Continuing the fight against alleged travel agency scammer Daryl Turner
Being made whole, one customer at a time.
We’re talking about those who did business with Daryl Turner, the alleged scammer who would open a travel club, solicit membership fees costing thousands of dollars, and shut the company’s doors before customers received promised discounted travel packages, authorities said. He’d then do it again under a different company name.
Turner signed a more than $3 million settlement with the state’s Division of Consumer Affairs related to 11 such companies. Although he was banned from the travel business in the state for five years, authorities later alleged he continued the same practices under new company names.
The government has not yet collected a dime on the settlement, but Turner was arrested in July on a charge of fraud by deception, and some of his assets, including luxury cars and a bank account, were seized.
There’s nothing new to report on the criminal charge, but Consumer Affairs director Thomas Calcagni said he’s met with a number of banks about returning customer money through chargebacks.
"They have refused to budge from their position that those charges are appropriate and they’re not willing to allow any chargebacks," Calgagni said. "But we haven’t given up."
Some customers have appealed to their credit card companies directly, armed with court filings and copies of Bamboozled columns about Turner.
That’s what Jay Schlesinger did in an attempt to recoup a $4,893 charge on his Chase credit card in June 2009 by Dream Vacations International, one of Turner’s companies.
Schlesinger said his requested travel dates were never available so he canceled his membership. Then he disputed the charge with Chase.
The dispute was denied without explanation in June 2011. Baffling, because that same week, Chase refunded money to Robert and Marlene Miller, Chase customers who disputed their membership charge with Modern Destinations Unlimited -- another Turner company.
It’s possible that Jay Schlesinger’s fight with Chase isn’t over yet.
Reader Patricia Dreibelbis of Wallingford, Penn., who charged more than $4,000 for Travel Deals -- another Turner company -- on her Chase card, wanted to share her chargeback experience with other customers.
Her initial dispute was denied. Dreibelbis said the Chase rep explained the dispute was coded as a "Code 30 - non-receipt of services." The merchant had 45 days to respond, during which time Dreibelbis’ account was provisionally credited. Once the merchant responded, citing the contract Dreibelbis signed, the money was returned to the merchant, she said.
"We refuted the validity of the contract, and we also provided documentation of the arrest of Turner, etc.," she said in an e-mail. "At that point, the Chase rep changed the reason to ‘Code 53 - quality of services.’"
According to Dreibelbis, Chase explained it was now up to the merchant’s bank -- Wells Fargo -- to decide the case.
Wells decided in her favor, and $4,264 was credited to her account.
Very interesting, indeed. Consumer Affairs’ Calcagni said the lenders told him that when a merchant receives a substantial amount of chargeback requests, the liability lies with the merchant bank that holds the account, and that’s exactly what happened here.
Bamboozled told Jay Schlesinger of the success, and we encouraged him to try again, recommending he find out how his dispute was coded.
He said he called Chase, but the rep couldn’t tell him the coding of his dispute because it was from 2009. She promised to call back, he said.
An hour later, another rep called, saying there was nothing more the bank could do because of the contract, Schlesinger said.
"I tried to explain to her that it doesn’t matter what I signed, a fraud is a fraud," Schlesinger said. "There are no words to describe how angry I am."
We asked Chase if a change in dispute coding could help.
Within a few days, without explanation or answers about dispute coding, Schlesinger got a call from someone in Chase’s executive offices.
"She said, ‘I have good news. I’ve been spending the last couple of days reading the documents and stories about this, and you’re been a customer of ours for more than 15 years. We’re making an exception and we’re going to credit that money to your account,’" Schlesinger said he was told.
Awesome. Chase said it was also working on one other case was made aware of by Bamboozled, but there was no comment about the Schlesinger refund.
One customer at a time. We’ll stay on it.
Mark Conca’s modification and foreclosure ordeal with Bank of America isn’t over yet.
Conca applied for a modification on the mortgage for his three-bedroom Caldwell home.
While he waited for approval, he kept making his mortgage payments, in full and on time.
When he heard from the bank, it wasn’t with a modification offer. It was to say he was two months late on this mortgage. Bank of America reported it to the credit bureaus, Conca said, and one of his cards lowered his available credit because of it.
But he had never missed a mortgage payment.
Despite assurances and reassurances from the bank that the errors were fixed, nothing was corrected. Then Conca started to receive foreclosure notices.
After we asked Bank of America to review, we learned that Conca was approved for a trial modification program -- which Conca said he was never told about -- and the bank credited his payments to the wrong account.
Bank of America corrected the errors and ceased foreclosure proceedings.
Conca still wanted the modification, and the bank said it would look into it.
