Being Cheated By Icici Bank Credit Card...

[wecaz 0]

Hi,

I am having bad experience with my ICICI Bank Platinum Credit Card. On April 2nd, a new transaction of 2k has been added in my account. This transaction took place in Big Bazaar on Jan 06th. The amazing thing is that I never performed this transaction. After this transaction 3 billing cycles are gone.

Now I have sent a dispute letter to the bank. They need 60 days to investigate and want me to pay the amount as of now. If finally the dispute favours me, I will get a refund.

I need advice from you friends. What should I do more to save my money? Has anyone experienced the same problem earlier?

wecaz1@gmail.com

[Arun 795]

It is likely that your card has been skimmed. You will defenitely get the refund and waiting for 60 days is a pain, but the interest charges for 60 days of that transaction will be refunded as well. Its wierd that they have added the transaction after 3 billing cycles, maybe it was a transaction done by someone else, but got logged under your account. If they claim that your card was infact skimmed, make sure that you request for a new card. Anyway, ICICI's Customer Care is good, so you will not be left in the dark.

Make sure that you use the card at established merchants. Keep an eye on the waiter if you give the card to him in a hotel.

[petar 15]

NO worries. 60 days is standard time for visa & mastercard for disputes. Its not you or me... its same for every1.

Also since u file a dispute , you are not required to make that payment under dispute. If its in your favour, they will show reversal in statment later on. Most likely it happens withing 20-25 days... even before next statment is generated. so there is no question of interest or penalty of non-payment.

ICICI support is good. Even if its not, trust VISA/MASTERCARD disputer norms. Its same accross the globe & issuing bank have to follow the procedure.

[Dj 25]

It is likely that your card has been skimmed. You will defenitely get the refund and waiting for 60 days is a pain, but the interest charges for 60 days of that transaction will be refunded as well. Its wierd that they have added the transaction after 3 billing cycles, maybe it was a transaction done by someone else, but got logged under your account. If they claim that your card was infact skimmed, make sure that you request for a new card. Anyway, ICICI's Customer Care is good, so you will not be left in the dark.

Make sure that you use the card at established merchants. Keep an eye on the waiter if you give the card to him in a hotel.

they hold credit card and debit card transactions at these stores as cash sale which is used as a buffer to boost sales on dry and target sales days... so u could see them posting it even a month later... inside news as my wifey is a merchant with Big Bazaar

@Wecaz...

insure u replace your card if icici confirm its skimming as arun has rightly stated...

[ashoksoft 83]

And petrol pumps tooo .... I've had 3 bad experiences in different petrol pumps in mumbai ... One of which culminated in an arrest too..

cheers

karki

[amtrag 20]

A word of precaution:

Always ensure that the swipe takes place in front of your eyes...never let the guy take the card away.

Card no, CVV no, Name & expiry date are all that the person at the counter needs to write down on a piece of paper (forget hi-tech skimming etc) and later use it for any internet transaction...sounds scary but it is true!

[copperco2 24]

one thing that can be done is...

you can write down the transactions as ans when they happen..this way you wont miss any transaction and as the bill comes then can cross check..

most people do it for cash transactions to assess the faltu expenses...

secondly the dispute has to be raised in the time frame of 20 days or so after the receipt of the bill/ card statement... this will help in faster re collection of the spend and timely action...

[Dj 25]

yeah... i for one keep a dual check... save smses i get for ny debit card or credit card purchase nd the transaction slip till the statement comes...

[petar 15]

Yups- Mobile alert of transaction does help. Check online statment before physical ones arrive.

[@ksh@T 20]

icici bank walas are cheater no.1 never deal with them!

[wecaz 0]

Hi friends,

As I said in first post, in my credit card bill of Apr 27, ICICI bank has added a transaction of Jan 06. I found it on Internet account in April start and reported as disputed.........

Last month I got reply from ICICI bank that dispute has been decided in favour of the bank. Now they have loaded my credit card bill with loads of Interest+late payment fee+service charges, and due amount is almost double of the original transaction amount. They have produced a copy of charge slip too, it matches approximately 50-60% to my signatures(this %age is getting lower as I look at it again and again.) Bank would never encash a cheque with these signatures.

Now there are two possibilities: My card has been misused, somehow(I don't know, but it is blocked now). OR I may have made transaction, I may have signed the charge slip in hurry(bad signatures) and finally forgot about the transaction in three months.

