Paid for taxi with debit card...never deducted

I paid for a taxi ride by debit card two weeks ago and the money still hasnt been deducted.  I just gave them my debit card number over the phone and after the journey, I asked the driver if I have to do anything and he said, "No, it's all done automatically".

But surely this should have been deducted by now.  Is there a limit to the amount of time they can take before claiming this money?  I'm hoping I got a free trip because it was £75.

Hiya

No doubt you have posted this and tommorow morning it'll have been taken from your account !

That said, if the company has been doing it's cash accounting nicely, this should've been flagged up as not paid on their systems and you shoud've had a call back by now asking for payment etc.

It could also be that they operate on a very loose plan of debiting whenever they can, or they're in total disarray and have lost your payment details or incorrectly entered them or something.

Nothing you can or should do really, if it never shows up on your account, assume they faffed up taking payment from you!

Incidentally, I had a similar card payment thing when I was last in the USA on a road trip. Over a period of about 12 days I got stopped about 6 times, 5 of those times resulted me in getting a 'ticket' for speeding. The last Police stop, the typical donut eating rather rotund copper chuckled as he wrote up $150 on the ticket. I paid over the phone about 4 days later once I was back in the UK. Nothing appeared on my credit card statement for over 6 months! I'd even rung them 2 months later to confirm the ticket had been paid, they did and I took the name of the person who confirmed that! then my devious mind thought, well what if I'd cancelled my credit card/account etc in that timeframe?! according to my records and theirs it was paid!

So next time I'm stateside, I'll probably get done again for 73 in a 55 or something and I'm going to pay by credit card and once back inthe UK - cancel the card!


Cheers! DtM! West London & Slough UK!
Disclaimer - I won't really do the above - I promise

Hey Dennis,

Is that why I always see your picture posted, in the airport, at the border/emigration control

Money still hasnt been taken out.  I have thought about closing my account.  I plan on doing that anyway, but figured that I could speed up the process and maybe get out of this £75 as a bonus.  I assume its some kind of oversight.  I read that there's no limit to the amount of time they can take to deduct any money, but that can't be right.  I think that was an American site that I read this anyway so maybe there's some English regulations on this.

Money still hasnt been taken out.  I have thought about closing my account.  I plan on doing that anyway, but figured that I could speed up the process and maybe get out of this £75 as a bonus. 

But...you did take the taxi ride, right?  So are you saying you want to rip off the company for a service they provided to you? 

What a bizarre reply. 

Let's try to keep this one on topic, gals.

Well, she's right. You could call the company and let them know that they never deducted the fare from your credit card, giving them the opportunity to do so. Or, you could cancel your card and get a free taxi ride. It's up to you, really.

I agree with geeta and Bmore_2_UK; you took the taxi ride; why wouldn't you pay for it? 

What a bizarre reply.  

Let's try to keep this one on topic, gals.

Okay, first off - why is it bizarre?

And second, in case you weren't clued in by the name, Dennis The Menace is not a 'gal'.

If anything's bizarre, it was your reply to my question. 

And second, in case you weren't clued in by the name, Dennis The Menace is not a 'gal'.

Jim might be though. 

Jim might be though. 

Of course!!  He might!! 

I'd call the taxi company. I wouldn't want £75 hanging over me never knowing when it would be debited.

Money still hasnt been taken out.  I have thought about closing my account.  I plan on doing that anyway, but figured that I could speed up the process and maybe get out of this £75 as a bonus.  I assume its some kind of oversight.  I read that there's no limit to the amount of time they can take to deduct any money, but that can't be right.  I think that was an American site that I read this anyway so maybe there's some English regulations on this.

Sure sure, close your account. They will send it to some equivalent of collections. And you will ruin your credit AND break the law to save a grand total of £75. Might I most respectfully suggest that if the above sounds reasonable to you, maybe you should reconsider £75 cab rides?

Taxi fare evasion is a criminal offence. I would suggest you do the honest thing or risk a conviction. No doubt they have a record of where they picked you up and dropped you off, so it wouldn't be hard for the police to find you.

Taxi fare evasion is a criminal offence. I would suggest you do the honest thing or risk a conviction. No doubt they have a record of where they picked you up and dropped you off, so it wouldn't be hard for the police to find you.

That's a bit extreme.  He hasn't closed his account and he made a good faith attempt to pay the fare.  If the taxi company hasn't debited his card then that's not his fault.  He's done nothing wrong.  Yet.   

AJC, some debits take a while to clear.  I'd give it another week or so then call the bank or the cab company.  Trying to avoid or evade this would cause a lot more damage than paying £75.