I just phoned to book a session at a golf simulator for tomorrow. I’ve been before and you pay after your session and if you order food/ drink you use your debit card as security. I’ve never used my card to confirm/ reserve a booking before.

Just before the call finished, the guy told me about their cancellation policy and that they had my debit card details on file and they would charge me if we didn’t turn up.

I’ve never been asked, nor given consent for them to store my details!

I’m assuming they’re breaking the law by doing this? It wasn’t till I came off the phone that I thought about it fully and I’ll be telling them to remove my details tomorrow!

This is standard practice. You pay for a hotel they authorise the transaction then charge you when you check out. Ditto mail order transaction. Would you rather they charged you now?

No that’s not what I’m getting at.

You don’t use a card to guarantee a booking. You just phone up, request a time, give them your name then turn up at the designated time.

On a past visit I’ve used a card to pay for the golf and food/ drink after the session.

They’ve kept my card details on file without my permission.

Maybe they’ve had problems with people booking and not turning up. If you’re as reliable as possible, then pay now and ask that they don’t store your debit card details.

This seams like a breach of the Data Protection act to me. Companies can only store information that is accurate and relevant. To me this sounds like it is neither. I would tell them that you want this deleted and that if they dont you will report them to the fdata commisioner.

I agree – after the initial transaction, they cannot then use the card again without further authorisation from you

Amazon & the like do similar with ‘one click’ ordering but you still need to authorise each payment

You don’t use a card to guarantee a booking.

Who says you don’t? That’s exactly what hotels do.

The alternative would be to pay an upfront deposit.

If you don’t want to leave your card number then go down there and pay upfront in cash. Simple.

Hotels do this, however they should remove your details after your stay. They need your authorisation to make a transaction and if they can not prove this by providing a signature, proof of PIN verification of proof of card holder not present authorisation you are allowed to challenge any debits they make through POS claim back proceedures.

Who says you don’t? That’s exactly what hotels do.

Fuxake. I’ll explain this slowly. Pay attention.

[phone rings]

Golf place: Hello how can I help you

Me: I’d like to book a session for tomorrow at 12:30

Golf place: No problem. Just one hour?

Me: Yes please

Golf place: Ok, what’s the name?

Me: Bob

Golf place: No problem that’s you booked for 12:30

Where did they ask for my card details?

The only reason they have my card details is because I used it to pay AFTERWARDS once.

This would be like going into Tesco tonight for my shopping and getting to the till only to be told to keep my card in my wallet as they’ve still got my details from when I was in last week.

then ask for them to be removed?

The data is being kept i accordance the daa protectio act a long as its secure, not given to anyone else without your permission and not kept longer than neccecary. In this case longer than neccecary would be untill you tell them not to.

its like someone up there said, loads of companies keep your details, the permission was probably written on one of the recipts/smallprint of the T&C’s.