Originally Posted by
Land-of-Miles
UK Credit Card Purchases are covered by the Uk Consumer Credit Act (CCA) which makes the credit card issuer jointly liable with the merchant for all purchases where £100 or more is charged to the card. If the merchant fails the credit card issuer effectively "steps into their shoes" for all contractual purposes. Indeed even if the merchant does not fail, the credit card company is still jointly liable and may be an easier target to pursue in cases of dispute.
For a UK Card (and I believe the OP is UK based) the credit card issuer is thus indeed jointly liable and becomes a joint party to the contract. This is a specific feature of UK law.
It gets a little interesting because Amex Charge Cards are not covered by the UK CCA, But I understand that Amex offer to indemnify UK cardholders in situations which would have been covered by the CCA as if the Amex Charge Card was a credit card. Amex have no obligation to do this (except so far as they have publically committed to this course of action which becomes an implied term of the card agreement).
Land-of-Miles, your explanation of the
UK Credit Card Purchases Act seems well-informed. Since I know nothing of UK law, I can say no more than that, except that the extent of liability you describe is extraordinary and much greater than that under US law. I will amend my comment above to state "Not exactly. Indeed, not at all under US law." and clarify that my comments concerned US law. With the clarification that yours concerned different provisions of UK law, readers should have a good picture of what to expect when dealing with credit card issuers in such situations.
johnaalex, please let us know how it turns out.