VISA customer questions unauthorized charges

Sean Baker questioned the unauthorized charges on his VISA.

A Calgary man was left in limbo after unauthorized charges were applied to his credit card.

Back in 2010, Sean Baker bought two 10-pass punch cards to a gym near his house for himself and his fiancé.

Baker says it was the only purchase he ever made there but that the gym must have kept his VISA number on file because two years later a charge of $685 was applied to his card while he was out of the country.

"I had been on vacation, I was on my honeymoon overseas,” said Baker.

Baker contacted TD VISA and told them the charges were unauthorized and TD reversed them.

Then in November, TD said the charges were going back on his bill because the merchant's bank provided proof of authorization.

That proof was simply two transaction records that showed that the merchant had in fact charged Baker’s VISA number and no other evidence of consent was provided.

“No signatures, no nothing, not that they used my pin number, no nothing," said Baker.

CTV Calgary’s Consumer Specialist Lea Williams-Doherty went to the gym's location and found that the building was for sale and appeared to be closed down.

When Baker called TD to complain about the charges going back on his bill he says the rep told him that because he couldn't prove the 2010 transaction was a one time deal, he would have to pay.

“In my opinion it should work the opposite way, someone should have to provide proof that they had the authorization to do business with you multiple times and they’re taking the other line and it's not right, it's not right," said Baker.

Lea contacted TD to ask how it could justify forcing Baker to pay and was told that it was VISA that decided Baker must pay.

Lea then contacted VISA and was told that it was TD's decision to make Baker pay.

Lea contacted TD again and the financial institution did an about-face and in an email conceded that "...an error was made by the telephone representative that spoke with Mr. Baker. We have determined that the charges in question are unauthorized and we will be contacting Mr. Baker to apply a credit to his account..."

Baker called TD to find out if he needs to get the merchant to sign something saying they can only charge his card that one time every time he makes a purchase and was told no that it is the nature of this particular merchant.