A couple days ago, I purchased an alcatel flip phone, which could only have a one nz plan and came with a pre pay sim.
On the initial setting up of the sim card, I found it ridiculous that a $20 topup had to be purchased in order to recieve a $14 plan, and therefore didn't finish the set up.
Consequently, I had to finish setting up later, and after finding this difficult asked the AI bot for help on how to complete the process. After being told I had to buy the topup and being sent a link by the bot, I clicked on it, put in my credit card details and paid. I then called 777 on my flip phone to gage what my balance was after the purchase.
I was told that I had $0 balance. Confused, I called the number and got through to a worker. I told them of the situation, and they informed me that it must be completely my banks fault, and to just wait a while until my bank accepted the transaction. And so after waiting a couple hours I called 777 again to check my balance. Still $0.
At this point I was asking where my money had gone, and asking the team member wjether this was normal. They assured me it was, and told me if I had a problem with it, I could either call my bank or wait 24 - 48 hours. And so, I called my bank. The bank told me that the money had already been put through on their end, and they were awaiting one nz (the merchant) to authorize the payment. I decided to wait, as I figured after the payment was authorized it would show up in my account. And so I waited.
After a day, I called again to check my balance, and it was still $0. And so I called again, to ask what the holdup was (I wanted to be able to use my phone!). Their story now changed, and they've told me that they've NEVER had any record of a transaction or payment, as well as no proof of my credit card EVER being in the system.
After another call with my bank, they've inormed me they get calls of similar stories ALL THE TIME!! The bank will be conducting a payment disupute.
One nz will have been stealing from hundreds of people. How do they get away with this??
It's only $20 from me, but from hundreds of people, how much money are they making??
