Regarding BCA Credit Cards and HALOBCA Customer Service

JefDam

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Oct 21, 2016
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My credit card was stolen recently. As I didn't realise that my card was gone until a couple of hours after the fact, the thief managed to run up 9.3jt of unauthorised charges before I could report the card stolen and cancel it.

According to the lady from BCA, whom I spoke to to cancel the card, there were 15 unauthorised charges. 11 of these charges occurred over the course of 10 minutes at a single petrol station in Depok. Another 3 were made in different petrol stations in Bekasi. The final charge was at a tyre shop, also in Bekasi. They were all swipe and sign charges. I did not receive any SMS' confirming the transactions, as one does when the PIN is used.

So, to recap: My card was stolen and used to buy several million rupiah worth of petrol and some tyres at unusual times, with unusual frequency, and at locations 60KM from my billing address in Tangerang. The transactions were not PIN verified.

Now comes the fun bit!

As per Visa, cardholders can dispute any charge on their account within 30 days of receiving their billing statement. Cardholders have zero liability for fraudulent charges.

As per BCA, you may not dispute any charge on your bill if it happened before the card was reported stolen and / or cancelled. Cardholders are fully liable for all charges and BCA will not investigate on your behalf.

I called HaloBCA a number of times and sent numerous emails. Each call deteriorated into a one sided screaming match, as every single member of staff, agents and team leaders, stuck to the line that I cannot dispute any charges made before I cancelled the card, because...just...because. The emails were even worse. I firmly believe that HaloBCA's emails are answered by a word-salad algorithm of some kind; nothing will ever convince me otherwise, ever.

As a result of being stone-walled by BCA I contacted Visa's international help desk. They confirmed that all card issuers must follow Visa's dispute guidelines as part of their terms of service. The several that people I spoke to at Visa had never once come across an affiliated bank that refuses to let card holders open disputes, so they offered to call BCA with me on the line and explain the Visa's position and move it up the ladder within BCA. Unfortunately, they couldn't get through to HaloBCA, so we agreed that I should get back onto BCA one last time and tell them that I know my rights as a Visa card holder and that I expect the correct protocol to be followed.

"Ngaak bisa, mister...maaf, iya?"

It seems that if you shout at enough people for long enough you will finally get to speak to a manager. The manager, who clearly didn't fancy talking to me to begin with, relented and agreed to lodge a complaint with their fraud department for me. He requested that I send them a copy of my passport/KITAS, a copy of my most recent bill, a letter formally requesting the charges be investigated, a copy of a police report confirming that the card was stolen, and, and, and, a scan of the front of the stolen credit card...which I no longer have...because it was stolen.

So I shouted some more and the manager agreed that I could send a scan of the face of my replacement card along with the info sheet I received with my original card, which I kept.

As there were so many documents to send, I decided I best send them in two emails. No sooner had I sent the first email I received a reply saying that the complaint had been closed and I would receive verification of the outcome in writing in 7 - 14 working days.

"How odd, but not entirely surprising. I'd better give them a ring" I though.

When I eventually spoke to someone I was told that my complaint had been closed because BCA don't allow their customers to dispute charges that were made before a card was reported lost and / or stolen. There followed an unhealthy amount of effing and jeffing and a demand to speak to a manager. I was put on hold and left there for 45 minutes until I decided to hang up.

I got back on to Visa. Who reassured me that I am 10000% entitled to dispute the charges and that BCA cannot refuse a dispute. Visa, whose English Language help desk for Asia is based in Manila, again tried unsuccessfully to call HaloBCA, at which point it became apparent that the HaloBCA helpline cannot be accessed from outside of Indonesia, despite what their brochure and website say. I’ve since had people outside of Indonesia check if the number they supply is contactable from abroad. It cannot be reached from Ireland, The U.K., Australia, or New Zealand, as well as The Philippines.

I've lodged a formal complaint with Visa and they'll take it as far as the can with BCA. Hopefully I'll get my money back. I'm similarly hopeful that as a result of all of this being brought to light with Visa that BCA will have to change their policies and stop being such utter, utter, utter c*nts. I doubt it, though.

/RANTOFF

Can anyone with a working knowledge of Indonesian consumer finance offer any advice?

Cheers.

JD
 
Oh that sounds so damn frustrating & infuriating.
I have nothing to say that will help you I just wanted to thank you for posting such an interesting tale (of woe).
I will stick by my NO credit card policy and your story has reinforced my resolve.
 
1. When you call to VISA international, my phone allows you to add another call. So instead of VISA dialing the unreachable number from abroad, why don't you call and add it to the ongoing call?
2. Have you tried the BCA Prioritas line? 021-1500222
3. Have you tried calling the BCA head office in Jakarta and ask whoever is in charge of fraud cases? 021-23588000 (If that proves difficult a LinkedIn search for BCA + Fraud came up with several possible candidates to be asked for by name).
4. If you're in Jakarta go to the BCA head office and wreck havoc till you get your issue resolved. Tip: ask for Jahja Setiaatmadja
 
As per BCA, you may not dispute any charge on your bill if it happened before the card was reported stolen and / or cancelled. Cardholders are fully liable for all charges and BCA will not investigate on your behalf.

