Claiming cost of medical assessment from credit card company

[Mamma182838]

I paid privately for a medical assessment - a couple thousand pounds. The result was inconclusive. They sent a report detailing the findings. The company said they would conduct another review with additional data. I asked for a timescale but they didn’t give it. They said in there would be no charge. This was all in emails.

The company has now gone bust before the review. Can we get the fee back from the credit card company we used to pay the fee? How best to go about it after the starting the process with the credit card company?

The review is also in the terms and conditions.

You can try, the process will be on the bank's website.

You'll probably need to chase it up as I'm sure their first strategy is to ignore and hope you give up

I claimed for something I didn't get from a company that went bust. They kept asking for evidence that I'd tried to get reimbursement from the company, which was obviously impossible. In the end I raised a complaint and got a nominal compensation, as well as the reimbursement.

I reckon you probably can. They haven’t provided the service. Have a look at your chargeback terms.

Do I understand this correctly? You paid money for a consultation which you had and received a report as a result. The company offered you a free second review/consultation but unfortunately has since gone bust.

Therefore, you actually received what you paid for. Not sure you can get a refund on the second, free appointment. (But no harm in asking).

I guess I’m frustrated that I didn’t get a yes/no answer - a diagnosis or not - inconclusive doesn’t help at all. But T&Cs say if the result is inconclusive then you can have a second review for no charge.

So I see this as a package with two attempts to get a result, though usually one attempt is sufficient, and the second attempt hasn’t been tried yet.

But I’m worrying it will be seen as you have described, as a free add-on that I’ve missed out on.

And my question is how best to word it to the credit card company.

I ended up calling them to raise the dispute and they said I would have to upload documentation but when I checked my email it said it was resolved and I had been credited the money! But also if the merchant submits evidence to the contrary then it may be reversed.

How often does that happen given the company is insolvent? Would the administrators try to contest it?

Good news. I would put the money in a spare account, and hold onto it for a while, just in case it does get reversed. I don’t know how long an insolvency would take.

I have only ever been on the other side of a chargeback dispute but there will be a set time period for them to be able to object to the chargeback request. If they do, you probably won’t see what they’ve filed to support their objection but then you will have to respond and evidence you chargeback request. My advice is to upload any agreement / T&Cs for the report and correspondence around the second follow up and also include a letter setting out what your position is (you paid £X on x date, attended for the review, received report that was inconclusive, corresponded with them to arrange the follow up per the T&Cs and it was agreed this should be provided pursuant to that agreement but they did not fulfil that agreement due to insolvency. You therefore have an inconclusive report which does not meet your needs / what they agree to provide and agreement was only part performed). You will then have a wait of quite a few weeks for the credit card company to review and come to a view.

This is SO helpful, thank you!!

No problem at all - if you do end up having to do anything further and have queries then come back to the thread and if I can give any guidance I can.