Auckland man stunned by bank's response to disputed $8000 credit-card transactions

Ellerslie resident Jim Heather lodged a complaint with ANZ after a business in Australia added three separate charges amounting to almost $8000 on his credit card on March 25. Photo / 123RF

One Auckland man was stunned to learn he will have to wait 20 working days to learn if false charges of almost $8000 made to his credit card overseas can be cleared by his bank.

But his bank, ANZ, says the wait time was consistent with industry practice.

Ellerslie resident Jim Heather said he lodged a complaint with ANZ as soon as he realised what had happened but was told his first port of call was to take it up with the business that had received the money himself.

"I thought 'you've got to be joking, you're winding me up'," Heather said.

A business in Australia had gained from three separate charges of $3287.50, $2191.67 and $2191.67 made on Heather's credit card on March 25.

The charges stand in stark contrast with all other spending that month, which was almost exclusively within Auckland with all purchases falling under $250.

It left Heather wondering how it could slip through unnoticed.

"Why wasn't it red flagged?" he said.

"It could have been $80,000."

Ellerslie resident Jim Heather and his partner Toni Du toit were stunned to learn they had to wait 20 days before they could find out of the result of a disputed transactions claim.

With the help of Google Maps and a few phone calls around the wider area, Heather managed to track down the business in Australia within a day.

A businessman, possibly of Asian descent, answered the call but referred Heather back to his bank and as the phone call carried on the recipient found it increasingly difficult to understand the exchange because of a language barrier and hung up.

Heather was not sure if the person was an innocent party who had inadvertently received the money or not but he passed along all the information he had gathered to ANZ.

Upon going back to the bank he was told he would have to wait 20 days to find out the result of his claim.

He was told he could pay the full amount to stop it occurring interest if he wanted to.

Heather said the experience was "stressful" and "frustrating".

"I'm 99.9 per cent sure it's nothing to do with me."

Heather said the customer service was "disgraceful" and that he was considering going to a different bank who could handle these kinds of claims in a shorter timeframe.

An ANZ spokeswoman said she could not provide comment on individual customer matters for privacy reasons but issued the following statement.

"ANZ follows industry practice when dealing with a dispute or fraud case, both have different processes and timeframes.

"Our terms of use state disputes will be reviewed in up to 21 days, which is consistent with industry practice.

"This is because we are normally dealing with other banks, sometimes overseas."

Generally ANZ reimburses customers who are victims of fraud, which includes any interest charged, she said.

A Westpac representative said that it worked to resolve any disputed claims cases within 30 days.

A BNZ representative also said its customers could expect a wait time of about 30 days for an outcome regarding disputed transactions.