What to do when a transaction at a shop with DEBIT card was declined while the account had a healthy balance?

I have an active debit card attached to my savings account with ICICI Bank in India that attracts an annual fee of Rs 99 (USD2 appx). I bought grocery worth Rs 231(US$5 appx) and thought it convenient to pay with my debit card. The bank allows such low value purchases as it’s a debit card. To my horror, the shop clerk told me that my transaction was declined. Knowing that my account held over Rs 12000 (USD 260 appx) as balance with no cheques issued or dues, I asked her to try again, which she did twice. I saw the terminal sending request and receiving reply and then the transaction being declined. Losing face, I had to pay by cash. Back home, after an hour, I checked my account online. My account was debited three times but the debits were reversed only twice. I saved the data in PDF and, after ten minutes, found that the account was credited with a reverse entry once again, setting off the debit. What should I do about the trouble that the bank made me go through?

Probably caused by a delay in getting approval. In other words because it is a foreign bank it probably had to pass thru several network nodes and by the time the bank approved it the requesting POS terminal (system) had timed out the request. That also explains the reversals, because the requesting POS system never verified the transaction was completed.

myworldplus My worldplus Stay at Home MOMS (Mothers)