Classic car hire refundable deposit - I want my money back
Discussion
Not sure where to put this, but I hired a classic car for my wedding in October. Terms were that a refundable deposit would be paid back, usually after a month. Car was great fun to drive, and I didn't crash it, so I'm entitled to my deposit back... But the hire company is telling me that their account has been frozen due to fraud/ money laundering investigations, so they can't pay me my money back. They told me this when I originally chased them up for the money in November, but have recently responded with a similar answer.
It sounds ridiculous that their account is still frozen, so advice on what course of action to take would be appreciated
It sounds ridiculous that their account is still frozen, so advice on what course of action to take would be appreciated
If the account has been frozen by the cops/Crown I dont think you will have much luck for quite a while.
Co should be able to give you investigating officers contacts for you to check with and try to lodge a claim although stuff like that may have to wait until its in the hands of the official assignee (if fraud/laundering is proven)
Co should be able to give you investigating officers contacts for you to check with and try to lodge a claim although stuff like that may have to wait until its in the hands of the official assignee (if fraud/laundering is proven)
NNK said:
If the account has been frozen by the cops/Crown I dont think you will have much luck for quite a while.
Co should be able to give you investigating officers contacts for you to check with and try to lodge a claim although stuff like that may have to wait until its in the hands of the official assignee (if fraud/laundering is proven)
Sounds like it is the fraud department of the company they use to deal with the payments that is investigating. The last email said that 3 of their clients could not prove where their money had come from for their paymentsCo should be able to give you investigating officers contacts for you to check with and try to lodge a claim although stuff like that may have to wait until its in the hands of the official assignee (if fraud/laundering is proven)
RapidRob said:
Sounds like it is the fraud department of the company they use to deal with the payments that is investigating. The last email said that 3 of their clients could not prove where their money had come from for their payments
That's curious if it's an AML investigation. And unusual for a classic hire company to have any specific AML obligations.Debit card doesn't have same legal protection as credit card, but Visa do (or used to) offer a similar chargeback facility for their debit cards too.
In future always pay for at least a bit of something on a credit card - whack down £100 on the card and the rest in cash and card has to cover the rest of it (simplification, may not apply for powerfully built company director purposes but is up to £30k).
In future always pay for at least a bit of something on a credit card - whack down £100 on the card and the rest in cash and card has to cover the rest of it (simplification, may not apply for powerfully built company director purposes but is up to £30k).
BertBert said:
That's curious if it's an AML investigation. And unusual for a classic hire company to have any specific AML obligations.
A deposit of £2,500 sounds high, but that might just be me. I wonder where the company is and what cars they hire out?Mind you if it is an AML investigation are they allowed to tell everyone that?
Chrisgr31 said:
A deposit of £2,500 sounds high, but that might just be me. I wonder where the company is and what cars they hire out?
Mind you if it is an AML investigation are they allowed to tell everyone that?
It’s not unheard of. It’s basically covering the insurance excess.Mind you if it is an AML investigation are they allowed to tell everyone that?
That being said the moment I was told that it would take a month to refund it to me I would’ve walked away. Serious red flag there.
Apropos of nothing but these businesses, I suspect, are quite attractive for money launderers - take large sums of money legitimately, don’t produce anything, have no supply chain and can basically be stood up in no time at all.
If their accounts have actually been frozen for AML investigations then unless they can and are willing to pay you some other way then I imagine there’s not a lot you can do. I’m not sure what MCOL will achieve if they have no mechanism to pay the OP back, and if they are a shady company it would be trivial for them to phoenix it anyway.
anonymous said:
[redacted]
No, in the SE but not London, they have 6 or 8 cars for hire. Quite glad that so far he has been civil, although useless.I think in the end it comes down to whether or not they have any other way of paying me. Would be interesting to see if they would accept new bookings as he inferred that they are not able to operate at the moment because of the account freeze.
Anyway, latest is that they will escalate it with Zettle
It sounds like a classic case of trying to make their problem your problem.
It isn't "your" £2.5k that has been frozen - it is a business asset which has been frozen. If they can't get £2.5k from that account they will have to get it from somewhere else. That might not be convenient for them, but that isn't your problem. If the cars belong to the business then they have assets which they can liquidate in order to pay you.
It isn't "your" £2.5k that has been frozen - it is a business asset which has been frozen. If they can't get £2.5k from that account they will have to get it from somewhere else. That might not be convenient for them, but that isn't your problem. If the cars belong to the business then they have assets which they can liquidate in order to pay you.
this is my username said:
It sounds like a classic case of trying to make their problem your problem.
It isn't "your" £2.5k that has been frozen - it is a business asset which has been frozen. If they can't get £2.5k from that account they will have to get it from somewhere else. That might not be convenient for them, but that isn't your problem. If the cars belong to the business then they have assets which they can liquidate in order to pay you.
If they can't get it from the business account and it's a Limited company then it has become his problemIt isn't "your" £2.5k that has been frozen - it is a business asset which has been frozen. If they can't get £2.5k from that account they will have to get it from somewhere else. That might not be convenient for them, but that isn't your problem. If the cars belong to the business then they have assets which they can liquidate in order to pay you.
Is the account frozen argument bull and means they don't have the cashflow to repay you.
I would definitely go for a Visa chargeback - Visa has long championed roughly the same protections for debit card holders as with credit cards. Mastercard "may" be the same:
https://www.visa.co.uk/how-you-pay-matters/chargeb...
Your bank may be reluctant to do so in which case you will need to remind them of the above and you may need to instigate a complaint to get them to action the chargeback.
I would definitely go for a Visa chargeback - Visa has long championed roughly the same protections for debit card holders as with credit cards. Mastercard "may" be the same:
https://www.visa.co.uk/how-you-pay-matters/chargeb...
Your bank may be reluctant to do so in which case you will need to remind them of the above and you may need to instigate a complaint to get them to action the chargeback.
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