On December 2, Mr Tautari was paying for items at Brackens Print in Oamaru and there was a problem with the eftpos machine he was trying to use. He said the Brackens employee tried to process the payment three times before the machine accepted the transaction.
It was not until later, when checking his bank records, that he found he was charged three times, totalling $98.
After almost a week of trying to get a refund from either Brackens or Westpac, his bank, Westpac paid him the money owed on Thursday while they tried to find where his money went.
He said Westpac’s records showed he paid three times while Brackens Print’s bank, ANZ, recorded only one transaction.
Mr Tautari said what occurred showed a problem with banking on a wider scale.
The full-time artist acknowledged the sum of money in question was low, but he believed he found the glitch only because he checked his records and that if this happened to him, it could be happening to others and on a much bigger scale.
"It’s just scary."
Brackens Print owner operator Robin Crawford said the transaction mishap was the first of its kind with the company.
"We’ve never seen a discrepancy between what is rung through on the till and what arrives in the bank.
"Someone is hanging on to some money."
Banking ombudsman Nicola Sladden said if people found themselves in the same position as Mr Tautari, they should contact the merchant to reverse the charges.
"The merchant would be able to process a refund using their eftpos or Visa/MasterCard terminal. If that is unsuccessful or the merchant is unwilling to do so, we recommend the customer contacts their bank to dispute the charges."
She said among the grounds under which a transaction could be disputed was if it was duplicated.
If the customer contacted their bank, it would investigate the matter.
"The customer’s bank would usually contact the merchant’s bank to request that the transaction be reversed. However ... [an eftpos transaction] could only be reversed if the merchant agreed. If the merchant is not prepared to do so, then the customer would need to pursue the matter with the merchant directly."
