An Experience Worth Sharing

A very reputed market name, HDFC. Or so was I told. A stupid looking thin and simple man named Prasenjit Dhar once told me. He was an agent of HDFC credit card division. I was very much in need of credit card those days since I was eager to buy few stuffs online from amazon.com which required me to have visa card. So I took the offer from Mr. Dhar and got myself a platinum visa card.

Frankly speaking, it was an amazing few months with the visa card. Life was much smoother. The card was universally accepted everywhere and there was hardly any need to carry more than few hundred cash with me. However, too much greed is bad. Little did I know what future awaited me then.

It was may 2011 last week. Prasenjit Dhar gave me a phone call in the afternoon saying my credit limit has been revised and upgraded. I’ll now be given a new visa world signature card. For that all I needed to do was send a photograph of the front side of my card and a scanned copy of self attested previous credit card statement. I did the same. However, few weeks passed by but I go no new card from HDFC. I almost forgot about this whole issue. When all of a sudden on June 17^th 2011 I got an SMS from HDFC thanking me for using my card for a transaction worth Rs. 34, 960 /- to TATA AIG Life insurance Co. I was taken by surprise. I was then on my way to Vadodra on an office tour so was not in a position to send a disute statement immediately. So I waited for 5 days till I came back to Haldia and then filed a transaction dispute statement immediately for that transaction. I had blocked the card from Vadodra itself. However, this was just the beginning of the harassment.

Every alternate days I called up HDFC customer care for this dispute. They told, investigation is in progress. However, on September mid week I got a letter from HDFC that the payment has already been released and no dispute can be entertained now. That the sum has been utilized to open a Life Insurance policy at TATA AIG. The company policy has certain features for reputed companies like TATA AIG etc that transactions using HDFC card may be made in these banks without even requiring o produce pin code or even CVV number. I was told that the policy payment has been authorized by my signature and card number. Then I remembered I gave my self attested card statement and card front photograph (bearing just card number) to Prasenjit Dhar for card upgradation. I then called him up. To my utter surprise, he denied even knowing anything about card upgradation and that he never gave any such offer to me. It took me no more time to do 2+2=4.

I went to the nearest police station to lodge a diary or FIR against Prasenjit Dhar. I even managed to find his residential address and handed it over to the police. Police took 2 weeks just to file the diary, and about action, I got none whatsoever. Every alternate days I visited the police station only to listen to lame excuses like they are busy, or they forgot to look out for that man etc. In the meantime I also had filed a progressive dispute form with HDFC declining to own any responsibility of the transaction whatsoever since, on the day the policy was signed in Kolkata, I was in Haldia. However, they replied negative once again. It was then October. They declined to dispute the transaction and asked me repeatedly to make the payment. They also disclosed the policy number opened with my card in TATA AIG.

I cut my credit card into two and sent it to HDFC. In the mean time, I enquired directly with TATA AIG about my problem. They showed me the policy details. I learnt that somebody had used fake photos and sign forgery to get the policy done. TATA people, however, were most cooperative. They readily registered my complaint and within 3 weeks, refunded my Rs. 34,960/-

All this time, HDFC guys kept calling me everyday asking for the money back. I had lost mental peace due to this incessant harassment. I didn’t know how to react. The amount had summed up to Rs. 40,959 /- by the mounting interest of 4 months. I paid the original sum of Rs. 34,960/- as soon as I got the refund from TATA AIG. But HDFC people were not going to spare me so easily. For the balance Rs. 6,000 /- interest, they gathered my home phone number and began to threat my parents for the money. For a mere Rs. 6,000 /- , a reputed name like HDFC could go so low, was beyond my imagination. I had fought with the bank, insurance company, police, thug, everyone so long since it was I who was involved. Now I couldnot risk my family’s peace. So I paid the interest as well and closed the chapter finally on Nov 1^st week.

I had no need to share this silly experience of mine over here, but just to prevent others from ever falling into a similar trap I did. I wont go into the moral of the story. It is for you to infer and learn from whichever part of the story that has appealed to you most.

Thanks for reading till this point.