100 times the amount

“Expensive” teleshopping: decimal point missing from payment slip

A woman had made an expensive "bargain" while teleshopping. Although the ATM had read the payment slip incorrectly, the bank demanded a fee for the return transfer

(Bild: M. Panchenko)

A woman transferred 100 times the amount while teleshopping. When she realized the mistake, she asked the bank to get the money back. The bank would have done so - but only for 70 euros!

A woman from the St. Pölten district was delighted to have got hold of a product for just 23.94 euros on a TV advertising channel. However, due to a technical mishap at the ATM in the foyer of her bank, she transferred the amount without a decimal point - so she had paid the teleshopping channel a whole 2394 euros!

After the woman in her mid-fifties couldn't believe her eyes when she checked her bank statements, she was shocked and contacted the consumer advice service of the Lower Austrian Chamber of Labor (AKNÖ). The experts contacted the store and requested that the excess amount be transferred back to the woman. However, as this did not happen at first, the consumer contacted her bank at the same time.

Bank: woman was responsible
She was told that she could get the amount back, but that a fee of 70 euros would be charged. The bank's argument: although the bank's machine in the foyer may have scanned the payment slip incorrectly and the decimal point in the total was lost as a result, the woman was still responsible. She had confirmed the incorrectly scanned amount at the machine.

AKNÖ helped desperate woman
On the advice of the consumer advocates, the woman refrained from having her bank reclaim the money at her expense. Fortunately, a short time later she had the difference of 2370 euros in her account. The Tele-Shop had responded to AKNÖ's request and transferred back the overpayment.

"Our experts arranged for her to get the overpaid money back quickly, free of charge," said President Markus Wieser, pleased to be able to help.