Collection Agency Calling for an Unauthorized Credit Charge

[abundant1]

Newbie here. I tried searching the forums for my issue and can't seem to find it. Here is my issue:

 

Last spring a "friend" offered to buy me a plane ticket to Arizona to visit her. In order to save my friend money, I used a service that I had points with to get cheaper tickets. That service was through the Affinion Group, also known as Traveler's Advantage. The agent on the phone spoke to my friend, took down her credit card number, and the transaction was completed. I flew out about a week later. When I returned from the trip I noticed that my credit card that Affinion Group had on file from the previous year (they used an expired card, so the charge should have never gone through) had an unauthorized charge for the ticket in the amount of $308. I never, ever gave them permission to use my credit card for that ticket. I spoke to my friend and she said the charge was taken out and put back into her account (I have a feeling that she did not have the funds to begin with). Then we had a falling out and we no longer speak. I immediately contacted Affinion Group and notified them of the problem. All I got was the runaround.

 

First I spoke to a John Harvey that said he would look into it and call me back, that it might be a few days, and he gave me a reference number. I waited and waited. He never called. So i called him several times and he was never there. So I spoke to a S.C. Ward and got nowhere again. Three people were supposed to look into it for me and call me back. That never happened. So I called again - this was my fourth call, by the way. By then I was pretty upset that they were doing nothing for me. I spoke to a Laura Grisham. She wasn't helpful either and actually asked me to ask my friend to send me the money for the ticket to cover their mistake!! She said even though it had been their mistake they can't take it off of my credit card!! I told her that is absolutely ridiculous to ask me to do that, and I told her I would be filing a dispute with my credit card company. She asked me please not to do that because it creates a big mess, and that she would call me back and resolve it. She never, ever called me back. No one ever called me back. So I filed a dispute with my credit card company, and they had 45 days to respond, to which they did not.

 

Three months later, I started getting letters from Traveler's Advantage, which I guess is Affinion Group as well. They demanded that I send them over $308 for this plane ticket. They have sent me a third letter threatening to send me to collections if I don't pay up. I ignored them at first and then finally sent the person who sent the letters an email telling her exactly what I have stated here, and that she needs to go after the person who originally made that charge, not me. I never heard back and now I have been sent to collections over this.

 

I am now receiving phone calls from Fidelity National Credit Services. I am refusing their calls. I do not owe this money, so I don't understand how someone can make an unauthorized charge to my card, not do anything about my dispute, and then send me to collections to ruin the credit that I am finally cleaning up. How is this legal? What can I do?

[beli]

First, write a L&CD disputing it with the Ca. Let them know that you only wish to be contacted by US Mail. Send this CMRR.

 

Second, you were probably dealing with 1st level CSR's at Traveler's Advantage, and couldn't do anything.

 

Next, write Corporate headwaters. Tell them exactly what you have said here. Keep all records, if the CA refuses to abide by your L&CD keep all records of times they call etc. Keep a close eye on your credit reports to see if/when they put this on your credit. Technically speaking, they shouldn't if you dispute it within 30 days. Also keep in mind that you SHOULD get a dunning letter within 5 days of first contact.

 

But their headquarters address is

 

Corporate Headquarters

Trilegiant Corporation

100 Connecticut Ave.

Norwalk, CT 06850

 

Some Execs:

Mr. Nathaniel J. Lipman - CEO and President

Mr. Todd Siegal - Executive VP and Secretary

Mr. John Kitzie - Senior VP

[dsn]

Three months later, I started getting letters from Traveler's Advantage, which I guess is Affinion Group as well. They demanded that I send them over $308 for this plane ticket. They have sent me a third letter threatening to send me to collections if I don't pay up. I ignored them at first and then finally sent the person who sent the letters an email telling her exactly what I have stated here, and that she needs to go after the person who originally made that charge, not me. I never heard back and now I have been sent to collections over this.

 

I am now receiving phone calls from Fidelity National Credit Services. I am refusing their calls. I do not owe this money, so I don't understand how someone can make an unauthorized charge to my card, not do anything about my dispute, and then send me to collections to ruin the credit that I am finally cleaning up. How is this legal? What can I do?

 

I may be missing something, but given that you booked the flight, then surely you do owe them the money for the flight; after disputing the charge on the card , then surely you would still be responsible for arranging payment given that they were unable to take the money from the original card that you offered?

 

Dave

[breeze]

Three months later, I started getting letters from Traveler's Advantage, which I guess is Affinion Group as well. They demanded that I send them over $308 for this plane ticket. They have sent me a third letter threatening to send me to collections if I don't pay up. I ignored them at first and then finally sent the person who sent the letters an email telling her exactly what I have stated here, and that she needs to go after the person who originally made that charge, not me. I never heard back and now I have been sent to collections over this.

