Lemondrop

Maureen says: My husband and I were VIP guests at a hotel in Cozumel for our honeymoon in April, and the hotel provided us with a rental car to use whenever we wanted -- free of charge.

We only used the car on the last day of our trip, and we were told we had to provide a credit card to the rental agency for any damages that might be incurred while driving. We gave them our HSBC credit card and they wrote "1,450 pesos" -- roughly $115 -- on the receipt. The rental agent explained to us that this amount wouldn't be charged to our card unless the car came back damaged.

When we returned the car, the rental agency gave us a final receipt showing no charges, because the jeep was returned without damages and with gas.

More than a month later, a charge of $605.38 appeared on my credit card statement. I called the card and disputed the charges immediately. HSBC went to the vendor for authorization, and the vendor provided a copy of our receipt -- they'd forged my husband's signature and changed the amount to 7,450 pesos. I explained the situation to HSBC, but my dispute has now been denied three times, even though every customer service agent tells me that they can clearly tell that the receipt was altered. Help!

Maureen, Saratoga Springs, NY

Our Money Experts' Advice: First of all, good for Maureen for hanging on to her receipts. A lot of people would've tossed them when they got back from their trip -- and been $600 poorer for it.

Second of all, there are two receipts. One of them bears her credit card imprint and the amount of 1,450 pesos but has no signature. The other receipt also has her credit card imprint and her husband's signature, but no amount written in. But instead of writing an amount on the blank receipt (which seems like it would have been easier), the vendor forged her husband's signature on the other receipt and altered the number of pesos.

We called HSBC, who promptly took a (fourth?) look at her case. The company contacted the vendor in Mexico, who said that the charges weren't for a rental car at all -- they were for an excursion. Supposedly Maureen and her husband went scuba diving and sailing on the last day of their vacation, and this was the charge for the trip.

"It sounds wonderful," Maureen says. "I would've loved to go sailing, but it never happened."

The customer service rep also told Maureen that her dispute had been miscategorized as "unauthorized," a description that meant (she was told) that she'd had no interaction with the vendor at any time. Since Maureen and her husband had dealt with the vendor, "unauthorized" didn't apply, and the rep said she couldn't reverse the charges.

"That's absurd," says Ruth Susswein, with advocacy group Consumer Action. "That's just an unacceptable business practice, no matter what."

It wasn't until Maureen's husband spoke to an HSBC supervisor that the couple made any headway. HSBC finally credited the charge back to the card -- plus interest and finance fees -- but only, the rep said, as an act of good faith, because Maureen and her husband are long-time customers.

Without our help, Maureen probably would have been stuck paying for sailing off into the sunset on a trip she never took. Even with our help, she was almost stuck paying it, and we're not sure exactly why. One thing that didn't help: This vendor has likely done this before and gotten away with it. They had a story ready, and they're located in Mexico, which makes this case slightly tougher to investigate. And, to be fair, they forged Maureen's husband's signature pretty accurately.

What did HSBC have to say? Not much. "We take all types of disputed charges seriously," says Rob Sherman of HSBC. "We resolved this matter in the customer's favor after learning more details."

Could she have prevented it? Maybe. Without her signature on the blank receipt, the vendor would've been hard pressed to forge it on the other form. Which brings us to our next reminder: NEVER SIGN A BLANK RECEIPT. Seriously. Bad idea. "You wouldn't give someone a blank check, would you?" Susswein says. Draw a line through any part of the receipt where charges could be fraudulently added.

For that matter, they probably shouldn't have left the signature line on the other receipt blank, either. Since they were told there was no charge, they could have written "VOID" across the slip in huge letters. Tough to work around that one, even if you're a dodgy rental car company.

What else could she have done?
Keep disputing. "Be persistent and do not pay a bill that is fraudulent," Susswein says.

Ask for a higher-up. It's no accident that Maureen finally got some justice when she got a supervisor on the line.

Move up the food chain. Try contacting the regulators that oversee the bank, such as the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). File a complaint with them-if they're not the entity that oversees your bank, they'll let you know who does. File an additional complaint with the Federal Reserve. And if all else fails, write to the office of the president of the bank. "It doesn't mean the president is going to handle your actual complaint," Susswein says. "But it might get into the right hands."

Put a note in her credit file. If the dispute eventually appears on your credit report (and it's still not resolved), write all three bureaus (Equifax, Experian and Transunion) and add a dispute letter of 100 words or less explaining the situation. "Essentially, there will be a little mark noted on your report that the charge is in dispute," Susswein says.


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Kate Ashford is a freelance journalist who writes about personal finance and health (and other things). Without online shopping, she wouldn't own anything. Her work has appeared in Money, Women's Health, and Self. For more, check out Her TwoCents.