Bank bills wrong person, asked to pay up

CHENNAI: Anand Venkatanarayanan, an IT professional, was shocked when he got a credit card bill for a purchase made in Phuket, Thailand, in 2005. He had never been to Phuket. When he got a second bill for a purchase he had not made, he filed a complaint. It took a long struggle before, a couple of months ago, the district consumer rederessal forum (south Chennai) directed the bank to pay him a compensation of Rs 50,000 for mental agony and Rs 3,000 towards costs of the case.The bank had, by then, returned the Rs 17,213 it had debited from his account.
It turned out that Anand was getting billed for purchases made by a person who shared his name, date of birth and place of birth. Anand, who was working with a Bangalore-based IT firm then, had approached the bank officials and explained the issue. Anand's father Venkatanarayanan said, "Money was deducted from my son's account for a transaction done through a credit card in Phuket on more than one occasion. My son had not left the country, during that period. We presented his passport to the bank to prove the point, but they declined to listen. We then approached police officials and filed a grievance petition. Finally, a senior police official warned the bank against sending collection agents to our house." He said when the bank refused to give back the money, they had no option but to move the consumer forum. The consumer forum stated that the bank had committed a "severe technical error" and ordered the bank to pay up. "When the defect was pointed out by the complainant to the opposite parties (Citibank)& the bank had not taken immediate steps to rectify the mistake..." the forum said.
When contacted, a Citibank spokesperson said, "This is a rare coincidence pertaining to two people whose identities matched on several parameters. When the mistake on our part was brought to our notice, we rectified it and the customers were informed of this."
sibi.arasu@timesgroup.com