It did.
Conca’s modification request -- which had previously been approved in a July 19 letter from Bank of America -- was denied in October.
Bank of America did say it made corrections with the credit bureaus, but it could take 90 days for changes to appear. While he waits, the black mark is making it impossible for him to refinance the loan with another lender, he said.
Conca’s credit card issuer also has a copy of the letter, but no changes have been made to his credit limit, he said.
"That doesn’t bother me as much as the fact that we wasted almost two years working on this and they made me believe they were going to work this out for me," Conca said.
When Conca’s credit is repaired, he plans to continue searching for a better loan.
On Sept. 10, Rajeev Borborah purchased a Sonata from Brad Benson Hyundai in South Brunswick. The car was supposed to have a factory-installed navigation system. It didn’t.
The dealership promised it would install one within five days. It didn’t.
Why? The GPS installation would cause the car’s Blue Link system -- a system that implements features such as emergency alerts and maintenance reminders -- to fail, the dealership said. The two systems wouldn’t work together.
When Bamboozled called, the dealership said it was getting Borborah a different GPS, but it never explained why one system would work and the other would cause trouble.
Despite that, Borborah brought his car for the installation on Oct. 20.
Borborah gave us a post-install report via e-mail: "Lost the Voice Command System driven by a button on the steering wheel. Not the ideal case but since I do not use it I just let it be," he wrote.
He wondered if the dealership told him ahead of time that some functionality may be lost upon installation.
No, they did not tell me beforehand," he said. "In fact, when I dropped car off in the morning I asked them if all existing things in the car will work and the service lady said that yes, everything would work."
I am telling you, it is not the customer who is important for these guys, but the bottom line," Borborah said.
2011年11月7日 星期一
2011年10月23日 星期日
As Lagosians Gear Up For Cashless Economy
In less than two months, Lagos will join few other Nigerian states to test-run one of CBN’s latest policies meant to engender a more cashless economy in the country. However, one question one is wont to ask is whether Lagosians are sufficiently educated on what the cashless economy is all about and what benefits it offers?
The first time the CBN governor, Lamido Sanusi Lamido, announced the new guidelines on cash withdrawals and deposits was at the monthly bankers’ committee meeting held on April 28, 2011.
A circular titled: ‘Industry Policy on Retail Cash Collection and Lodgement’, and signed by Mohammed Nda, CBN director, Currency Operations Department, stated that private persons could only withdraw or lodge a maximum of N150,000 cash per day. The limit for companies according to the circular would be N1 million per day.
The circular revealed that individuals who sought to lodge or withdraw more than the approved limit would bear the penalty of being surcharged N100 per every N1,000 while it will be N200 surcharge for corporate organisations.
Part of the new guidelines included CBN’s directive to banks to stop cash-in-transit lodgement services rendered to merchant customers. They are, instead, to engage the services of cash-in-transit companies that have been licensed by the apex bank. Any bank that flouts this directive will pay a penalty of N1 million per specie movement.
To achieve effective inter-operation ability of local currency point of sales, (PoS) transactions, the CBN has removed the exclusivity clause by any financial services providers.
What this implies is that no card scheme, whether foreign or local, shall be permitted to operate exclusive acquirer agreement or contract in Nigeria with effect from the stipulated implementation date.
Furthermore, third party cheques above N150,000 shall not be eligible for encashment over the counter as from June 1, 2012 as the value for such cheques shall be received through the clearing house. The policy says where any bank allows third party cheque encashment above the limit, shall be liable to a sanction of whichever is higher of 10 per cent of the face value of the cheque or N100,000.
Under the implementation guidelines, the pilot phase of the policy shall be in force in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kano, Aba and the Federal Capital Territory before its extension to other parts of the country.
According to the CBN, the policy is aimed at reducing high usage of cash, moderate its cost management and encourage the use of electronic channels. It explained that the new policy was premised on the increasing dominance of cash in the economy with its implication for cost of cash management to the banking industry, security and money laundering.
Expectedly, the new CBN policy is currently generating sharp reactions from Nigerians. Businessmen, private and public servants see the new policy as a bitter pill to swallow. Chinedu Ozor, who deals in electronics in Alaba market, Lagos feels the new policy would hurt traders because their businesses are on a cash-and-carry basis.
“My brother, on a daily basis we need lots of cash to transact our business and so, that means I cannot withdraw more than N150, 000 when, in some occasions, I need up to N5 million to take delivery of my products”, he said.
Managing Director of Esaco Ventures, Edwin Asemota, is equally worried about the new policy. He said his staff emolument alone took more than N4 million and in most cases, he needed up to N10 million to transact business. With the new policy on cash withdrawal, he laments that doing business would be difficult since he would be surcharged for any time he withdraws more than the stipulated amount.
