Ali contacted us after his bank refused to pursue a chargeback after losing money on a photo and contract package to a modelling company.
What happened
Ali contacted us after his bank refused to pursue a chargeback. He explained he’d been approached by a modelling company, and following a free photoshoot, he’d ended up spending £4,800 on a photo and contract package using his debit card because he says the supplier told him they could guarantee him paid work within weeks.
However, after paying the supplier, Ali hadn’t heard anything more – or received paid work he was promised – despite several attempts to contact them. He told us he’d contacted his bank to raise a chargeback, as he was seriously concerned he’d been scammed. But the bank wouldn’t raise the chargeback, saying it was unlikely that his claim would be successful because he’d received the photos and website noted on the contract.
Ali didn’t think this was fair and asked us to step in.
What we said
We asked Ali for more detail about what had happened to him. He explained that he’d spent over five hours at the supplier’s studio having photos taken and waiting to be spoken to by one of the agents. When he’d eventually spoken to someone, he’d been told that they’d shared his photos with one of the retailers they worked with, and already had guaranteed work lined up for him.
Ali also remembered the agent talking about some of the successful models that had signed up with them. He’d been told that, on average, these models were getting four to six shoots per month.
Ali said he’d been told he had to buy a full modelling package which included images and a website and had to make a decision there and then – otherwise not only would he not get any work, but his photos would be deleted.
We looked at how the bank had responded to Ali’s chargeback claim. The records showed the bank had told Ali that he’d received what he paid for – photos and a website, and that the contract he’d signed didn’t promise guaranteed paid work. For this reason, they’d said he couldn’t make a chargeback claim for goods or services not received.
Ali had provided us with a detailed and credible account about what he was told he would get. We also looked at the wider evidence including the emails he’d sent to the supplier which supported what he said. In the circumstances it seemed likely Ali spent a significant amount of money because he was promised he would make it back soon after. Overall, we felt it was likely he’d been promised more than what was noted on the written contract and there were sufficient grounds for the bank to carry out a chargeback.
We looked at the documents Ali gave the bank and listened to what he told them when he made the claim. He had provided it with detailed and credible evidence to indicate he was promised services he didn’t receive and he told them he had been scammed. There was also wider evidence online which came to light about the type of scam Ali had described, including a page from the Action Fraud website.
So we decided the bank should have carried out a chargeback for Ali. And from the evidence we’d seen – in particular the strong evidence that Ali had been victim of a scam, we thought it was more likely than not that he would have got his money back.
Although Ali received photos and a website, we don’t think he had any use for them. He wasn’t looking for modelling work until he got approached by the supplier. He was willing to give the photos back and for the website to be taken down. Considering this and because the bank’s unfair decision had likely left Ali out of pocket, we thought it fair and reasonable in these particular circumstances for it to refund him what he paid on the debit card in full including 8% simple yearly interest.