A little-known credit card benefit offers consumers protection from financial loss.
The business failure of Kleenmaid has left 4500 customers who have placed deposits on $27 million for goods not delivered may get some relief, if they act quickly. You have only a 75 day window from the transaction to make a claim. Eftpos users are also protected.
It appears that Kleenmaid were trading whilst insolvent, not that this seems to worry companies these days.
But here's the good news. Any customer who paid using a credit card [or debit card ]can use their card issuer's chargeback facility to get a full refund. I knew having a credit card had to be useful for something, and I have used this fact myself when buying online and not getting what I paid for.
Chargeback covers services or goods that have been paid for but not supplied.
If it happens you must notify your card issuer, which will investigate the case.
When it is satisfied you are entitled to reverse the transaction, it will credit your account. Because the bank has to look into the matter, it can take a couple of weeks to get the money back. In the case of Kleenmaid there is not much to look into.
The card issuer will then chase the merchant's bank (called the acquiring bank, in payment system jargon) to recover that money. In the card-payment world, the acquiring bank stands behind its merchant customer and has to make good when the sale of goods or services already paid for does not proceed.
Card companies including Visa, Amex and Mastercard were also reported saying customers should be able to get their money back.
Any consumer whose transaction card carries a MasterCard or Visa logo has access to the scheme debit system as well as to Eftpos.
It gets tricky because access to the two systems is through the same card and the same point of sale terminal.
If you press "credit" when you make a payment you are using scheme debit; if you press "savings" or "cheque" you are using Eftpos. Consumers who use the scheme debit system get the same protection as users of MasterCard and Visa credit cards, including chargebacks.
As we said earlier, it's important to notify the card issuer if a chargeback is required quickly. In most cases customers have 75 days, after which the issuer will not reverse the transaction.
Chargebacks are not just for reversing transactions where the goods or services are not supplied. They are also used to correct duplicate billing, to fix a bank processing error or to deal with fraud in cases where customers did not authorise a purchase on their card.
So lodge your claim and good luck!