Did you ask what if your card got skimmed?
 
1. When you call to VISA international, my phone allows you to add another call. So instead of VISA dialing the unreachable number from abroad, why don't you call and add it to the ongoing call?
2. Have you tried the BCA Prioritas line? 021-1500222
3. Have you tried calling the BCA head office in Jakarta and ask whoever is in charge of fraud cases? 021-23588000 (If that proves difficult a LinkedIn search for BCA + Fraud came up with several possible candidates to be asked for by name).
4. If you're in Jakarta go to the BCA head office and wreck havoc till you get your issue resolved. Tip: ask for Jahja Setiaatmadja​

1. I'd never thought of that, to be honest. Good idea.

2. I have tried BCA Prioritas, they transferred me to Halo.

3. Visa are calling head office today to look into that on my behalf. I don't use Linkdn so it never occurred to me to search it. Will get on this right now.

4. As much as I'd love to go into head office and shout at someone in person, which is, let's be honest, waaaaay more satisfying than shouting at the disembodied voice of Dimas, I'm too far out of town to be able to pop into Thamrin on my lunch break.

Regarding skimming, no I didn't ask because it's not pertinent to my issue. If they were to tell me that in suspected skimming cases you can dispute the charges because you still have the card I think I'd soil myself with rage.

Thanks for the advice. I'll do a quick Linkdn search.

Cheers

JD
 
.
A friend of my wife had her wallet stolen on an escalator in Plaza Senayan. And the credit card they immediately used was from CITIBANK. When she called them later from home, it was already too late. The customer service rep told her they had being trying to reach her to confirm the suspicious transactions. But it was the same story: She did not get her money back.

What really sucks here (but also in the US) is that they still have the swipe/sign system active, even for cards with PIN. I refuse to sign my cards btw. (So at least nobody can replicate my signature and I have additional proof.) And only once they asked for ID, in a SOGO. (Positive!)

I'm a little bit pessimistic, JD. I definitely would visit my bank affiliate, and perhaps make a scene. Of course those people have -as such- nothing to do with the whole situation, but perhaps then something will happen.

Afterthought: The BCA website does not mention there will be no compensation of transactions before the police report. It does say "Report ASAP" to the HaloBCA and "Whenever there is a transaction that is not yours, immediately file a query or complaint in writing to Halo BCA by fax at 021-5208795 or 021-29910710, or send an email to [email protected]. Complaints may not exceed thirty (30) calendar days from the date of bill issuance, and cardholder must attach a photocopy of valid proof of ID /other identity cards and the photocopy of the credit card."
 
What a frustrating story, it amazes me the speed the scammers work at, I hope you can successfully sort it all out, although not quite the same problem as you, , my Credit card was double swiped, once by the hotel at Lippo, a shop at PIM and a travel agent, what surprises me these companies never lost the right to use visa, the shop at PIM and the Travel agent have been closed for a long while now but I assume the hotel is still doing business in Lippo
 
around 4 years ago I had a similar problem with a bca debit card, I lost around 10 juta in 3 days , the money disappeared in varying amounts at 3.01 am every day, I complained for a number of weeks at the main branch, no action, finally after losing patience I waited at the branch for 3 hours demanding a letter from jakarta about evidence from the camera ,

suprise suprise the camera was broken!.

I never got 1 rup! in compensation , I closed my account at bca . in that period a number of managers in bca were fired quietly .

I use only mandiri now with sms notifications of withdrawls above 1 juta.



 
a LinkedIn search for BCA + Fraud came up with several possible candidates to be asked for by name.

This turned up the assistant manager of the fraud investigation department, along with her mobile phone number and email address. She's been emailed.

Thanks again for the advice. Let's hope it puts a fire under someone's arse.
 
No advice, but I would like to first offer sympathy (your story is awful, and as a veteran of various bureaucratic stonewalling experiences myself, I know just how ENRAGING these things can be), and second, say thank you for posting this here. It is most instructive, and other people may benefit from reading your story and the advice people are offering.

Good luck, and keep us posted!
 
This turned up the assistant manager of the fraud investigation department, along with her mobile phone number and email address. She's been emailed.

Thanks again for the advice. Let's hope it puts a fire under someone's arse.

No problem.

Been googling and it seems that the guy ultimately responsible for the credit-card division at BCA is a Director called Henry Koenaifi. It also seems that @bca.co.id corporate e-mails addresses follow a firstname_lastname@ standard, no idea if it'll work for his level but worth a shot if you keep getting stonewalled.

Also spamming their twitter account seems to get the right attention sometimes, get it translated to Indo dulu ya, perhaps tag coconuts or a similar news outlet?
 
