Was this a complete scam?

[Katharine]

Today's story from the Santa trains is not as pleasant as the last, but I can't get it out of my mind.

Earlier this month a local woman rang to order a number of tickets to a value of more than £150, for a group of friends. Her debit card transaction would not go through, when contacted about it, she agreed to pay on the day.

This morning they all turned up, with excited children. She insisted we had had the money as 'it had gone from her account'. We have not had the money, her friends were not happy but we agreed that they could go. I am left wondering:

a) Did she intend to pay and she forgot she hadn't so spent the money in her account?
b) Will she still pay us?
c) Did she intend to defraud us, giving her friends and her children a treat in the process and pocketing their money?

[englishangel]

It looks as though those 87 muscles have been working overtime.

[Mrs C.]

If she`s local, why not tell the local paper about her wonderful generosity towards her friends? She might just feel guilty enough to pay up.

[englishangel]

Nice one Mrs C.

[Vonny]

Do you have her address? I'd bill her straight after Christmas if you can see the money definitely hasn't gone through

[sejintenej]

Today's story from the Santa trains is not as pleasant as the last, but I can't get it out of my mind.

Earlier this month a local woman rang to order a number of tickets to a value of more than £150, for a group of friends. Her debit card transaction would not go through, when contacted about it, she agreed to pay on the day.

This morning they all turned up, with excited children. She insisted we had had the money as 'it had gone from her account'. We have not had the money, her friends were not happy but we agreed that they could go. I am left wondering:

a) Did she intend to pay and she forgot she hadn't so spent the money in her account?
b) Will she still pay us?
c) Did she intend to defraud us, giving her friends and her children a treat in the process and pocketing their money?

It's a scam and a pretty old one at that; she used the children to exert psychological pressure on you to let them have the ride. I doubt if she will voluntarily pay you - she already knew that the payment had not gone through.
You have a possible option IF the card had not been stolen (which is far from an impossibility). You have the card number and can find out who the issuer is; contact them with the story IN WRITING and signed and saying that you intend to take legal action against their customer for obtaining goods or services by false pretenses using their card. Ask them to supply the woman's name and address to your local police and also to notify Experian for a note to go on her credit record. At the same time notify your local copshop. You have CCTV - ensure that you keep all tapes showing the woman and kids. Do you tape phone calls? - if so keep back the tape of your call saying payment had been refused.

Sorry for all that Katharine. I spent 15 odd years fighting this sort of thing and I still get upset about it. At least you weren't taken for US$ 6 million as one businessman was or killed as quite a few punters were .

It might take some pushing but who knows you might get all her cards cancelled and her credit record destroyed.

[Katharine]

Thanks David, I think I had decided that must be the reason. She did not bring any 'proof' that it had gone from her bank account. We do have the details she gave us on booking, but something must have been wrong there for it not to have gone through. (We now have to key in security code and numbers from the address for all Customer Not Present transactions) We don't record phone calls.

John, my husband, says that as we have had many people in the area affected by the Farepack collapse, she may have thought that this was a way of getting her own back at 'them'. We try to hold the Santa fares as low as we can as we are in a low wage area, and the vast majority of our Santa passengers are local, unlike High Season when the trains are packed with holiday makers! £150+ from Santa takings will make a difference.

I'll set things in motion when I am back in work on 27th.

[Great Plum]

Let us know how you get on!