Unauthorised transactions - who is responsible?

Earlier today I noticed a transaction on my credit card which I did not recognise: a £60 payment to '3 Maidenhead' on September 18th. Not having a '3' phone and not having been in Maidenhead for some years, I immediately telephoned Customer Services.

My call was handled professionally by a gentleman who took my details and apologised for the problem. He then advised that, at the moment, it wasn't certain whether this transaction is fraudulent or simply a mistake on the part of '3' but he told me that I should write to your disputes department and gave me the address. The call then ended and I was a satisfied customer of Halifax.

Shortly thereafter, it occurred to me that if there is any chance that this could be fraudulent it would make sense to cancel the card and have a new one sent to me. This way any fraudster would be unable to make further charges against the account.

I telephoned Customer Services again. Having already had a sympathetic hearing from your staff I was very surprised by my second experience of the day.

When this second call was answered the representative asked how he could help and I explained my problem: that I had already spoken to somebody about an unrecognised transaction and would be writing to the disputes department but, having thought about it, for my peace of mind I would like to cancel my present card and have a new one dispatched.

I was expecting to be told that, under the circumstances, this was probably a sensible precaution and that a new card was on its way. Instead your representative told me that, as there was no evidence that this was a fraudulent transaction, a new card would not be sent.

He went on to contradict your first (helpful) representative and told me that somebody at '3' likely 'mis-keyed the details' and, therefore, the onus was on me to contact '3' and have them refund the money. I balked at this suggestion and replied that I could not see how it could be my responsibility to track down the details of a transaction which I neither initiated nor authorised.

When I make payments with my card online I have to provide my card number, name, address, the expiry date and the security number from the back of the card. When I make payments at a cash desk the card is swiped (removing the possibility of data entry problems) and I have to provide my PIN. I asked your representative to explain how, given these controls, incorrectly typing one digit of the credit card number would allow a transaction to be authorised against my account he replied that he “would not be drawn in to a hypothetical situation”. He then went on to tell me that he believed I “wanted to be the victim of fraud”.

At this point it became clear to me that your representative simply was not willing to help (bear in mind that all I wanted was for my card to be cancelled and a new one sent out – I'd already dealt with the transaction itself when I called earlier). I asked him, quite politely, to transfer me to a supervisor.

He refused to do so and told me that he “would not be intimidated” and told me again that it was my responsibility to resolve this issue with '3'. Again, I informed him that I would not be doing so as I have no part in this transaction. As it was initiated by '3' and approved by Halifax I would contact the disputes department and allow them to resolve it.

At this point he told me that he was not going to be insulted and that he would terminate the call if I did so again. Somewhat bemused, I asked what I had said that he found insulting. Whilst explaining that the transaction has nothing to do with me and is between '3' and Halifax I said something along the lines of “I'm not doing your job for you”. It seems that this was the insult over which he intended to terminate the call.

Again I asked him to transfer me to a supervisor and again he refused. I then asked for his name so that I could lodge a complaint. He refused to give me his name and then he hung up on me.