SALLY SORTS IT: Holiday hustler flogging cheap computers stole £4,200

While on holiday in Tenerife in May, I was encouraged by a salesperson from an electronics store to buy a tablet computer at the special price of €105 (£91).

I bought it with my NatWest credit card. I checked my account online while still in store and noticed two suspicious transactions totaling €4,862 (£4,197). I asked to cancel the purchase.

The shopkeeper agreed and seemed to be talking to his own bank to sort it out.

Instead of refunding the money to my card for the tablet he gave me €105 cash but said he would make sure the other charges would be refunded. When I got back to the UK I saw that this had not happened.

NatWest initially refunded the money and filed a claim against the retailer’s bank under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act.

On October 4, the bank said it was “unable to proceed with my dispute through Mastercard Dispute Resolution” and took the money back. Essentially, the retailer wouldn’t budge.

NM, East Grinstead, West Sussex.

Sally Hamilton replies: A quick search of travel chat rooms to Tenerife suggested you’re not alone in being duped by certain electronics stores in the largest of Spain’s Canary Islands.

According to the information website tenerifeguru.com, the hustle you’ve fallen for seems to have lasted for more than a decade.

It says that the ruse “generally consists of a “bait and switch”, where you are offered one product for a ridiculously low price, only to be scammed into upgrading to a “superior” product for a significantly higher price. .. which will always be too expensive or an outdated model and can come with ridiculously expensive accessories’.

You were pressured to add a “satellite app,” which required you to pay a subscription that supposedly allowed you to watch 9,000 TV channels around the world.

Another trick is for retailers to “accidentally” overcharge a credit card.

The site says, “This can cause a huge headache trying to get the money back through your bank when you get home, and often unsuccessfully.”

Your story fit this scenario – and you certainly had a headache chasing repayment.

Your unfortunate experience, which can happen in almost any crowded tourist destination, should serve as a warning.

An early red flag that has happened to you is if a salesperson asks customers if they are vacationers rather than residents. Being a tourist makes for safer prey, knowing they will soon be back home and less able to complain to the authorities.

For the same reason, the predators suggest that victims return to the store on their last day – as you did – with the trick that their devices be set to English.

You were also taken to another store to complete the transaction – another signal that the arrangements are off.

Alarm bells should also ring for more rudimentary tactics (as happened to you), when a retailer dangles a hand in front of the payment terminal screen to obscure the amounts entered.

In your case, the seller also kept your receipts, so you couldn’t check them. He claimed you’d get them when the deal was done.

I was also asked for identification, which the seller copied. Hardly needed for a €105 purchase.

When you finally smelled a rat and left the store without the item but with $105 cash as a refund, you hoped the retailer would refund the other card payments as promised; or, at worst, be protected by your bank if he didn’t.

For this reason you have not filed a report with the police or the municipality. I suspect it is the reluctance of holidaymakers under time pressure to officially complain that allows such sharp practices to persist.

Tenerifeguru suggests that tourists may have more success getting full refunds by requiring the shop to provide them with an official hoja de reclamaciones – a complaint form – on the spot, as the shopkeeper will be nervous if the complaint reaches the authorities.

NatWest has disputed the unwanted transactions with the retailer’s bank on your behalf. But the retailer stood his ground and in his response submitted copies of receipts (handwritten) – which you had never seen before – stating that you still had the ‘top’ you purchased.

It’s not clear why the store used the word “top” instead of tablet. And frankly, it was unrealistic to buy a ‘top’ for £4,000.

What was also a nuisance was that you didn’t get any text alerts or phone calls from NatWest about these high-value transactions, which were out of character and made overseas.

NatWest insisted that because you entered your PIN to verify the transactions, they passed through security. This meant it couldn’t recover your refund.

I asked NatWest to reconsider as it was clear you were a victim of fraud.

I’m happy to say that a few days later, the bank changed its mind and returned your money – as a gesture of goodwill.

A spokesperson for NatWest said: ‘We always work to achieve the best outcome for our clients and look at cases on an individual basis. We are pleased that we have now come to a positive solution.’

You were very happy and as a token of gratitude you would like to make a donation to St Catherine’s Hospice in Crawley, West Sussex.

Readers planning to go to the sun this winter, take note.

Why isn’t Virgin giving me my promised Netflix?

In May we signed a broadband contract with Virgin Media, including a standard Netflix subscription. We received an activation email, opened our account and started watching Netflix.

When I tried to watch something again in early August, I got a message saying, “You can’t stream because of a problem with your account.”

I contacted Netflix, who said Virgin should fix this. I contacted the latter many times and was told there was a technical glitch and would be contacted within a few days.

Nothing. Still no Netflix. Still no help from Virgin Media.

KC, Hemel Hempstead, Herts.

Sally Hamilton replies: You wanted to watch dramas on Netflix, not be involved in a long search to solve the technical problems to access.

I have contacted Virgin Media and asked to resolve your issue once and for all. Within a few days it came back with a solution – although not quite the one you expected.

Virgin says it’s sorry for your hassle, but it seems the experts are still unable to restore your Netflix account through your Virgin contract. Instead, the company has cobbled together a clumsy solution.

This means you get £10.99 a month for the next 13 months – the rest of your contract – which you can spend on a subscription to Netflix if you wish.

It also credits you with around £33 for the three months you’ve been without Netflix, plus an extra £50 for the hassle.

The total value of the fee is almost £226. While grateful, you say you are disappointed by the complexity of the solution and the fact that you had to contact me to get things done.

A Virgin Media spokesperson said: ‘We are aware of some technical issues affecting a small number of customers when trying to access Netflix. Our technical team is working to resolve these issues as quickly as possible and we apologize to any customer impacted.”

• Write to Sally Hamilton at Sally Sorts It, Money Mail, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or email sally@dailymail.co.uk – include telephone number, address and a note addressed to the offending organization giving them permission to talk to Sally Hamilton. Please do not send any original documents, we cannot take any responsibility for that. The Daily Mail assumes no legal liability for answers provided.