2015 - 2016

Cards

Credit card

Mr T went overseas on business.  One night, he met up with friends at a bar for drinks.  When he awoke the next day he couldn’t remember the night before and felt awful.  There were also people in his room, whom he told to leave.  He noticed some of his stuff was gone.  He then found a bar receipt for NZD$2,000 in his pocket.  Mr T was shocked as he had only had a few drinks, so called his bank.  It told him there had been numerous card transactions from that night totaling NZD$7,000.

Mr T remembered signing the first receipt without checking the amount, but couldn’t recall anything after that.  He believed he had been drugged and his card taken and used by the bar staff.  Mr T wanted the bank to retrieve his money. 

The bank explained that because the card had been present for the transactions and not reported lost or stolen when the transactions were made, they were unable to be charged back under the bank’s disputed transactions process. The bank also noted Mr T’s allegations were a matter for the Police.

Mr T complained to us.  In this case, the bank-customer contract, stated that the bank was liable for unauthorised transactions unless the customer contributed to the loss by, for example, failing to take reasonable care of their card.  Therefore, our office would need to determine whether Mr T took reasonable care of his card and whether he was drugged or not. 

We asked the bank if it was prepared to make an offer to Mr T to resolve the dispute.  It agreed to and offered to pay Mr T NZD$2,500, half the amount of transactions Mr T couldn’t recall signing for.  This was a goodwill offer on a without prejudice basis. Mr T accepted the bank’s offer.

Our Quick Guide to Looking after your credit and debit cards and PINs has tips to keep your money safe.