Large transaction declined by Amazon - funds on hold and no one can tell me why it was cancelled

Okay, I guess I was just responding to the OP saying it they were told 7 days.

It sort of sounded like we were saying only Amazon can sort this out. If we agree that Monzo can actually sort it out immediately their side with confirmation/proof then that’s good news for the OP :sunglasses:

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I’ve contacted Amazon again who said they’ll reverse the charge in 3-5 days now. This was in contradiction to what they told me originally when they said it could be up to 28 days. So now I don’t really know what to believe…

Some snippets of copy pasted responses they’ve given me from my recent chat with them…

“If you see a charge on your account, that would be an authorisation placed by your bank. Each bank is different on how long they hold authorisations on your account.”

“The authorisation is released automatically within your bank’s individual time frame for unused authorisations.”
“While most card issuers release authorisations within 3-5 business days, some banks have been known to hold authorisations for up to 7 days.”
“Please be aware that the responsibility for releasing the authorised funds lies solely with your bank and I am positive that your funds will be reverted to your account shortly.”

I still have my dispute open with Monzo from Friday, no news on that front yet. Customer service say there’s no way to expedite the request at all, which is really frustrating having to wait potentially up to 7 days to hear back from the dispute team. I’m a premium member and it seems that gives you no benefit in getting support quicker.

Still at a loss as to why Amazon cancelled it though, I hear the point about address potentially being wrong - but I’m 100% certain it is correct, it’s the only address I’ve ever used on this card and with Amazon over the past few years. Only thing I am thinking it might be is it’s a newly issued card and had only just been added to my Amazon account maybe? I don’t know, Amazon support still can’t give me any further information on why they rejected it.

I don’t know, I’m just confused and frustrated. If a payment isn’t being taken for whatever reason then in my simple mind I just don’t understand the money has to be held in limbo somewhere. On top of that having to wait so long for the dispute team at Monzo to get back to me is just not great at all…

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Paying for a service doesn’t get you dealt with any quicker, as you’ve already found out

This is a shame. I understand from @Dan5 above that Monzo should be able to reverse this once they have proof from Amazon that it won’t be taken.

I suggest again you follow this, get confirmation from Amazon that the money won’t be taken from Amazon and then escalate with Monzo. I think the Customer service might be a bit confused here because there’s no way it should take several days to reverse an auth.

Monzo can’t open a dispute for the transaction until the 28 days has elapsed, and even then the customer would have to give the merchant a chance to fix it, according to Mastercards policy it is 14 days from the day after you contacted the merchant.

On top of that, when a chargeback is filed it can (and often does) take upto 3 months for Mastercard to make a decision on your claim as they may need evidence from both parties involved.

Long story short, there’s nothing at all that can be done for this case. The guy is better off leaving it for now, if this continues then he needs to dispute the transaction as if he’s not received the goods, if that happens he’ll probably have his Amazon account shut down because Amazon don’t like chargebacks, it looks bad for them.

Your reply contradicts what @Dan5, who works for Monzo, has said higher up in this thread.

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Success! Monzo dispute team have reversed the charge this morning. I guess they just don’t work weekends maybe? It was after 5PM on the Friday when I raised it with them soo.

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Glad you got this sorted!

OP isn’t saying “I’ve paid Amazon and they haven’t given me what I’ve ordered” because that’s when the 28 days applies and you have to give them a chance to resolve, try and resolve yourself.

Which is where what you’ve said would apply.

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It’s also worth noting that if a chargeback is raised, you’ll usually be credited the amount and the ‘three months’ is for the background process. It isn’t always credited, but usually it is. Sometimes they can and will raise the dispute much faster too, like if you’ve fallen victim to a known scammy website, most banks (and I think Monzo are included here) will credit much faster and deal with the rest in the background.

I’m this case of course there was no chargeback, it was an auth reversal of course.

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He knows nothing of Mastercards policies ad the ways of dealing with a chargeback claim. He’ll tell you that you need proof but you actually don’t, you only need to give the Merchant a chance to rectify the mistake and wait for 14 days to elapse.