I mailed ICICI bank to settle the dispute. I offered them to remove the charges and I will pay the actual transaction amount. But their customer care doesn't agree with this solution. Instead I am asked whether I want to pay this due or not.

I have savings account with this bank too(with different customer id). Can they block some amount in savings account if I don't pay? What bad they can do to me..

Suggestions invited

[Puneet 0]

They cannot block funds from your savings bank account till you give them an authorization. No worries on that front.

However, as you disputed the transaction and it has been decided in favor of the bank, bank is bound to charge interests and everything on it. You can negotiate with them to waive of the excess charges - you might need to talk to people higher up then a customer care executive at the call centers. If you have been an active user of the card, a threat to discontinue the card will work, but if you are not a regular user, this threat has no effect. You yourself are in doubt about the transaction that goes against your stand and negotiation with the bank.

PS: A piece of advice, keep the copy of charge slip till the time the transaction shows in your statement. That way you know if you made the transaction or not.

[nellorian 23]

This type problems are normal in ICICI BANK. The bank never care for the customer and their practices are always infavour of the bank. You should not spare the bank. You file a complaint before the Ditrict Consumer Redressal Forum at Place and claim for damages for mental agony due wrong billing. After the amount is credited in your account, you issue a notice to the bank claiming damages for your mental agony and if your grievance is not redressed you can write to the Ombudsman (the procedure is given in RBI WEBSITE). OR you can file a complaint before the District Consumer Disputes Redressal forum for damages.

[manishag 17]

well in such case file the complian in RBI. in past i logged the complain on RBI site and i got the response in 2 weeks time from RBi and with in a month my matter solved by the bank.

[Sadikk 301]

Just write down mail to them, and just paste this in end and see the magic

They will dance on ur tune. Tested

CC / BCC to:

Honorable Finance Minister

P. Chindambaram

Dept. of Banking Operations

and Devlopment

Reserve Bank of India

The Arcade

Word Trade Centre

Cuff Parade

Mumbai 400 005

Banking Ombudsman

(Maharashtra & Goa)

c/o. Reserve Bank of India

Garment House,Gr.Floor

Dr. A.B.Road,Worli

Mumbai 400 018

Tel: 2492 4607/2496 0893

Aaj Tak

Zee Business Aapka Fayda

CNBC Awaaz

UTV I

NDTV Profit

CNN-IBN

Times Now

[parrotred 3]

Transfer all your worries to bank ombdusman and live in peace. and let the bank take all the tension. Personal experience with ICICI bank credit card. Since then i have stopped using ICICI.

Just write down mail to them, and just paste this in end and see the magic

They will dance on ur tune. Tested

CC / BCC to:

Honorable Finance Minister

P. Chindambaram

Dept. of Banking Operations

and Devlopment

Reserve Bank of India

The Arcade

Word Trade Centre

Cuff Parade

Mumbai 400 005

Banking Ombudsman

(Maharashtra & Goa)

c/o. Reserve Bank of India

Garment House,Gr.Floor

Dr. A.B.Road,Worli

Mumbai 400 018

Tel: 2492 4607/2496 0893

Aaj Tak

Zee Business Aapka Fayda

CNBC Awaaz

UTV I

NDTV Profit

CNN-IBN

Times Now

[rajeevjee 0]

Hi friends,

As I said in first post, in my credit card bill of Apr 27, ICICI bank has added a transaction of Jan 06. I found it on Internet account in April start and reported as disputed.........

Last month I got reply from ICICI bank that dispute has been decided in favour of the bank. Now they have loaded my credit card bill with loads of Interest+late payment fee+service charges, and due amount is almost double of the original transaction amount. They have produced a copy of charge slip too, it matches approximately 50-60% to my signatures(this %age is getting lower as I look at it again and again.) Bank would never encash a cheque with these signatures.

Now there are two possibilities: My card has been misused, somehow(I don't know, but it is blocked now). OR I may have made transaction, I may have signed the charge slip in hurry(bad signatures) and finally forgot about the transaction in three months.

I mailed ICICI bank to settle the dispute. I offered them to remove the charges and I will pay the actual transaction amount. But their customer care doesn't agree with this solution. Instead I am asked whether I want to pay this due or not.

I have savings account with this bank too(with different customer id). Can they block some amount in savings account if I don't pay? What bad they can do to me..

