[Resolved]  HDFC Bank AND Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) — No Refund for credit card payment towards incorrect assessee

Address:

Karnataka

Hi All,
The purpose of this post is to ask for advice and create awareness about the vulnerability o[censored]sing credit cards for online payments.
Back on 24/11/2012 I have paid my House Property Tax to Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) using my HDFC Credit Card. The house is in Kolkata but I am working from Bangalore. The Credit Card is registered to my Bangalore address. There is no user ID/Password system while paying online to KMC through their website. One has to enter the assessee number to make payment.
Unfortunately for me, I paid the TAX for a different assessee number. The other assessee turned out to be my neighbor. How? – I pulled out an old money receipt from KMC with my name as the payer and the assessee number of my neighbor. Most likely there was a mix up my KMC. I entered this number when making payment.
Within munities after making the payment, I realized the discrepancy from the payment acknowledgement which had my neighbor’s name. I immediately called HDFC customer service to block the payment but without helping they advised me to contact KMC (Merchant). I sent an email to HDFC anyways requesting them to block the payment.
Next I tried to call KMC but was not able to reach them. So I wrote an email the same day requesting them to refund the amount as I paid for a different assesse. After few follow up with KMC, they advised me to take it up with the other assessee (my neighbor). KMC wanted me to follow up with him to realize the amount. They were unable to settle it themselves.
When I contacted my neighbor (luckily I knew this person), he acknowledged not paying the amount but also disagreed to pay me as he is in the process of selling the flat. He had not paid tax for the last few quarters. This information on KMC website is open to all if you have the assessee number.
I have followed up sever times with KMC, HDFC and got the same answer again and again in spite of clearly mentioning that neither KMC nor the assessee are willing to pay back. The HDFC second escalation contact did not even bother to respond to my email. I also wanted to cancel the card due to poor customer service but not response to that as well.
I now want to fight this legally and also publish a caution note in media for public awareness. I don’t know if these types of issues are common but personally I am shocked to know that there is no way I can recover my money paid online through credit card. Also a government organization instead of settling a problem themselves wants the consumer to settle it outside. No one wants to take action, responsibility. The customer is simply let to suffer. Any advice, help will be much appreciated.
Regards,
Somen Dutta
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[protected]@gmail.com