The guys only saying what he’s been trained to say. Monzo are very strict when it comes to taising a chargeback because if the chargeback where to fail then it looks bad on the company. In reality if you want a chargeback raised then they should raise one.

It’s not Monzo’s fault and completely Amazons, it’s nothing to do with fraud, it’s nothing to do with wrong or mismatched address or name. I know that to be a fact s as I’ve got a completely wrong address and it still goes through. My name is also incorrect on Amazon but yet it still goes through. They don’t care as long as they get paid at the end of it.

I still think you should wait it out and see because I’ve never had an issue with amazon where they have captured the funds and if something goes wrong they have taken the money. They have always released the funds back to me. Wait it out, I’m sure there’s nothing wrong anyway.

Do as I’ve said if it’s not and honestly, coming from another customer who has been through things similar to this donzens of times and you won’t go wrong. If Monzo say they need proof and Amazon won’t give it, then tell them to open it anyway. If they continue then you need to ask for a deadlock letter and report them to Mastercard and the financial ombudsman service. If they refuse to open the case then they are not fulfilling their contract to Mastercard and given enough complaints Mastercard could refuse to process payments for Monzo so I’m sure that’s enough of a threat in itself, if they open it then great.

Take or leave the advice, it’s up to you but I’m trying to give some real world advice and being someone that deals with these kinds of issues more often than i probably should do i thought it might be helpful. Be careful what you hear from Monzo just like any bank, they could tell you something isn’t possible when it actually is, i know because I’ve had it off them recently with a dispute. Like i say, not my problem if you get your money back or not so it’s you that needs to be careful in what advice you take.

I think maybe you are the one with knowledge gaps. This was an auth reversal, not a chargeback, and Monzo have already sorted it.

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Authorised yes but Amazon can sometimes be less than helpful in situations like this so in that instance a chargeback would be needed.

Like i said, i don’t really care if they do it or not, it’s not my money that’s potentially lost if the money hadn’t gone back in, i was just giving some advice based on my knowledge of how transactions in general get resolved if there is no evidence to back it up because the merchant is unwilling to help.

Take it or leave it.

I know what the process is because I’ve been through it way more than you can imagine and one very recently with Amazon.

Also I’m going to add that most highstreet banks do pre authorise temporary credit 9 times out of 10 however Monzo normally likes to let the chargeback run it’s course, that is not to say they won’t add temporary credit ever and yes the “disputes” or “chargeback” process, whatever you want to call it (it’s the same thing) normally takes upto 3 months to resolve the claim if the merchant rejects the chargeback., again i know that and can prove it, I’ve just 15 minutes ago got a message from Monzo stating that about my own Amazon chargeback.

You cannot chargeback a transaction that hasn’t presented. It’s impossible.

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If they’ve taken money they shouldn’t have then of course you can dispute and chargeback the money. That’s the whole aim of having the system in place and having Mastercard as the payment processor they can do things that are out of the scope of what Monzo can do.

Monzo are able to do very little other than hold money in general, the rest is up to Mastercard.

Failing that anyway you can always take it to the financial ombudsman service to sort out the issue. In any event, it’ll be back in the account if it’s not already if there has been a failure to process the payment.

I love Monzo because you tell me things aren’t possible and presume I’ve never had experience fixing these types of issues before with payment processing companies and every single time you’ve told me I’d need things that i clearly don’t, however my highstreet bank just does as i tell them to do and funny that the money is successfully back in my account. Wonder how that one happens and all with a lack of knowledge of how the system works.

Like i keep saying, I’m not interested in whether people take advice or not because it’s just that, advice. It’s only your money you could possibly lose as a result.

You need to understand how the payments system works, the difference between a presentment and an authorisation and then you’ll see that all along you’re essentially agreeing with.

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You either haven’t read any of the posts in this thread or you don’t understand how the system works.

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Monzo can release the pre auth but the merchant can still swoop in and take the money. It’s useful to be able to do that if you know you’ll be getting it back anyway - but if it’s a dispute it can cause more issues if you a) repurchase and are charged twice b) spend it on something else

Always better to play with a credit card companies money in these instances

Give yourself 5 minutes to read everyone’s replies, I believe you’re confused with what’s happening and the specific scenario raised. :kissing_heart:

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