Monzo refused to raise a chargeback

The harsh (and unfortunate) lesson to learn here is don’t send money through PayPal marked as ‘friends and family’ when they’re not friends or family.

13 Likes

Me not paying seller.directly with my card is not the reason Monzo is rejecting the claim .

Would still freeze it nonetheless while they investigate my complaint which is 15 days apparently seems long to be honest.

If you think 15 days is a long time, make sure you’re sitting down for when you learn how long a chargeback actually takes :grimacing:

This is why banks advise that you resolve and exhaust all options with the merchant first. So in your case PayPal.

2 Likes

As others have said, rightly. this has nothing to do with Monzo and their not liable to refund you, if that’s what you’re expecting. You also won’t be able to chargeback Paypal as 1. you probably risk your paypal account being closed and 2. The payment to PayPal went through fine. e.g paypal account received the money.

1 Like

Dan is exactly right here, your contract with Monzo is to provide the services you paid for. When you pay via PayPal then you’re buying the ‘credit’ from PayPal to buy something from somebody else. Therefore the service you paid for has been delivered.

This means that we have no chargeback rights for PayPal transactions for goods and services disputes. As raising a chargeback which you lose costs money we won’t raise chargebacks in situations where we’re certain to lose.

In addition the chargeback scheme is a voluntary one. Banks are under no legal obligation to raise a chargeback and it’s at their discretion.

I never pay via PayPal for this very reason.

Edit: the easy way to think of it is similar to buying a gift card. Once you’ve bought the gift card then the service has been fulfilled. Even if the merchant goes bust before you can spend the money then you can’t claim it back.

18 Likes

The analogy doesn’t always work with gift cards.

If bought on a credit card then its a straight forward section 75 claim, if over £100, as the bank is jointly liable in law for the purchase of the balance.

If bought on a debit card it could be claimed that the store breached its contract with you when not honouring the card balance and is thus liable for chargeback as it didn’t provide the service. The dispute is still between customer/bank and the store, not a further third party like in a PayPal seller dispute. Which? states it has sometimes worked with some banks by claiming a chargeback. Monzo may have their own position on this with your analogy.

2 Likes

So when paying with PayPal people should not expect chargeback protection ? I get it if it’s with your PayPal balance which is bank to PayPal but this is different

Paying with PayPal is protected with PayPal’s protections & terms etc.

You didn’t pay with PayPal, you hadn’t some money over through “friends and family” to people voluntarily. You weren’t buying things

2 Likes

Correct.

When paying with PayPal you’re not paying from your bank so you shouldn’t expect chargeback protection.

You transferred a balance from Monzo to PayPal and then paid with the PayPal balance you’d created. Just because you did it in one hit doesn’t change the path of the money. The money to the other party went to them from PayPal, not Monzo so it’s PayPal’s problem to resolve.

3 Likes

Woowww really I didn’t know that

Interestingly, MoneySavingExpert seems to be saying that Chargeback can apply under certain conditions with third-party PayPal transactions. This is a change from what I read in the past. I wonder if this has moved on through Ombudsman decisions etc.

Chargeback and PayPal

In most instances, PayPal is considered a third party. If you’ve topped up your PayPal account with your debit card and use that credit to pay for a product or service that wasn’t provided for any of the reasons above, you won’t be covered by chargeback protection.

However, by emptying your PayPal account and using it to make a purchase with your registered debit card, your card will clearly show the exact amount for the purchase. The money will essentially come out of your account straight into the seller’s account.

What it boils down to is, the easier it is for your provider to match the amount debited from your account with the purchase (even when using PayPal), the more likely it is you’ll receive chargeback.

Remember, chargeback is not a legal requirement and is not guaranteed.

Warning! Don’t use PayPal to pay on a credit card – you’re losing valuable Section 75 rights. For more info, see our PayPal warning guide.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/visa-mastercard-chargeback/

I would say your chances are still slim @muhammad1 as you used the ‘Friends and Family’ option but keep escalating your complaint if you satisfy what MoneySavingExpert explain above. Sadly, the ‘Friends and Family’ option will probably have been a top-up and transfer and not a direct card transaction.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2020/03/paypal-scam-victims-warn-against-fraudsters-who-ask-for--family-/

1 Like

If you know who the person is (i.e. have their name and address) you can sue them. It’s £50 to apply through the small claims court. If you sent them money for something and it’s clearly documented - and they haven’t given you the thing or your money - you should win easily and they will have to pay you back and pay your fees/costs.

Obvs as everyone else has said PayPal should be your first port of call but you lied during the transaction saying it was a friend rather than goods/services so that may not go anywhere.

And if monzo have said no - try a complaint if you did it via debit card and not balance. It could go through but may not. Still less risky than court.

If you don’t know their name/address short of hiring a PI this is a learning for you that the transaction you did was similar to giving a stranger in the street some cash for them to post something to you at a later date. You’ve not got a lot of comeback but you can still report it to the police. I doubt it will get much investigation though.

Chargebacks and Section 75 are different things (I know you know that - just making it clear for anybody else).

It’s not a policy perse - just that you’re very unlikely to win a chargeback, even in the event the retailer goes bust.

You’re right though, there aren’t exactly the same - hence why it’s an analogy :wink:

you mean in general its hard to win charge backs ?

it was a payment from my card so my paypal balance was always zero

If it was direct debit, then there’s no chargeback option, I believe. And I don’t think you’re covered by the direct debit guarantee at all.

I love how as threads progress, more information appears. :man_facepalming:

that was a typo I mean it went directly from my card

As said above, the money goes from Monzo to PayPal first, before it goes out to the person. It might look like it doesn’t, but it does.

So the issue here is with PayPal. You said to Monzo “Please pay £x to PayPal” and they have done that. Then you’ve said “Paypal, please pay £x to Mr X” and they have done that. It looks like it’s all one transaction but there’s parts to it.

Monzo can’t help you and PayPal won’t help you because you gifted it. So that’s the end of it really.

2 Likes

PayPal explains it when preparing the payment. Mine in this case was defaulted to friends and family but that’s because I know the seller is trustworthy as hell.

Clicking the buyer protection link gives a full breakdown of what to expect when using the protection.

Edit - even the seller in this case asks everyone to use the buying goods and services option. Anyone asking you to bypass this should always raise a red flag.

3 Likes