 

I am now receiving phone calls from Fidelity National Credit Services. I am refusing their calls. I do not owe this money, so I don't understand how someone can make an unauthorized charge to my card, not do anything about my dispute, and then send me to collections to ruin the credit that I am finally cleaning up. How is this legal? What can I do?

 

I may be missing something, but given that you booked the flight, then surely you do owe them the money for the flight; after disputing the charge on the card , then surely you would still be responsible for arranging payment given that they were unable to take the money from the original card that you offered?

 

Dave

 

I think you're missing something. The charge was not supposed to go on his card. He never authorized the charge on his card. As far as he knew, the friend had paid for the ticket as agreed. All he was using that account for, was his program discount.

[dsn]

I think you're missing something. The charge was not supposed to go on his card. He never authorized the charge on his card. As far as he knew, the friend had paid for the ticket as agreed. All he was using that account for, was his program discount.

 

I agree that the charge should not have gone on his card without his authority, I should have been clearer..oops

 

From what I can see is that the OP made the booking for the flight , not his friend, but he attempted to use his friend's card to make the payment ( which then failed )

 

Would not the OP still be the person responsible for paying for the flight given that he made the booking not his friend? Once the incorrect CC charge was reversed there would still be $308 owing to the travel compant

 

Dave

[breeze]

Not in my opinion. They should have notified him that the first charge did not go through. Then, if he decided to go anyway, fine, it's his bill.

 

The fact that someone has you card number on file, and charges you for something you did not authorize to be charged, does not obligate you to pay for whatever it is they charged.

[beli]

I think you're missing something. The charge was not supposed to go on his card. He never authorized the charge on his card. As far as he knew, the friend had paid for the ticket as agreed. All he was using that account for, was his program discount.

 

I agree that the charge should not have gone on his card without his authority, I should have been clearer..oops

 

From what I can see is that the OP made the booking for the flight , not his friend, but he attempted to use his friend's card to make the payment ( which then failed )

 

Would not the OP still be the person responsible for paying for the flight given that he made the booking not his friend? Once the incorrect CC charge was reversed there would still be $308 owing to the travel compant

 

Dave

Re-read the first few lines of their post:

 

Last spring a "friend" offered to buy me a plane ticket to Arizona to visit her. In order to save my friend money, I used a service that I had points with to get cheaper tickets. That service was through the Affinion Group, also known as Traveler's Advantage. The agent on the phone spoke to my friend, took down her credit card number, and the transaction was completed.

 

Which should be charged to the "friend". Not sure what is so hard to understand that he did not give authorization to put the flight on his card.

[x-large debt]

What does the user agreement with "affinion" state as to who is responsible for this charge?

 

When you accept a user agreement that puts a CC on file, you may indeed be giving permission aka "prior authorization" for the company affinion/travelers to use that as a back-up source in case another method fails. You may in fact be responsible for this item according to the terms of use.

 

The exception may be when someone hacks into your account, using your account fraudulently but if you gave your friend access then you are sort of stuck with this.

 

If you believe your friend should you pay for this item, then contact the friend and ask friend to send PFD to company so this does not hurt your credit.

[whipster]

As stated above, OP would have given the person the authority to use his account in order to get the "discunt" (ooops sp!)...when the cun....errr..."friend's" card didn't pan out...I bet the service has the right to use the OP's card according to the fine print.

 

Sometimes things cost money, even if you don't get along later. Best bet is dispute with the card company.

Edited October 27, 2009 by tmsamp

[dsn]

Re-read the first few lines of their post:

 

Last spring a "friend" offered to buy me a plane ticket to Arizona to visit her. In order to save my friend money, I used a service that I had points with to get cheaper tickets. That service was through the Affinion Group, also known as Traveler's Advantage. The agent on the phone spoke to my friend, took down her credit card number, and the transaction was completed.

 

Which should be charged to the "friend". Not sure what is so hard to understand that he did not give authorization to put the flight on his card.

 

I did read it. It says that in order to save money for his friend "I used a service that I had points with to get cheaper tickets" not that his friend used the service. It sounds that he passed the phone to his friend to give credit card details. It would seem to me that the poster would be the one that had the agreement with the travel company , not the friend

 

It read to me that he may have signed up to a service ( given that he had points with it ) and used it for a cheap ticket; whether the terms of the service allowed for the company to use a card on file, I wouldn't know, but may have provided justification for the use of his credit card

 

It would seem to me that he may be the one owing the travel company with the friend owing him rather than the friend owing the company

 

Dave

[devious9191]

This is a very interesting thread, and I would like to see how it turns out. I do accounting for hotels, and a lot of our business is direct billed to various companies. In the past when companies have failed to pay, I have gone back and charged the customer's credit card.

