Disputed charge
 

Hi,
I am not sure, if it is a correct platform to raise the question .But anyway ...,

In Nov 2007, I bought an item from a company which sells the product online.They offered a credit card alongwith the item and asked me to pay through the credit card.
In the following days, I neither received the item nor the credit card. I did not follow it up myself and almost forgotten it.
Now, two weeks back , I got a phone call from the credit card company that I had to pay certain amount ( cost of the item + fees for non payment).
I contacted the company help desk.They confirmed that the item returned to their warehouse , undelivered.So, they are going to request the credit card company to reverse the charge.

The credit card company reversed the original charge but they are still insisting that I should pay the late fees charges.My point is - I do not enjoy any benefit from the deal, as I never received it.Moreover, the original charge itself has been nullified.
Do I need to pay the late fees and other charges of non payment even if the original charge itself is revoked ? If no, then what are the options available to me ?
I really appreciate your advice in this matter.
Thanks,
Vijay

First of all, welcome to FlyerTalk!

Yes, you are still responsible for the late fees and other charges because of non-payment. Your original charge was reversed (read refunded). The charge-refund and credit card balance due are independent of each other in this case as from what I understand, there was significant lag between these events, i.e., they were not within the same billing cycle.

The only thing I can think of is if you complain to the merchant about the delay in processing your refund, they might offer you something like a small amount of gift card or credit as an apology.

I am sorry to say but there isn't much that you could do as I foresee. Good luck! ^

Agree with jeelele. Refunds often take time and you should never count on a refund to make the current months payment due.

Your CC agreement you agreed to upon accepting the credit card did state you would pay the minimum balance (Charges), and since you did not dispute this at that time the CC issuer is in the right. That being said, most issuers are sympathetic to situations and I would personally call and ask for a supervisor and politely tell them your story and ask them to reconsider these charges, all while reminding them of who valued of a customer you have been. My experience has been that the will write off these charges as customer "good will".

Jim

Did you get a credit card statement? If you didn't, you might have something to go on. In particular related to the fair credit billing act. If you did get a bill, well, that's you're own fault.

But ....
 

Well,
I never received the car at the first place.I never received any statement .
Very recently, the customer service has sent me all six months statement in one go.(the date was May 13, 2008).
How can i be responsible to pay if I did not know about the charges till May 2, 2008 ?
They claimed that they were sending the statement in my old address.I was there till Feb 2008, almost till three months later I (supposedly) purchase something.
In short, i never knew that such an account existed on my name.I even did not know my account when i called the company.If I knew it earlier, I should hve called them about the matter.

If they had my number, they could have called me and verified about it.

Now, may I have something in my favour ?

Thanks,
Vijay

It may be helpful if you mention the name of the bank which issued the card, in case others have dealt with the same one. Did you not arrange to have the US Postal Service forward mail from your old address?

It sounds like there was a problem with the Post Office. Maybe they did not have a forwarding address because they also returned the package to the sender. Assuming you had left a forwarding address with the P.O., I would call the credit card company again and request that they waive the fees. It may help if you have had other cards with them.

The problem you may run into is that they do not want to waive the fees because they will not believe that the Post Office had a change of address but did not forward the mail. They may think it could happen once or twice but 3 or 4 times is improbable.

Good Luck.

That is really strange.
I mean, I was there three months after the "Online" order.
I should have received the statement at least.
I kept my forwarding address with post office, but I can not blame them.At least, i should have received the statements of first two months (at least).If the mail was returned to them undelivered, is it not their responsibility to call me at least once and verify my address ?
After all, they had my correct mobile number all the time.That is how, they called me at last.
From my point of view, it looks all the way unfair to me.What are the options available to me ? I called the customer services, but they are repeating the parrot line.Is there no protection for me ?
Thanks,
Vijay

I assume that the bills that you received "after the fact" have your correct address. If this is the case, I don't see any way of getting out of paying the past due charges.

One thing you do need to do is check the credit reporting companies and make sure that you were not reported as not paying. If they did file a report, you need to have an explanation filed with them.

It would be helpful to know what company this card is with. There might be people on this board who must have had somoe experience dealing with that company.

I am familiar with many cases where credit card bills with purportedly the correct address on them are never delivered or mailed late. It is not beyond the realm of possibility for a credit card company to correct an address after non-delivery and generate new "copies" of old bills with the now correct address.

Failure to receive a bill on time (or at all) is a violation of the Fair Credit Billing Act. Notify card company is writing within sixty days of time you become aware of problem using special billing error address. Have proof of delivery of your billing error letter (Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested). Telephone calls do not protect you under the Act.

By the way, if the card is issued by a merchant and the problem transactions are with the merchant you may have broader protections.