[Resolved]  Barclays Credit Card — amount illegally debited in my Barclay's Credit Card without my consent

Hi,

I had send a letter to Barclays Credit Card on 23.09.08 on mail id : [protected]@barclays.com and '[protected]@barclays.com' addressing the same to Mr. Mr. S. V. Narayan, Head Service – Retail Banking & Cards (India), Barclaycard, P.O. Box No. 11567,
Nariman Point, Mumbai 400021. My letter was as below :


My Barclay Card No. is [protected]. My balance due as on 12th August 2008 was Rs. 13636.37/-, towards which I had made a cheque payment of Rs. 1500/- on 16th August 2008. I understand that, as per the payment made by me, the balance due on my credit card should have been Rs. 12136.37/-.

I received a SMS from Barclay Card on 15th September 2008 regarding my Barclaycard statement generated on 12th September 2008 and the same was delivered at my mailing address. But to my surprise the statement showed an outstanding payment of Rs. 18196.07/-.

I called up Barclays and spoke to Customer care Executive (Ms. Neha on[protected] on 16th September 2008. On inquiring about the additional amount of Rs. 5618/- debited in my account, I was told that the said amount was debited as per the instructions given by Barclaycard’s priority circle club and the same cannot be reversed. Hence I was asked to speak to the Barclaycard’s Circle club on[protected]. As told, I spoke to Ms. Ankita from the Barclaycards Circle Club on 16th September 2008. Ankita told me that she will require 48 hours to investigate the matter.

On following up on 19th September 2008, I was told by Ms. Hemani that the amount was debited on a verbal consent given by me which they said was checked in their system. To this let me confirm that when I had received a call on 09th August 2008 from Barclaycard’s priority Circle Club department regarding the scheme, I had already informed them that I am not interested in the said scheme. She refused my request to hear my verbal conversation with Barclay’s executive, which they said was recorded in your system. Upon my continuous enquiries I was again told that she needs to speak to her Senior Executive and hence I was given a complaint no.[protected].

On 22nd September 2008, when I followed up for the status of my complaint, Ms. Hemani (Barclaycard’s circle club Executive), told me that I will have to pay the additional amount of Rs. 5618/- as they cannot reverse the entry.

Now after trying my level best to sort out the matter, I am left with no option but to write this letter. I would also require certain clarifications :

1. Is a financial institution allowed to make any debit / credit entries in a customer account on just a verbal confirmation.
2. Was it not the duty of Barclays officials to take a written confirmation from me.
3. Was it not Barclays duty to officially inform the customer before making any transactions in their account.

I am very disappointed that Barclays is troubling the customer by forcing them to repay an amount which is illegally transferred to their accounts without the customers consent. I had also informed them that i would not be making any further payments neither am I paying the minimum amount (which again is inclusive of the additional amount) till the matter is sorted.

I also informed Barclays that if the said additional amount of Rs. 5618/- is not deducted from my Credit card within two days from the receipt of this letter, I shall be forced to complain to RBI about the illegal transfer of funds into my account without my consent as per the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002. Also I shall take up the matter with Consumer Forum.

On 24th September i had received a letter from Ms. Sana Khan, stating that she would revert back within 7 working days and my case is registered under case no. HSE/080923/1335/SK/CRD.

But till date i have not received any reply from them. Infact, the officials from Barclays are harassing me by calling continuously and threatining me to pay the minimum amount. They are telling me that they are not aware of my complaint and they don't have to do anything with it. They just want me to make the payment.

Please tell me what am i supposed to do. Why should i make the payment which is debited in my account without my consent. Is it fair?
I request you to please look into the same.