A trader at Ladipo market, Lagos, Joseph Chibundu, has also found the policy unrealistic. His quarrel is not really with the merit of the policy but with the stipulated limits for individuals and corporate account holders which he described as too low. He would want the CBN to raise the limit for individual from N150,000 to N500,000 and corporate account from N1million to N2 million.
Another area of concern to many Nigerians is the electronic money transfer scheme that was introduced into the country almost a decade ago. Bamidele Olusegun, a former bank examiner, foresees a problem in the area of money transfer. He argues that even though the CBN stated that the policy is aimed at checking money laundering and also to add value to Naira in the face of the growing two digit inflation ratio in the country, the policy could be abused as was the case with beneficiaries of Western Union who ended up being short-changed by operating banks.
Those who have also frowned at the policy argue that the high level of illiteracy in the country, low level of banking population and porous e-banking system are factors that would work against the success of the scheme. For instance, many have argued that if the idea is to promote e-banking by encouraging the use of e-payment channels like Automated Teller Machines, ATM, the wide-scale fraud associated with its use would make the policy counter productive.
President, Renaissance Shareholders’ Association, Olufemi Timothy, said the policy could further dampen the savings culture in the country.
However, the managing director of Financial Derivatives Company Limited, Bismark Rewane, prefers a more gradual transition while the supporting infrastructure is improved. He says that Sanusi should tread with caution because if the policy is implemented without due planning, it would turn out to be counter productive. He noted that the transformation from a cash-centric to a plastic economy, which is the intention of CBN, would need a longer period than one year.
A businessman, Godwin Iheanacho while airing his opinion, said that he is not in agreement with such law. He reasoned that he makes daily sale of above N150,000 from at least a customer. “Sometimes, I sell goods worth more than N150,000 to a customer and I also buy goods worth more than that amount too. So, as a business man, I do not have that time to start going to the bank and waiting for my customers to transfer the money into my account. I want my money in cash and not in cheque because nowadays people issue fake cheques”, said Godwin.
CBN assurance
Already, the CBN has tried to allay skeptics on the workability of the plan, as it is geared to make transactions more efficient and transparent. “CBN is also working with the banks and Nigeria InterBank Settlement System (NIBSS) to put in place a comprehensive fraud monitoring tool, which will enable the industry to identify trends and be proactive in mitigating electronic fraud”, said Tunde Lemo, CBN deputy governor, operations.
He assured that the introduction of the chip and pin ATM card over the stripe cards was to guide against fraud. Taking cognizance of Nigeria’s power challenges, he said the point of sale (PoS) machines that would drive the cashless economy come with specifications that are peculiar to Nigeria. “All PoS terminals will have a minimum battery life span of 24 hours, while many will do 48 hours with no charge. They also come with backup batteries and car chargers as appropriate to address the power challenge.”
Lemo said that the Central Bank was working closely with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to ensure that interconnectivity issues are addressed. “Dedicated connectivity will be provided by MTN and Globacom for all PoS traffic going forward. This should greatly increase the terminal uptime. Also, most terminals will be dual-SIM or roaming SIM, which will ensure fail-over options and guarantee a higher uptime.
As the commencement date approaches, it is important for the regulators and promoters to step up on enlightenment and awareness campaigns in order to drive the message home. Given the rising cost of cash management, the attendant risk and the fraud that comes with it, there is no doubt that a cashless economy will go a long way in checking these disadvantages. Also, for a country that aims to be among the top 20 economies by 2020, only a cashless economy provides an easier route rather than rely on the cumbersomeness of the current cash-based system.
The first time the CBN governor, Lamido Sanusi Lamido, announced the new guidelines on cash withdrawals and deposits was at the monthly bankers’ committee meeting held on April 28, 2011.
A circular titled: ‘Industry Policy on Retail Cash Collection and Lodgement’, and signed by Mohammed Nda, CBN director, Currency Operations Department, stated that private persons could only withdraw or lodge a maximum of N150,000 cash per day. The limit for companies according to the circular would be N1 million per day.
The circular revealed that individuals who sought to lodge or withdraw more than the approved limit would bear the penalty of being surcharged N100 per every N1,000 while it will be N200 surcharge for corporate organisations.
Part of the new guidelines included CBN’s directive to banks to stop cash-in-transit lodgement services rendered to merchant customers. They are, instead, to engage the services of cash-in-transit companies that have been licensed by the apex bank. Any bank that flouts this directive will pay a penalty of N1 million per specie movement.
