed up my week, €100 being taken when your a student is a ****e buzz)

anyways they rang back today & they're saying the money being taken has nothing to do with them at all, yet it shows on my account AND my bank told me it was them taking it. So their either double charging and being **** to people or something shadier than that. I wouldn't mind at all if they said it was an honest mistake & we'll replace the money but they're saying it wasn't them despite all evidence to the contrary.



Any suggestions on what i can do?

Get a printed statement call up Meteor and tell them you have evidence it was them and they will have no leg to stand on.

IsThatSo?

Ask your bank to return the debit, tell them it is an unautorised debit and that you have tried to query it with the company and they are claiming its not them. The bank will double check (or should!) where it came from and return it accordingly.

The bank may initiate a "disputed payment" scenario with Meteor, but even if they do that they may refund you right away.

Is it a possibility that it might be fraud on your account? Don't mean to scare you (we had laser card fraud on our account recently so I am very wary these days). The bank should also check that aspect.

Check with them which way they will approach it.

I def wouldn't be depending on Meteor to resolve this one for you!!!

dimejinky99

Already did it. Bank printed me off a statement clearly showing the top up directs were paid for as they happened but then also showing them taking €100 for god knows what.. I faxed the statement to meteor as they asked, they rang back today and denied they took it despite all the evidence to the contrary! shower of....

IsThatSo?

Ask them for that in writing and tell them you are pursing it via your bank, Comreg and the NCA.

What are your chances of getting that load of cobblers in writing? :rolleyes:

Sam Vimes

Dictionary:
rip-off
(rĭp'ôf', -ŏf')
n. Slang.

1. A product or service that is overpriced or of poor quality.


this is not a rip off, it's a mistake.

a few months ago unbeknownst to me i had a direct debit set up from a bank account i don't use anymore to my credit card. the direct debit kicked in and tried to transfer money to my credit card but there was nothing in the bank account

but still, the transaction showed up on my credit card as if it had gone through and it was only about 3 weeks later that the system caught up to the fact that no money had actually been transferred and the amount came back off the credit card. that might have been what happened here


if you're sure it's not and meteor have taken the money twice, call them again. basically you got fobbed off by a lazy person. meteor are not trying to steal your money. if you have no joy talking to a regular agent, ask to speak to a manager. it should be very obvious from a faxed bank statement if they took the money twice

dimejinky99

the statement shows clearly that all 5 top up directs were paid for as they happened, and the 100 euro is at the end of the statement showing as meteor taking it. Meteor are denying they took it at all. And i'll agree with this much, the lady who called me from meteor was foreign and didn't sound bothered at all but said meteor did not take this money.
where to go from here? im calling back tomorrow the original lady i spoke to and getting it sorted. after that i guess i'm gong legal.

Sam Vimes

dimejinky99 wrote: »

the statement shows clearly that all 5 top up directs were paid for as they happened, and the 100 euro is at the end of the statement showing as meteor taking it. Meteor are denying they took it at all. And i'll agree with this much, the lady who called me from meteor was foreign and didn't sound bothered at all but said meteor did not take this money.
where to go from here? im calling back tomorrow the original lady i spoke to and getting it sorted. after that i guess i'm gong legal.

call tomorrow and ask to speak to a team leader.

in the unlikely event that the team leader won't sort it, make a formal complaint in writing and send it by registered post

give them two weeks to respond, then contact comreg at www.comreg.ie

but to be honest it's very unlikely that it'll get past the team leader stage

cgarvey

There's a possiblity that it's not Meteor, though I'd imagine it's not very likely. The description field that shows "Meteor" could, in theory, be any account.. so it could be, in theory, any company/individual.

Banks usually have a dispute policy where by a payment can be queried. They'll have access to more detail (like origin account details, etc.) which will determine whether it was Meteor. If it was, then get that in writing (including account details) .. and off to Meteor demanding a refund within 5 working days, or your going to get solicitored up with a view to recovering costs (time you spent, phone calls, interest charges, etc.)

amcalester

if it was a direct debit then the bank should refund you the money straight away and then they will investigate the issue, its called the direct debit indemnity scheme.

if its not a direct debit just a debit card transaction then the bank would be able to check where the money went to i.e. the account number. with this info then meteor would be hard pressed to say the didnt have the money.

dimejinky99

talk about frustrating..followed some advice & got onto the bank saying it was fraud..they made me fill out a form explaining what happened. They said it's gonna take around 6 weeks to process it...(gggrrr)

in the mean time Meteor called back and they've checked every single possiblity and there's no sign of them taking the money according to them..Neither the bank nor Meteor wanna accept responsibility...
I mailed ComReg last night and I'm gonna call the Ombudsman tomorrow.
not letting this one go...

amcalester

the financial services ombudsman will only deal with your complaint once you have exhausted all other avenues with your bank. they'll just direct you back to the bank.

once you've made a complaint with the bank it should get resolved pretty quickly but keep on top of it. The bank also have to keep you informed of how its progressing i.e. after the complaint is open 5 working days you should receive a letter explaining what they have done so far and at regular intervals thereafter. There'd be no harm in emailing the customer relations team of your bank your complaint just so you have proof that a complaint was made. Sometimes verbal complaints can be ignored or at least given a lower priority.

at the bank end it does take time for them to check up on suspicious/disputed transactions so be patient and I'm sure it will all work out.

cgarvey

dimejinky99 wrote: »

They said it's gonna take around 6 weeks to process it...(gggrrr)

Ouch! That seems very long (but unsurprising in banks, I suppose).

dimejinky99 wrote: »

not letting this one go...

Dead right, and well done for sticking with it!

foggy_lad

is it possible for company employees to clone or keep card details and use them at a later date to steal from people's accounts? if meteor insist they took no money maybe they didn't but someone working for them could possibly have?

Random

foggy_lad wrote: »

is it possible for company employees to clone or keep card details and use them at a later date to steal from people's accounts? if meteor insist they took no money maybe they didn't but someone working for them could possibly have?

This is possible in almost every industry.

foggy_lad

Random wrote: »

This is possible in almost every industry.

indeed but i mentioned it as meteor are unlikely to have been so insistant that they took no money unless they had checked this out?

Kershaw.D

Something Like That Had Happened With Me Too
They Sent Me Out My Bill Which Was €250 But Then Thy Charged My Bank account €1295 + €250
when i went up to there store they told me that my bank had made a mistake that it wasn't them ,this was in liffey valley shopping center with my bank just beside it so i went over to my bank got my statement brought it back still said no ,so went back to my bank and brought the customer services lady with me ,still no ,i asked to speak to the manager he wouldn't refund me ,so i Rang up meteors head office and they sent out some man from there head office to the store who refunded me right away as soon as i said I'm calling my solicitor