I seldom do such posts but I feel that I should bring the attention of this matter to all my friends and strangers in Singapore.
I was out shopping when I chanced upon this jewellery shop. To cut a long story short, this particular item caught my attention and since they offer an installment plan, I decided to go ahead with it. The price was acceptable and I made my purchase shortly after.
Awhile later, I received a SMS from my bank informing me of this transaction. The type of SMS you normally received when you made a huge payment informing you of the transaction details. The place you purchase at, the amount involved, date and time, card number etc..
Since it was just a normal bank service, I didn't pay much attention to it. Somehow or somewhat, I felt that something was wrong and I relook at the SMS. I noticed that I was instead charged of USD$738 instead of SGD$738. I immediately took out my receipt to verify and yes, it is charged in SGD currency. As it was a SMS letterhead, I assumed it might be a typo mistake but to play safe, I made the call to the bank to check it out.
After some verification, they told me in a "I'm very sure you got screwed by the merchant" tone, that I was indeed charged at USD$738, amounting it to SGD$1001.54. As expected, I made my way back to this jewellery shop to clarify.
After I showed them the SMS proof, they decided to void the payment and to re-issue me a new invoice. Shortly after they re-issue the invoice, and showing me the receipt of SGD$738, I received another SMS again indicating that USD was being charged. So as you expected, I made another call back to the bank to check how much was being transacted. And they told me back in the same tone again that USD was still being charged.
As you might already guessed, I decided to pay all by cash to get this done and over with. When they told me they accepted NETS, I said "once is enough, I'm paying by cash".
I strongly believed that this is a genuine case of honest mistake but still, I urged all of you to double, triple verify your cards bill before you move off.
Attached are the screenshots. Please help to share.
PS: I didn't bother to grey out any areas but FB seems to block the latter. It only allow me to upload only after I black out the 4 credit card numbers.
Ah Le
*Article first appeared on https://www.facebook.com/ahle84/posts/10152725580197671