Please can anyone advise me what to do?

5th April in France at some point late in the evening my wallet was 'lost' turns out stolen. I woke up the next day and as soon as i noticed my wallet missing crawled round the pub where i was and the police station etc. (was in a ski resort where i worked and lots of people knew me so wanted to check no one had it) once i had checked everywhere realistically I rang up to cancel all my cards.

All were asked - has any transaction taken place recently, all responded no and none outstanding. So cancelled all my cards blah blah blah got new ones thought that was the end of it. - this is really annoying as if they knew the transaction was on there I could have gone to the shop and spoken to them - if as i suspect it was used to buy some skis they would have had to be drilled etc prob over night - anyway i digress

In my june or july statement a charge of nearly £400 turns up, as i never use this account apart from emergancies i called up to query. Was told it was using the new cc number and it was not done via chip and pin and was going to request info from merchant.

Rang them a few times and no progress - eventually they call me today and say charge was an account adjustment for a payment charged on the 6th of April and that it WAS in fact a chip and pin verified transaction - there is nothing they can now do. When pushed for more information about the time of the transaction and more merchant details (couldn't even tell me what country!) incuding contact details they said they did not have them but would 'try' and get them to me.

So

A) has anyone got any general advice?
B) anyone know the banking code? - i thought the onus was still on them to prove it was a valid transaction
C)The French pin system has been arround for 10 years is it more vounerable to fraudulent transactions
D) is the chip and pin system just a way for banks to pass the buck

Thanks in advance guys sorry about the mammoth post


Andy

 

Chip and Pin in the UK is designed to help the banks/merchants, not the customers. If your card has been used with the correct pin the bank will assume you have not kept your pin secure and therefore you are at fault.

OK I am trying to make it very simple but based on my understanding of your scenario you could be in for a long haul. If it was just signature then that reverts the other way round so that you will probably only be liable for the first £50. If a merchant processes a stolen card using the correct pin he still gets his money whereas if he only took a signature (with the chip and pin card) then he can and does sometimes lose the money.

Don't believe all this security bollox, chip and pin is easily got around.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1336570,00.html