[Resolved]  State Bank of India — SBI cards - auto debit without customer's consent

Address:

Kolkata, West Bengal

Dear Sir/Madam, On 4th Sep 2013 I purchased two mobile phones from the mobile store on 6 months and 12 months EMIs. The transaction was made on SBI visa credit card. The card statement of 5th Sep'13 stated that I need to make a full payment of INR 86, 998. When I contacted the SBI cards, they informed that on 6th Sep the EMI has been claimed by the mobile store and I need not make any payment. On 19th Sep I called again to verify what they said before and this time they said that I need to make the payment of minimum due amount which was INR 4349.93. I made a payment of INR 4350.00 on 23rd Sep and on 25th Sep shockingly I found an amount of INR 86, 998 has been debited from my savings account to which the credit card is linked. I immediately called the customer care and asked for a clarification. Ms. Priya, the customer service executive said that since my credit card is an auto debit one so the whole amount has been charged against my savings account on the due date of payment. That was a news to me as I never opted for an auto debit option. Because to my knowledge requesting for an auto debit requires one to fill up a downloaded requisition form called "SBI group direct debit mandate" and along with that a verification statement from my bank is required to be sent to the SBI cards office. All these I never did and neither were all these explained to me when I applied for a credit card. This is a clear breach of conduct of SBI cards. When I said all these to Ms. Priya, she gave me an option of credit refund, to which I agreed. On 13th October I got a call from Ms. Mansi Sharma saying that they have started processing my refund and all they need was a scanned copy of my PAN card. I immediately sent them my PAN card copy and gave them a call back on 16th Oct. They confirmed that they have received my PAN card copy and within 5 working days it will be reflected on my savings account. I am currently in New Zealand for some official work and on 23rd when I again called them from here, since the money was still not refunded and someone named by Mr. Mahesh Babu said that it will take another 7 working days to get it credited. He could not even give a justifiable reason for this delay. I twice wrote an email to the nodal office. Mr. Sachin Panwar on 16th and 23rd of Oct and got the same reply that the case will be investigated thoroughly and they would revert back within 7 working days. Till date I have not heard back from him. I also wrote an email to the grievance redressal officer, Ms. Rashmi Gupta and yet to get a reply from her as well. Today is 28th October and its been 1 months and 23 days I am being subjected to unwarranted harassment by all levels of officials of SBI. It seems they take all these issues quite lightly and do not bother about the agony caused to its customers. Kindly advise me on how to put this case in the consumers court and get it resolved ASAP. I have attached herewith the screenshot of my credit card statement which will depict the story clearly. Kind regards, Arijit Chakraborty