Suggestions invited

Hi...this is quite unfortunate but my suggestion would be to pay-up now and close this. I had similar experience with ICICI and in spite of my repeated requests for nearly 14 months, they kept on piling late fee and interests (with no explanation on calculations) and I ended up paying up 19500 for a transaction of 4500 which I never incurred. And they have centralised database where they can anytime deduct money from your saving account (if your phone number or address is same). Their customer care is absolutely non-chalant and they would never compromise. They will start sending you notices and calls from courts that now they are initiating arrest warrant proceedings and finally you will have to go in person to their settlement department where they will ask you to pay up with some minor negotiation.

You might want to approach consumer forum etc but am not sure how helpful they will prove.

In fact, I would want to inform on one more precaution for future. Never subscribe to INDIA TODAY club via your credit card as they keep on renewing it on the single one-time signed chit. There is no way that they would refund money to the credit card bank. The only resort left with the poor subscriber is to discontinue with the credit card altogether.

Edited September 19, 2008 by rajeevjee

[raccoon 53]

^^^

Pardon me for saying... but thats a VERY submissive attitude!

I follow a very simple policy - I dont and wont pay for services/goods that I didnt recieve... and no giving in to fraud... no matter what! I suggest everyone here to follow the same principle. There is no use whining here if we dont do anything to change anything. And giving in to such things is very clearly encouraging perpetrators like these.

With this kinda attitude, you can be pretty sure that things will remain as they are... and even go worse.

[Sadikk 301]

But in this particular matter i see very weak case as consumer himself don't remember the transactions.

Emailing them with the way i suggested will help though.

[raccoon 53]

^^^

Yes, thats very true... You gotta be very sure before you start accusing...

[wecaz 0]

Hello Friends,

Thanks a lot for all your invaluable suggestions. Today I have reached at a point where I can brief you ppl about the proceedings. Sorry for the wait.

I was in a discussion with a ICICI bank customer representative. He replied to me after reading my post in some other forum. He was using official mail id for communication, so I believed him.

He asked me if I want a settlement with the bank. Since I am out of India, so this seems an easy option to me instead of going to the courts. At that moment, total outstanding was double of the actual transaction. On behalf of ICICI bank collection team, this representative offer me to pay half of the outstanding amount and close the credit card account. I agreed and made the payment.

Seems that the problem is going to be solved, but there was more drama left in the story. I did not receive any official word from the bank. I mailed few times to this representative, who asked some more time again and again. After payment I received two monthly bills, outstanding again started increasing. At this point of time this guy has stopped giving any reply as he never existed. I felt betrayed.

I raised a ticket in ICICI bank. It seems to wake them up. They credited back some late fee, interest and service charges twice. I don't understand their calculation, but in the third bill, there is an outstanding of Rs. 1.33.

Now I have been informed that no statements will be generated in future for this account. But on the other hand, they request me to confirm if I want to cancel this credit card account. Last statement is surprising. I am going to compose a reply to them.

Do I need to request a new card if possible(there are many benefits of this Platinum card)? I know the answer is 'NO'.

Do I need some proof of no dues even after this last bill?

This is my story. My thanks to you friends again for your support.

[rameshmadhavan 4]

Hi friends,

As I said in first post, in my credit card bill of Apr 27, ICICI bank has added a transaction of Jan 06. I found it on Internet account in April start and reported as disputed.........

Last month I got reply from ICICI bank that dispute has been decided in favour of the bank. Now they have loaded my credit card bill with loads of Interest+late payment fee+service charges, and due amount is almost double of the original transaction amount. They have produced a copy of charge slip too, it matches approximately 50-60% to my signatures(this %age is getting lower as I look at it again and again.) Bank would never encash a cheque with these signatures.

Now there are two possibilities: My card has been misused, somehow(I don't know, but it is blocked now). OR I may have made transaction, I may have signed the charge slip in hurry(bad signatures) and finally forgot about the transaction in three months.

I mailed ICICI bank to settle the dispute. I offered them to remove the charges and I will pay the actual transaction amount. But their customer care doesn't agree with this solution. Instead I am asked whether I want to pay this due or not.

I have savings account with this bank too(with different customer id). Can they block some amount in savings account if I don't pay? What bad they can do to me..

Suggestions invited

They can freeze ur act

[commonman 228]

Make sure u get a signed final settlement letter from the bank stating that all outstanndiong of ur acc. has been settled