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Hello to you all. I hope you can give me some guidance on recent troubles I am having against a holiday currency card company.
I am a single female in my thirties currently backpacking South East Asia - it is a once in a lifetime trip.
I had hard currency and also 1K on a travel currency card when I left the UK six weeks ago.
In Thailand my ATM card was swallowed by an ATM machine. This was after I had input my pin. There was a sign on the ATM with a Thai phone number to call, if your card was retained.
I immediately went on my currency card companies website and looked for a way to call them. Oddly enough, their site hides any phone number, merely sending customers to a webform to contact them. I filled it in, telling them what had happened and asking for them to send a new card ASAP to my home address.
I also called the number from the sign on the ATM, but could not really get any sense from the non-English speaking Thai people on the other end of the line.
Anyway, ten days later. I called home and asked for a relative to check mail for my card. There was no card there. I then went online, and discovered fraud on the card, two ATM transactions which had wiped out the balance.
I had also not been emailed back by the currency card company. I managed to track down a contact number via Google, and called them. The lady I spoke to was most unhelpful. I told her about the fraud and card retention, and my previous contact, and asked for a new card to be sent. She told me she had locked the card, but would not talk to me as I could not pas security. She was asking me for info from the now gone card, which I obvs could not provide. She then wanted to terminate the call. I insisted this was not good enough service and asked for a manager. She refused to fetch one. I became quite upset and still she refused and insisted on ending the call. She then told me she would get a manager, and then the call terminated. I was not called back. And I also could not afford to make another call and speak to someone else, explaining the situation again.
Anyway. Two weeks later I had all my mail sent to me in Thailand. I then had to wait two weeks for it to clear customs. I picked it up on Monday in Bangkok, on my way to Vietnam. My actual money is almost zero by this point.
There was no replacement card in the package of mail.
I called the company again and complained in the strongest possible terms. The manager I spoke to told me that the previous agent should have advised me that I could send in a copy of my ID in order to pass security and apologised. She informed me that she would email me within 48 hours to confirm the fraud had been reversed. This was after I told her the money was vitally needed and I was worried sick by now.
I planned accordingly, spending the last of my money on flights and accommodation.
48 hours later, and penniless, I got an email from then, to tell me they were sending me a declaration to sign in the next 72 hours so an investigation could take place.
I called again, and the same manager lady I spoke to initially denied her arrangement with me. I then got HER manager on the phone. This lady also initially denied the arrangement. These people were, disgustingly, making ridiculous excuses and trying to dodge their terrible maladministration from start to end.
I ended the call with this horrid woman by telling her I would get all call recordings from my initial call six weeks ago to the one I was currently on, and explained in no uncertain terms the perilous situation I was now in because of all this BS.
The declaration was sent the end of the next day, completed, and returned immediately.
Today, I have received the following:
"The transactions you have disputed were all made with CHIP and PIN. In circumstances where the card has been used to withdraw funds from an ATM via CHIP and PIN there are no chargeback rights on these transactions. This is an industry wide rule and out of our control. Therefore, we are unable to reimburse these transactions. "
This is quite unbelievable, not least because a friend who works for HSBC informs me that I am the victim of ATM fraud where my card has been videocamera-taped and caught by the ATM. Unless the financial institution has reasonable ground to think I am a fraud, they must return the funds ASAP.
Please help me anyone here, I need to know my legal rights.
I will be waiting with bated breath, checking here constantly. Unfortunately, it appears I must return home a month early, and borrow money to change my flight home.
I am a single female in my thirties currently backpacking South East Asia - it is a once in a lifetime trip.
I had hard currency and also 1K on a travel currency card when I left the UK six weeks ago.
In Thailand my ATM card was swallowed by an ATM machine. This was after I had input my pin. There was a sign on the ATM with a Thai phone number to call, if your card was retained.
I immediately went on my currency card companies website and looked for a way to call them. Oddly enough, their site hides any phone number, merely sending customers to a webform to contact them. I filled it in, telling them what had happened and asking for them to send a new card ASAP to my home address.
I also called the number from the sign on the ATM, but could not really get any sense from the non-English speaking Thai people on the other end of the line.
Anyway, ten days later. I called home and asked for a relative to check mail for my card. There was no card there. I then went online, and discovered fraud on the card, two ATM transactions which had wiped out the balance.
I had also not been emailed back by the currency card company. I managed to track down a contact number via Google, and called them. The lady I spoke to was most unhelpful. I told her about the fraud and card retention, and my previous contact, and asked for a new card to be sent. She told me she had locked the card, but would not talk to me as I could not pas security. She was asking me for info from the now gone card, which I obvs could not provide. She then wanted to terminate the call. I insisted this was not good enough service and asked for a manager. She refused to fetch one. I became quite upset and still she refused and insisted on ending the call. She then told me she would get a manager, and then the call terminated. I was not called back. And I also could not afford to make another call and speak to someone else, explaining the situation again.
Anyway. Two weeks later I had all my mail sent to me in Thailand. I then had to wait two weeks for it to clear customs. I picked it up on Monday in Bangkok, on my way to Vietnam. My actual money is almost zero by this point.
There was no replacement card in the package of mail.
I called the company again and complained in the strongest possible terms. The manager I spoke to told me that the previous agent should have advised me that I could send in a copy of my ID in order to pass security and apologised. She informed me that she would email me within 48 hours to confirm the fraud had been reversed. This was after I told her the money was vitally needed and I was worried sick by now.
I planned accordingly, spending the last of my money on flights and accommodation.
48 hours later, and penniless, I got an email from then, to tell me they were sending me a declaration to sign in the next 72 hours so an investigation could take place.
I called again, and the same manager lady I spoke to initially denied her arrangement with me. I then got HER manager on the phone. This lady also initially denied the arrangement. These people were, disgustingly, making ridiculous excuses and trying to dodge their terrible maladministration from start to end.
I ended the call with this horrid woman by telling her I would get all call recordings from my initial call six weeks ago to the one I was currently on, and explained in no uncertain terms the perilous situation I was now in because of all this BS.
The declaration was sent the end of the next day, completed, and returned immediately.
Today, I have received the following:
"The transactions you have disputed were all made with CHIP and PIN. In circumstances where the card has been used to withdraw funds from an ATM via CHIP and PIN there are no chargeback rights on these transactions. This is an industry wide rule and out of our control. Therefore, we are unable to reimburse these transactions. "
This is quite unbelievable, not least because a friend who works for HSBC informs me that I am the victim of ATM fraud where my card has been videocamera-taped and caught by the ATM. Unless the financial institution has reasonable ground to think I am a fraud, they must return the funds ASAP.
Please help me anyone here, I need to know my legal rights.
I will be waiting with bated breath, checking here constantly. Unfortunately, it appears I must return home a month early, and borrow money to change my flight home.
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