Quebec woman hopes others can learn from her online banking mistake

A Quebec woman is issuing a warning to users of online banking, after what she thought was a simple mistake cost her $1,000.

Lydia Ditcham accidentally transferred the chunk of hard-earned money to the wrong place. She says what she thought would be an easy fix became a stressful, weeks-long ordeal.

It all started last October when a collections agency called Dixon Commercial Investigators pursued a relative in relation to an unpaid bill. She decided to help him.

“I made the payment for him,” Ditcham explained.

Then, earlier this year, she accidentally sent more money to the agency.

Ditcham says on Feb. 15 and March 15, she thought she was sending $500 payments to Revenue Quebec. Instead, she says, both times she had clicked on the wrong recipient in her online banking and sent the payments to Dixon Commercial Investigators.

“It was a bad mistake,” Ditcham admits. “It’s just because it was right on top (of the list of payees).”

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She figured Dixon would recognize her error and send the money back. After all, she didn’t owe them any money. However, Ditcham and her husband Tim Sarsfield say things got complicated.

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“They hung up on me, they send me all over the place,” Ditcham explained.

“They’ve been giving us the run-around,” said Sarsfield. “Sometimes they don’t take her calls.”

The couple says after two months of phone calls, they still hadn’t been refunded the $1,000. They started to wonder if Dixon was trying to keep the money.

“I said to them one time, ‘We made sure you got your money and now you’re going to screw us for our money,'” Sarsfield recounted.

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The Dixon head office did not respond to phone and email inquiries made by Global News.

During a visit to their Montreal location in Côte-des-Neiges, employees referred us to the head office.

However, less than 24 hours after Global News first reached out, Ditcham received an email from Dixon saying they are issuing her a refund, and she can expect to receive it within days.

“You know, it’s a good idea to make sure you check your bank statements and, and make sure the money is going to where it’s supposed to,” said Sarsfield.

They hope people learn from their mistake, knowing their money could be gone with one errant click.