Closed account being charged

[legaoniel]

Bit of a long one, but not sure whree to go with it - posting in the hope that someone has had the same problem and may be able to assist..

In short, I used to have an account for my son but he no longer plays - account wasn't set to auto-renew but has been charged to my bank account twice over last 2 months. This has caused me no end of grief - the charges weren't expected, way before pay day and on each occaission has caused me to pay £35 bank charges!

Spoken to Goa via rightnow which was a complete waste of time - directed to billing site which merely confirmed I had been billed... bank of course are only interested in giving lecture with regards to being careful as to who you give your card details to...

Anyone had similar problem and how they resolved it? At the moment I am £86 out of pocket for nowt...

 

[frogster]

If you closed your account and they took money from your bank account causing you to incur bank charges they will have to refund your money and the charges you incurred.
IF! them taking the money actually caused you to be overdrawn. i.e last day before payday and you had quid left and then took the money then.

Speak to your bank. They should be your first point of call. If they took the money from a credit card, phone the credit company and explain that money has been taken from your account without yout consent. They will send you forms on how to claim your money back.

 

[frogster]

If you didnt pay by credit card and they were at fault and caused you to incur charges, you may have to go through the small claims court to get your money back.
Either way, speak to your bank if you are having problems with GOA

 

[legaoniel]

yup

Yes, it was bank not credit card - and yes, their £8 charge caused me a bank charge of £35 each time. Have spoken to bank, but they don't want to know - merely say I should be more careful who I give my details to..

 

[frogster]

Then keep your bank statements. Make a scan copy (or fax) and email it as an attachment to GOA stating that if it isnt resolved you will have no option but to take them to the small claims courts. This costs you about £80, but, they will have to reinburse you your costs. So its 80 upfront and then 91+80 back.

 

[Tareregion]

And reactivating inactive accounts isn't new for GoA, has happened to quite a few people before. Although they paid with CC and just called the CC company that the withdrawal was illegal.

Some people would say it´s only 8 pounds, but if you "accidently" charge 1000 people that much, it isn't "just 8 pounds" anymore. GoA has to sort this.

 

[Iceflower]

>Yes, it was bank not credit card - and yes, their £8 charge caused me a bank charge of £35 each time. Have spoken to bank, but they don't want to know - merely say I should be more careful who I give my details to..

Are you saying that your bank thinks it is ok that a third party makes unauthorised charges on your account? If that is the case, change bank, there is no reason for you to take that kind of crap. You are their customer. After that get a VISA/MC to use for this kind of expenses, saves you grief in the end.

And the fact that GOA tries to act as if it rains when charging closed accounts is a bit disturbing to say the least. Is that common business policy in France?

 

[legaoniel]

Good news!

Good news!

Shortly after posting this thread Kemor mailed me via private mail to send the details to him. Having now exchanged a few direct emails back and forth he is looking into it for me.

Thanks to Kemor for this, and it's good to know an official from GOA acted quickly to have a look at the problem. Nice going, guys!

 

[frogster]

Yep, thats great news. And i hope Kemor can sort this out for you. Im sure he will as the general consensus is, he is the Bob the builder of the GOA company
Still doesnt explain how or why this is happening tho.Is GOA subscription system wrongly telling the BiBit servers to debit money using the informations stored there? Or is it Bibit topping up the coffee and biscuits fund?

 

[Dracus]

afaik theyve had problems with their systems(GOA) ive had my acc's wrongfully billed...luckily im still playin so a free month wasnt wasted on me...but the reply i got from em when i rightnow'd was:

Dear customer,

Due to a technical problem, your account "XXXXXXX" has been renewed due to a technical problem. Thus we offer you a free month to your current subscription in order to apologize for that.


/Dracus

 

[Pihls PW Guildmaster]

Yes, it was bank not credit card - and yes, their £8 charge caused me a bank charge of £35 each time. Have spoken to bank, but they don't want to know - merely say I should be more careful who I give my details to..

if they dont help you with a form then speak to the bankmanager

 

[legaoniel]

close

Ok, here's the deal - after a great deal of legwork by Kemor we've got to the bottom of it - the problem is down to charging dates being later than submission dates - ie your card / account is charged a wee bit later than the invoice submission date.

Kemor really pulled out the stops on this one and took a great deal of time to investigate something that essentially a mis-understanding on my behalf!

So, thanks to him - good fast postive response!

 

[Addlcove]

Ok, here's the deal - after a great deal of legwork by Kemor we've got to the bottom of it - the problem is down to charging dates being later than submission dates - ie your card / account is charged a wee bit later than the invoice submission date.

Kemor really pulled out the stops on this one and took a great deal of time to investigate something that essentially a mis-understanding on my behalf!

So, thanks to him - good fast postive response!

I wish the 88 eur disappearing from my account was a misunderstanding on my part.

ah well I got them back in the end (and a new CC ) just scary stuff like that happens

 

[Lazarus]

a little word from the wise (forgove me - i dont venture in hee too often)

If you are cancelling charges from your account (whether Direct Debit, standing order etc) then ALWAYS do it YOURSELF at the bank.

Therefore, if any company inardvertantly "forgets" that you have cancelled with them, the bank will still not pay the charges.

 

[tris-]

If you closed your account and they took money from your bank account causing you to incur bank charges they will have to refund your money and the charges you incurred.
IF! them taking the money actually caused you to be overdrawn. i.e last day before payday and you had quid left and then took the money then.

well frogster, no one would blame you for thinking that. but this happend to me and i ws charged £3.50 for being overdrawn and the £8 GOA STOLE! and no, they will not give me any money back, no matter how many times i email, no matter what i tell them. they said their records show i played the whole month. what the fuck? i played the whole month, after closing my account and thinking it was closed which mean there is no reason to try play. i wouldnt waste your time typing anything to them, just tell them to fuck off so they ban your account etc then they can never renew it again

also dont waste your time with kemor, i made the same mistake and all he said to me is tough luck all transactions are final.

anothet thing, i just read your post with kemors excuse. well that was no excuse for when it happend to me, my acct was closed for 1 month then opend (so i played 1 month, closed it, 1 month later they opend it them selves), infact i got no reason or anything for it, just told sorry no refunds.