I filed a dispute for charges on my WalMart MoneyCard (pre paid) that were for a hotel room that I DID NOT authorize. I had authorized for a stay of more than a week, but the hotel charged my card another $492.00 in 3 seperate charges without my consent.
I caught this by checking my card balance online. The hotel had already charged my card and had been paid (posted) and had additional charges that were in the "pending" status. I immediately called their customer service number on the card and learned that I had to use a whole seperate process to dispute these charges. Also, they informed me that they could not even stop the "pending" charges that had not even been paid yet. I argued about why they couldn't just stop payment and they had policy excuses.
They then said I had to file the dispute within10 working days and wait 10 working days for them to "determine" if I would get my money back! I quickly downloaded their dispute form, filled it out with all the pertinant info I was disputing and faxed it to them the same day. They then assigned me a disputed case number and I waited.
After 2 weeks passed (I kept calling for an answer) I was finally told that they DENIED my dispute. Prior to all this I had contacted the hotel manager who said there was nothing she could do. I was furious about the so called denial and I called them back and said I can PROVE to them that I did not make reservations or stay there with my phone records and verification that I was at work during the time of the charges in another State.
I was then told that they would open up another "new" dispute case. I had to follow the same routine with their form, plus I included the phone records showing I had not called the hotel as well as verification from my employer that I was in another State during that time working. I waited the 10 working days (2 weeks) and was again denied!
They told me that they (Green Dot Corp) had called the hotel manager and based on the information that tyhey gathered that my dispute was denied, that the charges were taken from my account, and that there was nothing further I could do about it.
I pressed to go higher with this and they said that all they could do was have someone from corporate call me. We set up a specific window of time for them to call me and nobody ever called. After speaking with an attorney friend of mine I am now seeing if I can file a small claims suit (in my county court) against WalMart MoneyCard/GE Money Bank/Green Dot Corp and the hotel vendor, both of them, in an attempt to get my $492.00 back.
In addition, I have stopped my direct deposit from going in their bank and will not use their services again.
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