It has been taken care of , but basically I want to know how this can happen and if the establishment is obligated to tell me 1) if the card was swiped or 2) if a receipt was signed and if I can see the signature 3) if it was an internet request or what?

I was traveling a lot this year and had not checked my online visa statement in months. So I finally got my password figured out and went through my charges.

Suddenly a charge from a hotel chain caught my eye. I was in Spain and it seemed this hotel was at PHL.

I wrote the main office and they directed me by email to the hotel in question according to the merchant number.

The hotel did say my card was charged erroneously and I would be reimbursed.

Is this enough information? I wrote them that I really wanted to know HOW this happened. Can I expect an explanation?

I would certainly hope they would respond to your question. How xould they charge your card if you didn't give it to them? Have you stayed there in the past? We had our CC number stolen after staying at an upscale NY hotel.

I doubt you get the explanation. They probably don't know and don't care to allocate resources (expense hit) if it is not forced by regulation.
Doing so would probably provide evidences of negligence. Like many other things, they just want them settled as an accounting entry from the loss allowance.
I do not trust any merchant accepting my credit card at home to secure the info. I use separate credit cards when I travel, so that I minimize the security breach impacts from numerous times I use the cards at home. One card I use at home almost predictably turns into a pumpkin every two years when some careless retailer get hacked and my card info is used more than once every minute around the world lasting half an hour until the fraud department finally start to realized there is something wrong with the transactions.

How would a hotel charge card? If it was a card present transaction, it was cloned off hacked information. The hackers are getting better at cloning cards. They used to be poorly made and the bank would catch it the first time. Now, it takes multiple transactions with the cloned card get caught.

no answer. have written twice.

Hi Lincasanova.....I wish your problem is solved and fully explained to you. I think sooner or later we all will experience something like this, as we share with the hotels our cc numbers for the purpose of reservations .

Please, can you confirm to me 2016 fallas march 15 to march 19? As you know, in our first visit to Valencia we fell in love with the city, and we are thinking about 2016 Fallas. Thanks in advance!

There are times when card numbers are entered manually and a mistake is made. This happened to us once and the card was declined; I instructed the clerk to input the number again and as it turned out she had input the number incorrectly the first time.

Does this explain how YOUR situation arose? Probably not but the CC issuer can always tell if the card was swiped vs. the numbers were input manually. Whether or not the establishment is "required" to tell you that I am not sure.

You are, I suspect, NEVER going to find out "how this happened" and be happy that it has not become even more drawn out than these things often can.

Yes, I know this is not a satisfactory answer BUT WHAT IS YOUR ALTERNATIVE? Cancel the card? Never use that establishment? Go on Facebook or Twitter and make all sorts of negative posts? Go on TripAdvisor and do the same? Not worth YOUR energy IMO. Move on.

I don't expect you'll ever get anywhere with the hotel telling you how a mistake was made, why would they?

But your post isn't really clear to me at all -- did you ever stay in this hotel and they just charged you twice or what? If you have never stayed in this hotel at all and they cold not have had your card number, I don't see how that could happen. I don't even understand your initials, PHL is Philadelphia airport?

But if you have never had any dealings with this hotel, I would sure want to know how they could do it also. Because they'd have to know your card number, your name and your expiration date at a minimum, I don't see how that could happen without them having your info.

I never deal with vendors on such issues, I just let my CC handle it, though. Because usually it is card fraud (meaning the hotel didn't do it, some person had my card number, in which case I needed it cancelled) or a vendor accidentally charges you twice. I had some store do that to me once, claiming the card didn't go through the first time and I had to swipe it again. I let my card handle it.

Hi lincasanova,

The only explanation I can think of is that someone gave a credit card number over the phone to the hotel and the clerk miswrote it (and perhaps didn't ask for the 3-digit code number on the back of the card).

When the person had them actually swipe the card, it was discovered. Rather than fix it, can't you hear some lazy so and so saying, "Oh, we will hear from the person who actually had this card!"??

Ask your credit card company if they can tell how it happened. They can tell whether it was an internet transaction, whether it was swiped, etc. I have found my credit card company to be very helpful with such questions.

While I was in Peru, I received an email asking abut a transaction in Germany. The CC company had figured it was bogus, so didn't allow it to go through. They wanted to cancel my card and send me a new one. Reasonable, except I was at the beginning of a two-week Peru trip and the credit card was one of two I use when I travel. The CC company said they would restrict my card to in-person transactions so I could use it in Peru, but I couldn't use it online. It turned out that I didn't need to use it, but I was glad I had the back up.

Joselopez.. yes, Fallas is always the 15th to the 19th

The CC company could not TELL what type transaction it was when I called them. I'm just curious.

I am waiting to find out if this is a hotel I stayed at the past summer with a group of students. Possibly. But I can't find any info and have asked my company to look into it as I have stayed in so many hotels at PHL, but always with a voucher so I have no record of it myself... so that MAY be where they got my CC when they swiped for guarantee.

Anyway. I'm not losing sleep over it, that's for sure.

That is very odd that the CC company can't tell what type of transaction it is. Glad it is resolved - too bad it's still a mystery!

I'm glad your CC company was able to care of it. This is a good reminder to everyone to check their CC reguarly. I know I was a victim of CC fraud while away on vacation so it slipped through until I returned home a week later. My CC didn't think it was suspicious and it didn't stop until I caught it.

That is very odd as when I've had CC bogus charges,sometimes I've discussed with them whether it were in an actual store, online or whatever and my cards always knew. I find it incredible they can't tell.

I don't think what Tdudette suggests could be it, they c n't just charge a random CC number, even without the security code (whichh isn't always needed) to someone else's name as far as I know.

Christina: "they c n't just charge a random CC number" Sure they can. It should get caught, but doesn't always. I had a $1000+ charge to a credit card from Best Buy. I called my CC company and figured they would want to replace my card, but they said "it's just a mis-entry of a number" and suggested I just watch the card. Apparently that is what it was, I had no further charges that were not mine.

Thanks Lincasanova!

I came home from Italy one year to a voice mail from one of my cc companies.

They asked if I had been recently in Canada to which I replied "no, just walked in the door from 3 1/2 weeks in Italy."

They said there had been 2 transactions against my account in Toronto. The first for a small "test" purchase which they had let go through. The second transaction was for a much higher amount which they denied.

Credited my account for the first transaction and cancelled my card. Reissued me a new card based on our phone call.

I finally, after insisting, got a response of HOW this happened. They SAY the third party the travel agency used to book my room that I "paid for with a voucher" last summer, never paid them for it. Therefore, they charged ME for it several months later.

What?

"it's just a mis-entry of a number"

That is total BS. I process credit cards every day for my two businesses. What is the chance that the exp date and cvv code were exactly the same for the credit card they entered and your cc. What a bunch of nonsense.