A mum was left horrified to discover that she had been unknowingly charged £400 for two £15 Christmas balloons she purchased for her kids at a park. Amy Lloyd from Cwmbran enjoyed a festive evening on Tuesday with her husband John and their two sons, Jacob and Jorgie as they attended Christmas at Bute Park in the city centre.
Inside the park, there was a vendor selling fairy light balloons and Amy decided to purchase one for each of her children which she was told would come to a total of £30. However, she did not realise the eye watering price of the purchase that she agreed to when she used chip and pin on her card to pay for the balloons, Wales Online reports.
Amy was left gobsmacked when her husband's bank informed the couple that she had actually paid £430 after an extra digit had been added before the £30. The mother said: "We offered to pay cash and the man said he would rather we paid by card, which is fine because I guess a lot of places prefer card payments these days.
"He then said the contactless wasn’t working and asked me to enter the card instead. But it was all a bit of a rush so I quickly tapped in the pin and that was that.
She continued: "The next day the bank messaged my husband to say that £430 had been taken out of our account, so he rang them and they said the money had been paid by card to a company called Fairy Lights Balloons. The website address written on the balloon doesn’t work so I emailed Bute Park themselves and messaged them on social media."
Amy said that the park's management have now responded to her and confirmed they will refund her the £400 if she sends over a screenshot from her bank statement to prove the payment. However, the couple have been held up even further after their bank advised them to cancel their card and they are now waiting on a new one to arrive before they can receive their money back.
When the new card comes, Amy is 'hopeful' they will be reimbursed for their £400 purchase. She added: "It’s a lot of money, especially at Christmas.
"At least we’re hopeful we can get the money back. I’m just worried that this may have happened to others too." Organisers of Christmas at Bute Park have confirmed that the huge over charge was caused by human error and that the couple would receive a refund.
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