Case Studies

A Responsible Business Partner

The Problem

Case study:
What can be learned: the expert's advice Read More

From the Client's Perspective

A former Merchant Visa client had been getting calls from customers who had been double billed for services paid for by credit cards. The business spent many hours trying, without success, to find and fix the problem, which was quickly taking its toll in terms of lost reputation, business, and relationships that had been built in the community and industry. It took steps to compensate its customers, increased its advertising and issued coupons to attract new customers. The client's new provider of Visa Merchant Services was not able to find the source of the problem, nor could RBC shed any light on the situation.

From RBC Financial Group's Perspective

Royal Bank Merchant Services tried but could not find a reason for the double billings. Since the customer no longer dealt with RBC, Merchant Services suggested the problem must have originated with his new financial institution.

The Resolution

The Office of the Ombudsman reports, "the investigation finally revealed that the problem originated with a point-of-sale terminal supplied by RBC Visa. The client was no longer using this terminal and had returned it to a RBC branch. During the process to prepare the terminal for use by another client, an error caused transactions stored in the terminal's memory to be repeated.

"Identifying the root of the problem was just the beginning. Recognizing the impact the error had on the business, Visa Merchant Services sent an apology to each cardholder affected by the double billing to help reinforce that the error was not caused by the client. The Bank also compensated the client for some of its out-of-pocket expenses to rebuild its reputation and attract new business."

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