To achieve effective inter-operation ability of local currency point of sales, (PoS) transactions, the CBN has removed the exclusivity clause by any financial services providers.
What this implies is that no card scheme, whether foreign or local, shall be permitted to operate exclusive acquirer agreement or contract in Nigeria with effect from the stipulated implementation date.
Furthermore, third party cheques above N150,000 shall not be eligible for encashment over the counter as from June 1, 2012 as the value for such cheques shall be received through the clearing house. The policy says where any bank allows third party cheque encashment above the limit, shall be liable to a sanction of whichever is higher of 10 per cent of the face value of the cheque or N100,000.
Under the implementation guidelines, the pilot phase of the policy shall be in force in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kano, Aba and the Federal Capital Territory before its extension to other parts of the country.
According to the CBN, the policy is aimed at reducing high usage of cash, moderate its cost management and encourage the use of electronic channels. It explained that the new policy was premised on the increasing dominance of cash in the economy with its implication for cost of cash management to the banking industry, security and money laundering.
Expectedly, the new CBN policy is currently generating sharp reactions from Nigerians. Businessmen, private and public servants see the new policy as a bitter pill to swallow. Chinedu Ozor, who deals in electronics in Alaba market, Lagos feels the new policy would hurt traders because their businesses are on a cash-and-carry basis.
“My brother, on a daily basis we need lots of cash to transact our business and so, that means I cannot withdraw more than N150, 000 when, in some occasions, I need up to N5 million to take delivery of my products”, he said.
Managing Director of Esaco Ventures, Edwin Asemota, is equally worried about the new policy. He said his staff emolument alone took more than N4 million and in most cases, he needed up to N10 million to transact business. With the new policy on cash withdrawal, he laments that doing business would be difficult since he would be surcharged for any time he withdraws more than the stipulated amount.
A trader at Ladipo market, Lagos, Joseph Chibundu, has also found the policy unrealistic. His quarrel is not really with the merit of the policy but with the stipulated limits for individuals and corporate account holders which he described as too low. He would want the CBN to raise the limit for individual from N150,000 to N500,000 and corporate account from N1million to N2 million.
Another area of concern to many Nigerians is the electronic money transfer scheme that was introduced into the country almost a decade ago. Bamidele Olusegun, a former bank examiner, foresees a problem in the area of money transfer. He argues that even though the CBN stated that the policy is aimed at checking money laundering and also to add value to Naira in the face of the growing two digit inflation ratio in the country, the policy could be abused as was the case with beneficiaries of Western Union who ended up being short-changed by operating banks.
Those who have also frowned at the policy argue that the high level of illiteracy in the country, low level of banking population and porous e-banking system are factors that would work against the success of the scheme. For instance, many have argued that if the idea is to promote e-banking by encouraging the use of e-payment channels like Automated Teller Machines, ATM, the wide-scale fraud associated with its use would make the policy counter productive.
President, Renaissance Shareholders’ Association, Olufemi Timothy, said the policy could further dampen the savings culture in the country.
However, the managing director of Financial Derivatives Company Limited, Bismark Rewane, prefers a more gradual transition while the supporting infrastructure is improved. He says that Sanusi should tread with caution because if the policy is implemented without due planning, it would turn out to be counter productive. He noted that the transformation from a cash-centric to a plastic economy, which is the intention of CBN, would need a longer period than one year.
A businessman, Godwin Iheanacho while airing his opinion, said that he is not in agreement with such law. He reasoned that he makes daily sale of above N150,000 from at least a customer. “Sometimes, I sell goods worth more than N150,000 to a customer and I also buy goods worth more than that amount too. So, as a business man, I do not have that time to start going to the bank and waiting for my customers to transfer the money into my account. I want my money in cash and not in cheque because nowadays people issue fake cheques”, said Godwin.
CBN assurance
Already, the CBN has tried to allay skeptics on the workability of the plan, as it is geared to make transactions more efficient and transparent. “CBN is also working with the banks and Nigeria InterBank Settlement System (NIBSS) to put in place a comprehensive fraud monitoring tool, which will enable the industry to identify trends and be proactive in mitigating electronic fraud”, said Tunde Lemo, CBN deputy governor, operations.
He assured that the introduction of the chip and pin ATM card over the stripe cards was to guide against fraud. Taking cognizance of Nigeria’s power challenges, he said the point of sale (PoS) machines that would drive the cashless economy come with specifications that are peculiar to Nigeria. “All PoS terminals will have a minimum battery life span of 24 hours, while many will do 48 hours with no charge. They also come with backup batteries and car chargers as appropriate to address the power challenge.”
