Section 75 refund (or debit card equivalent)

So I’ve purchased something online with my Mondo card and the service has not materialised .
Now if I’d paid on a credit card I would start a section 75 refund process with the card provider after making a complaint with the relevant company.
Do we have any similar protection with the Alpha cards or have I lost my money? (It’s only £8 but it’s just a little annoying and I’d like to make the company aware they can’t get away with it.)

Would also possibly help others in a similar situation in the future?

2 Likes

Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 wouldn’t apply to a purchase of any single item less than £100.

That said, most banks operate some form of disputes process for both credit and debit cards for any amount.

I’ve just re-read through the Mondo Terms and it doesn’t mention disputes… there’s a suggestion of fraudulent transaction investigation, but not disputing a transaction where the supplier has failed to fulfil their duties.

It’d be interesting to Mondo’s plans on this though.

It would be kinda cool if fraud and disputes could be reported in app through the “Something Wrong? Tell Us!” button on the transaction details screen.

2 Likes

For purchases less than £100 you can use usually use a scheme called Chargeback (see http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/visa-mastercard-chargeback). Not sure how you’d do this via Mondo, maybe worth a starting a chat in app.

1 Like

This question does answer a bigger question (Sorry if I’m hijacking) and this isn’t aimed at all at Daniel who has a good question.

But going forward as Mondo becomes a bank, when things like this happen (issues with transactions, failed services etc) how is Mondo going to handle these?

I guess in a lot of cases, banks just give the customer the money back then try if possible to get it back from the supplier (If that’s even do-able). But as banks are big money makers and charge us for everything, they can afford to help consumers at times like this when it keeps them using the card long term (Minor loss refunding for continued custom).

But going forward, if Mondo wants to be the bank for the people, doesn’t want to use as just an income source (so there’s no stupid fee’s on foreign purchases, withdrawals, charging stupid fee’s for going overdrawn or unauthorised overdrafts you didn’t even want) there isn’t going to be a big pot of money to fund all of these.
(Note: I do appreciate its different in Alpha/Beta and they are way on the consumers side as we test and work with them)…

You could almost think of the big banks using these fee’s as a sort of Insurance Pot if you like, so that when someone disputes a transaction, or insecurely gives out details (like the idiots on Twitter posting there cards in full view!) they can just take the money from the pot and refund the customer. Mondo wouldn’t have this big pot to fund us. The only way for them to do it is to charge us more for services so ultimately we all pay.

It’s an interesting debate, and I’m sure one that will happen over time. But just remember when doing charge backs and stuff; we the people don’t get free money - we fund it all through bank fees like a collective insurance policy.

1 Like

It just comes down to initiating a chargeback. Standard for all cards, banks, card issuers. All payment processors know how to handle them too.

I don’t know whether Mondo is able to initiate chargebacks now though - as a non-regulated non-issuer using prepaid cards.

I always assumed that in most cases banks (or card providers) have a standard way to pull back the money from the retailer in the case of chargebacks etc.

This section of the Chargeback Wikipedia entry suggests this is the case, but the article seems quite focused on the US so not sure it’s the same here.

Section 75 Claims only apply to agreements under CCA 1975. CCA regulated agreements are those which cover credit cards, including charge cards, HP, Finance, Loans, basically anything CCA regulated. Read your agreement it will state it if it is CCA regulated.

Now while debit cards issued in the 1990s were CCA regulated and unless you can prove it (personal experience) then they are not covered under CCA.

And to correct the person, the purchase of the item doesn’t have to be £100 on the card, you only need to spend £1 (or less) but something on a card and the entire item must be over £100 but less than £30,000.

This would allow you to enforce a Section 75 claim.

If you have two companies both covering then you can claim against both. For example, I purchased a car (not that I have). The deposit is paid for on the credit card, the rest of the balance is financed. Then I would be eligible to claim against both firms (as long as it was less £30,000).

Hence, for advise to anyone always pay for something using a Credit Card and pay it off if you are not sure. That covers you.

Full blurb http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/section75-protect-your-purchases for anyone that wants to find out.

As with regards to Monzo, the fact that they are using the MasterCard symbol that means they would be in some form of agreement under the license to use the symbol but abide by the rules. However, it is a pre-paid card thus this probably, and someone from Monzo would need to clarify this reduce their liability.

Pre-paid cards generally don’t fall under the protection of the FSCS scheme and thus you can’t complain.

I did this over a £4 charge for a photo booth which didn’t give out any photos. After explaining to support what happened they first refunded the transaction as it hadn’t settled (on my word of honour- nice for a bank to trust/support you and not just refund you because you threaten to complain to FoS), but then the merchant charged it again as an offline transaction, so I raised it again and Monzo did a chargeback. They will direct you to a form to fill in online and I’m pretty sure your case goes to mastercard/processor and the bank has little to do with it.

When the chargeback had been successful I got an in-app message from support telling me I had won the chargeback and it was returned to my balance. Good experience vs what would be such a terrible experience with a high street bank that I wouldn’t even bother wasting my time unless it was more than about £50.

4 Likes

Not that old… but always good for referencing.

Anyway if anyone really needs it and can so inclined to read the rules.