Feb 05, 2010 11:41 PM
6247 Views
(Updated Feb 06, 2010 05:25 PM)
I shopped in Lifestyle Bangalore on 26th Jan. Swiped my credit card, the guy at the counter told the transaction was declined and he swiped again in another machine. A huge chain like Lifestyle obviously cannot afford to have swiping machine that works. A week later I see 2 transactions in my credit card's online statement, and I mailed my bank regarding it.
They got back with this
26/01/2010 LIFE STYLE INTERNATIONAL, HYDERABAD 558.00
26/01/2010 LIFESTYLE INTERNATIONA, BANGALORE 558.00
Same day, same time, same place, I wish I knew how to be in two places like my credit card!!!! According to my bank the two transactions were successful and amount is transferred to the merchant whereas according to the Lifestyle, the amount has been credited only once to his account or they claim so without furnishing any proof. Since Feb 2nd, I have been calling Lifestyle for status update and everytime they give me BS, they say they will call me back, and then NOTHING!!! I have been spending my time in addition to paying them twice and my phone calls with my peace of mind for some goof up at their end, and they do not have the courtesy to even keep me updated.
The guy I talked to said the problem is with my bank CC, and also mentioned that there were five similar complaints, and very well clarified that all the cards were not associated with my bank. No response and no actions from Lifestyle yet, same story of blaming the bank or the HSBC carrier. Its just been a plain blame game and from what I see I DO NOT THINK the issue is with my bank and thats the first thing that I tried to do, get clarification from my bank. Seriously, looks like a scam? and highly unethical, how can I trust Lifestyle again? If they dont value my money, how can I value their products, god knows what underhand method they use to obtain it? What about the integrity of business?
This is the same store tat collects 1Re extra if your bill is 399, to donate to charity, how will I know its not going into their pockets instead? There are so many times, I have paid my bill, without giving much thought to the statement, but now onwards, its better not to trust your bank or the Merchant, but to keep your own record of the transactions. A 200 here and a 200 there u will never notice, but if they can manage to snag it from a 100 people will leave the rest of the maths to you....
