My wife’s credit card which is linked to our common standard chartered card account went missing from Nirmal Lifestyles, Mulund, Mumbai where she was shopping for groceries at shoprite hyper supermarket. This card which was used by her at Shoprite, went missing, & was misused immediately by someone for purchases at PVR theatre which is also in Nirmal Lifestyles, on the date 13-1-2009. There are 3 fraud transactions totally amounting to Rs. 4, 450. On raising a dispute with standard chartered, they said they will conduct an investigation, & later provided me 3 swipe chargeslips for the fraud transactions that were clearly forged, as the thief had got the initials in my wife’s signature wrong. All 3 transactions have been completed in less than a minute according to the transaction time. The card is a sky blue coloured photo credit card. This clearly means that most probably it is the job of someone from PVR cinemas who is connected with ticket sales. How else does a merchant swipe a photo credit card 3 times in less than a minute after ignoring a photo id available on the card? It is quite clear that the credit of Rs. 4, 450 into the account of PVR cinemas through these fraud transactions has enabled the culprit to make some adjustments & pocket an equivalent amount of cash from the cash counter. The caliber of people employed at PVR cinemas is highly questionable. After sending a few letters to standard chartered wherein I have given them in writing that the transactions are fraudulent, explaining the facts to them in the clearest possible manner, now they insist that I should pay the amount, inspite of the unfair business practices going on at PVR cinemas, & have even charged me a late payment fee of about Rs. 500 for non payment of the amount. On speaking to standard chartered I was told that it was the way things go when the merchant does not agree to reverse the transaction. It is very surprising how credit card companies sweet talk you into becoming their cardholder, give you a photo credit card, & when the cardholder has to face this kind of a situation, you actually get to know how loose & unfair is the credit card business. Merchants like PVR cinemas tend to ignore photo id available on a photo credit card, then they charge it, & if a dispute arises, they take the shameless stance of not agreeing to reverse the transaction, like what has happened here. And then there are weak credit card rules, & lack of proper purchase authentication techniques like numerical pin / fingerprint which are not so popular in India.
It is quite interesting to see that there is always a line-up of new complaints especially relating to credit card charges going against PVR cinemas on most of the consumer complaint sites. People who tend to move in the vicinity of establishments like PVR cinemas in Mulund & Nirmal Lifestyles should be warned about this incident, as there are other cases of stolen credit cards in Nirmal Lifestyles. I wish to know why PVR cinemas is unwilling to reverse the charges. The facts are in front of them. Is it the sweet taste of this income from theft that credit card companies are allowing disorganised, culprit organistaions like PVR cinemas to enjoy? And then there are the credit card companies like standard chartered who told me that they are conducting an INVESTIGATION, & haven’t even provided me details of their findings. And now they send me a letter stating that I am liable to pay the amount.
I strongly feel all authorities in consumer affairs should make it mandatory for credit card companies & merchant establishments to install card terminals that require numerical pin/fingerprint, etc. to authorise purchase transactions, & make this secure system mandatory. Why should only ATMs ask for pins. The credit card business is going through a boom in India in the last 5-8 years, which is still a state of infancy. With the population & lifestyle of people in India, with every home having servants, this could lead to a very difficult situation, wherein a servant might pick a card from a purse, & the rest is obvious. There are stupid credit card rules & insecure methods of using it. Ultimately the card holder becomes a fool, who is forced to shell out his hard earned money towards fraud transactions.
I think PVR cinemas, & standard chartered need to work together on this to save their image, as both organizations have many complaints against them, or the increasing number of people reporting such incidents is going to tarnish their name. I also insist that the fraud transactions & late fee charged be reversed.