Lemo said that the Central Bank was working closely with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to ensure that interconnectivity issues are addressed. “Dedicated connectivity will be provided by MTN and Globacom for all PoS traffic going forward. This should greatly increase the terminal uptime. Also, most terminals will be dual-SIM or roaming SIM, which will ensure fail-over options and guarantee a higher uptime.
As the commencement date approaches, it is important for the regulators and promoters to step up on enlightenment and awareness campaigns in order to drive the message home. Given the rising cost of cash management, the attendant risk and the fraud that comes with it, there is no doubt that a cashless economy will go a long way in checking these disadvantages. Also, for a country that aims to be among the top 20 economies by 2020, only a cashless economy provides an easier route rather than rely on the cumbersomeness of the current cash-based system.
2011年4月5日 星期二
Common in Acquiring, Sharing of Bad-Merchant Data Comes to the ACH
Taking a cue from bank card merchant acquirers, bank processor Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS) and NACHA on Monday announced the formation of the Terminated Originator Database, a new service to help banks identify businesses that other banks have cut off from originating automated clearing house transactions because of high risk.
NACHA selected Jacksonville, Fla.-based FIS as its preferred vendor to operate the service, which FIS switched on March 1 but didn't announce until NACHA's Payments 2011 conference this week in Austin, Texas. A recent NACHA board policy statement encourages but does not require banks to use the TOD service, which depends on financial institutions reporting high-risk businesses to it. In that respect, TOD bears some similarities to the three major credit-reporting agencies, Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union, all of which depend on banks and credit unions to regularly submit reports about their customers' loan-repayment behavior.
"The value of this is the collaboration," Dennis Maicon, vice president of product management in FIS's Risk, Fraud, and Compliance Solutions unit, tells Digital Transactions News. "It's the information sharing that's the first of its kind."
The first of its kind for the ACH, that is. Rather than consumer credit-reporting agencies, TOD is most similar to a system bank card merchant acquirers have used for years, a system known as MATCH, for Member Alert to Control High Risk. NACHA president and chief executive Janet O. Estep, a former acquiring executive with U.S. Bancorp, notes that MATCH takes in reports from acquirers about merchants the processors banned from card acceptance because of high chargebacks, and identifies those merchants to other processors so that the risky businesses can't get merchant accounts again.
Herndon, Va.-based NACHA's risk-control staff several years ago launched the so-called Originator Watch List, or OWL service, a database of suspect originators, but TOD is more comprehensive. "This is one tool for a financial institution's due diligence," Estep said at a Payments 2011 news conference. "It is new to the ACH network."
FIS has a Web site for financial institutions to report terminated ACH originators. The site includes reason codes for the termination. Pricing includes a signup fee and then per-transaction or subscription fees, or a combination of both. Pricing also depends on the size of the institution by assets. FIS didn't disclose details. To get the system up and running, FIS is offering "financial incentives" to early adopters, Maicon says.
NACHA selected Jacksonville, Fla.-based FIS as its preferred vendor to operate the service, which FIS switched on March 1 but didn't announce until NACHA's Payments 2011 conference this week in Austin, Texas. A recent NACHA board policy statement encourages but does not require banks to use the TOD service, which depends on financial institutions reporting high-risk businesses to it. In that respect, TOD bears some similarities to the three major credit-reporting agencies, Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union, all of which depend on banks and credit unions to regularly submit reports about their customers' loan-repayment behavior.
"The value of this is the collaboration," Dennis Maicon, vice president of product management in FIS's Risk, Fraud, and Compliance Solutions unit, tells Digital Transactions News. "It's the information sharing that's the first of its kind."
The first of its kind for the ACH, that is. Rather than consumer credit-reporting agencies, TOD is most similar to a system bank card merchant acquirers have used for years, a system known as MATCH, for Member Alert to Control High Risk. NACHA president and chief executive Janet O. Estep, a former acquiring executive with U.S. Bancorp, notes that MATCH takes in reports from acquirers about merchants the processors banned from card acceptance because of high chargebacks, and identifies those merchants to other processors so that the risky businesses can't get merchant accounts again.
Herndon, Va.-based NACHA's risk-control staff several years ago launched the so-called Originator Watch List, or OWL service, a database of suspect originators, but TOD is more comprehensive. "This is one tool for a financial institution's due diligence," Estep said at a Payments 2011 news conference. "It is new to the ACH network."
FIS has a Web site for financial institutions to report terminated ACH originators. The site includes reason codes for the termination. Pricing includes a signup fee and then per-transaction or subscription fees, or a combination of both. Pricing also depends on the size of the institution by assets. FIS didn't disclose details. To get the system up and running, FIS is offering "financial incentives" to early adopters, Maicon says.
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