TORONTO -- A dentist from Winnipeg has been reimbursed by his bank after he was charged more than $5,000 for two servings of ice cream in Costa Rica.
David Kindrat said that when he bought his wife and daughter ice cream in the tourist town of Tamarindo, he thought he was paying in the local currency of Costa Rican colones.
“When I saw the receipt it was for $4,050 and I thought that's about right. That's about $9 Canadian, but when I got my credit card statement that wasn't the case" said Kindrat.
He was originally told that because he used his PIN and authorized the charge, there wasn’t anything the bank could do.
“They said you put in your PIN. It’s a legitimate transaction and we can't do anything about it," Kindrat said.
Scotiabank has since reviewed Kindrat’s case and reversed the charges.
“We take the concerns of our customers very seriously and review any instance where our customers feel we have not met their expectations,” a spokesperson said. “We have since resolved this matter to our customer’s satisfaction.”
Kindrat told CTV News Toronto he was pleased to have the matter put behind him.
“Scotiabank has refunded my money and apologized for the whole situation,” he said. “I appreciate that we were able to get my story out there and hope that it may caution other viewers to closely watch electronic transactions when travelling.”
When traveling, it’s advisable to always check receipts or transaction details immediately following the time of sale. Receipts should be kept for easy reference and monthly statements should be reviewed to identify any errors as soon as possible.