 

The customer did not authorize the charge, but based on the fact that he had use of the room (and is therefore liable for payment thereof) I charged them anyways. I'm not sure what the legalities of this is at all, and I only mention it because the OP has a similar situation. Since you used the plane seat, aren't you liable for the payment? Your situation is even worse than the one I mentioned, in that you did pay for the ticket (whether authorized or not), used the service, and then filed a credit card dispute. How are you possibly going to prove that you aren't liable for a ticket that you used?

[dsn]

This is a very interesting thread, and I would like to see how it turns out. I do accounting for hotels, and a lot of our business is direct billed to various companies. In the past when companies have failed to pay, I have gone back and charged the customer's credit card.

 

Most ( all?) hotels I stay out have a clause on the statement of charges which requires to sign that you accept that I accept liability to pay the charges if the party being charged fails to pay and that they can use my card to pay for it which would make it an agreed to charge

 

 

Dave

[devious9191]

This is a very interesting thread, and I would like to see how it turns out. I do accounting for hotels, and a lot of our business is direct billed to various companies. In the past when companies have failed to pay, I have gone back and charged the customer's credit card.

 

Most ( all?) hotels I stay out have a clause on the statement of charges which requires to sign that you accept that I accept liability to pay the charges if the party being charged fails to pay and that they can use my card to pay for it which would make it an agreed to charge

 

 

Dave

 

Unfortunately it's against Marriott policy to have the customers sign a registration card/folio, etc. We also don't take credit card imprints

[abundant1]

To clarify some of the issues here... This was an online/phone transaction. I am not aware of any of the "fine print" because I never signed anything. My husband and I get points for using our debit/credit cards through our bank. We then trade in these points for various things, cheaper plane tickets being one of them. This is a new thing to me because I have never used services like these before. In fact, they originally made a mistake on the transaction by putting my husband's name on the ticket instead of mine. We are required to call a number in order to redeem the points and then go from there by speaking to one of their reps at Affinion Group. The only fine print that I have seen is in regards to the reward points and if you miss your flight they are nonrefundable. Other than that, nothing.

 

I called the travel company, told them what I wanted and that a friend was paying for the ticket. The agent then called my friend herself in order to get her credit card number. As far as we both knew, everything went through okay. Had it not, they should have notified me because I could not afford to take this trip and would never have gone had I had to pay for the ticket myself. At the very least, they could have called me and said the charge did not go through, and ask if I had another way to pay for it. They charged an expired card they had on file!!

[coopertwist]

I know they swipe the card....I just checked in Sat checked out this afternoon. Madison Marriott West.

 

Not sure if is legal to automatically bill be for the room if the company fails to pay with out it being spelled out....I'm not sure if I would have a leg to stand in court for not paying and then suing the company.

 

My company used to do direct bill so when I checked in I put down my card for incidentals.

 

Now that everyone that travels 20% has a Amex we got away from that.

 

When people come in town on our dime I have to call the hotel and have them send me a form giving the hotel permission to use my card for the hotel cost and incidentals.

 

Also, swiped and telephone credit card sells have different rules on processing as do merchants in hotel/airlines/rental cars have harder chargebacks.

 

The OP problem kinda happened to me with AA

 

I changed flight times....2 options confirm me on the that flight for a fee or just show on standby...I chose standby...got my CC bill and the fee was on there...called AA said there was nothing that could be do...I told them I did not authorize this and that when I checked in on the terminal I selected standby for that flight....called CC to them I did not authorize...they sent something to the CC told me it was a good charge...had to dispute that which I sill had the copy of the standby ticket that got me thru security and when they started boarding they game me a new hard/green ticket...but I was luck I still had the standby thrmo ticket. I won the charge back with that...Then AA sent it to collections...Emailed AA...it was dropped.

Edited October 27, 2009 by coopertwist

[abundant1]

First, write a L&CD disputing it with the Ca. Let them know that you only wish to be contacted by US Mail. Send this CMRR.

 

Second, you were probably dealing with 1st level CSR's at Traveler's Advantage, and couldn't do anything.

 

Next, write Corporate headwaters. Tell them exactly what you have said here. Keep all records, if the CA refuses to abide by your L&CD keep all records of times they call etc. Keep a close eye on your credit reports to see if/when they put this on your credit. Technically speaking, they shouldn't if you dispute it within 30 days. Also keep in mind that you SHOULD get a dunning letter within 5 days of first contact.

 

But their headquarters address is

 

Corporate Headquarters

Trilegiant Corporation

100 Connecticut Ave.

Norwalk, CT 06850

 

Some Execs:

Mr. Nathaniel J. Lipman - CEO and President

Mr. Todd Siegal - Executive VP and Secretary

Mr. John Kitzie - Senior VP

 

 

Thanks so much for your advice. I am definitely going to contact their headquarters. The last time I had an issue with a big company (Best Buy) I did the same and ended up getting a free computer for my troubles.

[cinnamngrl]

Is it possible that your "friend" never entered their credit card to pay for the tickets? they just used the card on your account?