I recently stayed at the Renaissance Hotel Barcelona, before boarding a cruise. The Hotel swiped my card on check-in. When I asked for my bill, and handed over my card, I was surprised when it was refused. I called John Lewis partnership card services, to be told that I was exceeding my credit limit because amounts had gone through minutes before. I was advised to speak to reception to see if this was their error. They denied that this was possible, and unable to do anything else, I was forced to pay my bill on my switch. I spoke to JL again, they advised me that there were other attempted withdrawals, and that they would put a stop on the card. At that time they could not tell me where the withdrawals were coming from. On returning from my cruise, I spoke to JL who advised that in total there were 7 withdrawals and attempted withdrawals all from Renaissance Barcelona, totalling almost £2000. I have contacted Marriott/Renaissance, but some seven days later I have still not had a response. How do I progress this? John Lewis have now sent me notes of my conversations, and a list of the attempted withdrawals.

Karen Sloss, Wirral

I’m afraid it does sound like your card details have been used fraudulently. As a result, you should ask the card provider to refer this matter to its fraud department so that they can investigate this for you. As long as you alerted them as soon as you became aware something was amiss (which you did) and as long as you took reasonable care of your card (which it sounds like you did), the maximum amount you should personally be liable for is £50. In fact, card providers usually reimburse the full amount in cases like this, so you shouldn’t hopefully end up out of pocket. I hope you manage to get this resolved now without too much trouble, and that the experience didn’t spoil your holiday.