PVR Cinema: careful abut buying tickets online

Not a scam per se but an annoyance anyway:

One month ago my wife and I wanted to go to the movies and to be sure we'd have a seat and no hassle I purchased tickets for PVR Gold in Saket, Delhi, online, using my (Europe issued) Amex card. 2 tickets in gold were about 28 EUR.

For some reason the transaction didn't go through and a message popped up that I should try again and that in case my card was debited, the amount would be credited back to my account in 7 working days.

Tried again--> same error.

I received 2 mails from PVR repeating that 'if your card was charged we'll reimburse you within 7 working days' etc.

Sure enough, 3 weeks later I look at my Amex statement and see 2 transaction of about 28 EUR each....but no credit. So I send a mail to PVR support and forward them the 2 messages their system sent me. Of course I never received a reply beyond the 'we have received your mail' auto-reply. And no credit to my Amex either...I more or less expected this, if something doesn't go 100% according to SOP chances are you'll run into problems in India.

I got it fixed by calling Amex and forwarding them the 2 mails pvr sent me...they immediately reversed the charge and I got my money back.

Conclusion: if you buy cinema tickets online with PVR, use a (foreign) credit card and don't count on PVR customer service in case something goes wrong. I count my blessings for not having used my indian debit card to pay for this...have a feeling the chargeback wouldn't have gone quite so smoothly.

Love Amex's service. Recently had a great experience with my gold charge card.

OTOH, I had to tear my hair out dealing with one of the other big two about a pretty obvious (in my view)fraudulent charge.

Difference was in my case too here in the US was that, Amex first reversed the charge and asked questions later. Got my money back in both cases, Amex with minimum effort.

Amex, for the money they gouge out of user fees; it better be good.

Yeah, true. But I pay all my professional expenses with it and that stacks up in points with all the airline tickets and hotels...which I redeem to get a free membership. The main consideration is that I want ZERO hassle in case something goes wrong.

Second that.

Unless you have great credit etc., VI, MC and DS have started charging an annual fee too. This of course they did/quickly slapped on during the "window of opportunity" (May 2009 to Feb 2010) they all had before the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure, or Credit CARD, Act of 2009 came into effect.
http://www.bankrate.com/finance/cred...ard-law-1.aspx

It's a mystery why they were given all that time to comply. Well, not really a mystery I guess.

That's the US situation..