I had a similar experience about 2 years ago. My Bank Permata ATM card was used as a Visa at a furniture shop in Medan with 4 charges totaling a little over 50 juta, draining that account to only 1 juta. I filled a police report, a claim with the bank as requested and waited two weeks with no news. They then said they needed proof from me that I wasn't in Medan that day (I have never been to Medan). I was able to show them receipts from another CC that I charged from a restaurant in Jakarta the same day as my fraudulent charges. They said they would look into it, but said it would be at least 6 months before they would finish the investigation and there was only a 50% chance they would refund my money. With the threat of closing my two business accounts with them, they set up a meeting with their regional manager, who said her hands were tied and most likely I wouldn't get my money back. At that point I called an Indonesian friend of mine who was working as a Director at Standard Chartered Bank in Jakarta. Standard is a 40% owner of Bank Permata. He made a few phone calls and all my monies were returned in a few days. I asked him what the chances were of getting my money back if he didn't get involved and his answer was close to none. He said it is a situation in which no one wants to be the person who approves a loss so they will shuffle it from person to person until you give up. From that point on, I never kept more 10 to 20 juta in an account accessible to my ATM card and instead kept monies in another account that I could access online to transfer into my regular account if needed to pay bills etc...
 
He said it is a situation in which no one wants to be the person who approves a loss so they will shuffle it from person to person until you give up.

This is what I don't understand (well, I understand it, but don't want to call it what it is). When a dispute is opened the bank withholds payment from the merchant. The onus is on the merchant to prove that the transactions were legitimate and that they acted properly. The bank loses nothing and still earn money on the interest being made off the card holder.

Itulah Indonesia...
 
This is one reason I try to keep a foreign issued credit card here. No problems disputing transactions.

Why do Indonesians put up with such nonsense?
 
I asked him what the chances were of getting my money back if he didn't get involved and his answer was close to none. He said it is a situation in which no one wants to be the person who approves a loss so they will shuffle it from person to person until you give up.

Yep. Had a case with BCA around four years ago, involving a scam artist using my friend's stolen identity. Long story short, after I filed a police report and formal report to BCA fraud detection/Halo BCA, they froze the scam artist's BCA account (can you believe it? Using a BCA account to commit a crime towards another BCA client!). I was scammed four million, by the time they froze the account, there was 2.5 million left. BCA specifically told me they were going to just transfer that 2.5 jt to my account, but I just have to eat up the rest of the loss.

The twist to the story, my friend (whose identity was stolen) is a pretty good friend with the deputy President Director, so one phone call from him to the head of halo BCA...I got the courtesy call telling me that they were going to fully refund my money and they'll try to catch the bad guy. Funny thing is, before they return my money, the scam artist itself actually returned my money (via another ATM transfer) and had the balls to tell the branch customer service to tell me to reopen his account because he needs it for his 'business'. My answer? "Tell the guy that I didn't tell him to transfer the money, if he wanted the account reopened, call the police". Almost a year later I got a weird call to come to the BCA branch because "We almost got him sir, just need you to provide us with a couple more things". Something didn't feel right to me, I told whoever on the phone that Halo BCA had told me to just not ever worried about it anymore. With that, they say 'thank you'. and that was over three years ago.

Bottom line: Same like Vanuatu's post....in Indonesia, if you don't know somebody who could pull strings for you, especially when it comes to fraud....forget it. The guy who conned me didn't think I was going to do it, so it caught him by surprised cause most people would rather let a couple millions go rather than to deal with the police and bank's bureaucracy.
 
Let banks give out credit cards willy nilly in a third-world country and this is what you get. I can't believe fraud, opening accounts with false information, people maxing out their cards and just not paying, etc. doesn't happen much more often than is reported.
 
Let banks give out credit cards willy nilly in a third-world country and this is what you get. I can't believe fraud, opening accounts with false information, people maxing out their cards and just not paying, etc. doesn't happen much more often than is reported.

I was in HSBC bank inquiring about a CC, there was a women creating quite a scene as the bank had blocked her card due to the fact she had run up 40 million Rp and didn't seem in a hurry to repay it, she was very, very indignant as she didn't get anymore credit
 
I was in HSBC bank inquiring about a CC, there was a women creating quite a scene as the bank had blocked her card due to the fact she had run up 40 million Rp and didn't seem in a hurry to repay it, she was very, very indignant as she didn't get anymore credit

I believe it is common for banks to put a limit on how much credit a card can sustain.
Due to big medical bills we recently had to ask HSBC to increase our CAP and it was increased without question. I will ask for it to be reduced once those bills are back to normal.
The CAP is for the client's protection..... so I don't know why anyone should complain.

edit: I should add that we have a standing order to fully pay any outstanding amount as we don't want to rack-up any interest charges. We use a CC only as a convenience.
 
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I was in HSBC bank inquiring about a CC, there was a women creating quite a scene as the bank had blocked her card due to the fact she had run up 40 million Rp and didn't seem in a hurry to repay it, she was very, very indignant as she didn't get anymore credit

So there was no more available credit? She hadn't paid her bill? Provided either of those happened, not allowing the customer to run up more charges is standard procedure—as I know it anyway.
 
^
^
Yeah, then you use a credit card as a glorified debit card. I guess most hospitals do accept debit cards though?

Unlike Europe, over here there is no way I would agree with standing orders / pre-authorized payments of our credit cards. At least with a manual payment we are required to check. (Just like on water and electricity btw.)
 

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