Financial nightmare -British couple paid 60,000 EUR for their weekend in Budapest

The British couple should have paid a bit more than 60,000 HUF (~189 EUR) for their romantic weekend in Budapest; however their holiday became a financial nightmare due to a mistake that was committed by a hotel employee.

As the British news portal Daily Mail describes, the hotel employee accidentally charged the amount in Euro instead of Hungarian Forint; as a result of which, the 22-year-old Charlotte Smith paid all together 60,158 EUR for the accommodation.

Charlotte signed the invoice of the transaction as she thought the amount was written in HUF.

Okay, no problem, just a simple mistake that can be undone – we would think; however, the case is not that simple… Why?! Barclays Bank deducted the same amount from Charlotte’s account; despite the fact that there was not that much money on it; in fact, just a small amount, so Charlotte had a gigantic minus on her account.

Afterwards, the hotel noticed the error and refunded the money immediately, but the girl could not celebrate at all – Barclays bank charged roughly 3,000 pounds (~3350 EUR) for transaction, exchange and additional fees. These costs were taken from Charlotte’s account; however, the bank refuses to refund the amount. 

„I did not do anything wrong, but the bank does not want to help me.” – commented Charlotte to the British journal, adding that this way she cannot repay her loans.

The girl has been fighting with the bank for one week, she suffers from panic attacks, cannot sleep, and feels angry not only because of the non-repayment, but due to the the fact that the bank allowed to deduct the gigantic amount, even though there was not that much money on her credit card (which was not a debit card!).

The bank answered that they cannot monitor all the transactions; furthermore, she also gave her permission.

According to Index, the hotel was BO 18 Hotel, in the 8^th district of Budapest, around Corvin-quarter. The hotel has not yet replied for the journal’s questions.

Source: dailymail.co.uk; index.hu