Just wanted to say that, thanks to Monzo, I have been refunded after falling victim to a facebook sales scam.
I know other banks are obliged to raise chargebacks too, but Monzoās in app chat made it so easy - so yay!
Funny this should come up actually. I work for an insolvency firm who help people out of debt, but some of them will lodge a chargeback request over payments theyāve purposely setup with us.
I know your situation is different due to a Facebook scam, but Iām interested how Monzo actually execute chargeback requests and if they look at whether or not youāve created a subscription through the app and/or authorised the use of your card through the app before crediting the chargeback?
In this situation, I ordered two items from a company advertising on facebook but after looking at reviews I had buyers remorse so I emailed them to cancel my order. I was aware that, due to the consumer contract regulations, I had a right to do so within 14 days as it was a long distance sale. They refused to refund and so I contacted Monzo. Monzo asked for screenshots of all of my communication with them, and were satisfied that they were in breach of the law and so escalated the chargeback proceedings to MasterCard, who agreed with Monzoās assessment and I have now received a refund.
My understanding of chargebacks is that there is a charge - if the application is successful, the merchant pays, if it is not successful, the bank pays. For this reason, you can request a chargeback from Monzo but it is their decision whether or not to take it to MasterCard.
Iām surprised, therefore that your firm see this type of request. But perhaps I am mistaken. Maybe someone on the forum can correct my understanding?
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That sounds much better than the usual legacy banks to he fair!
Iām not surprised we get it to be honest, purely on the basis that you get some people who donāt actually want to pay their debts back at all so will be quick to set something up and not want to make their payments (usually making a couple and then submitting chargebacks as though weāre in the wrong 
).
Basically, most legacy banks just take word of mouth that the card was wrongly used instead of asking for evidence etc. Weāre then penalised with the chargeback and subsequent chargeback fee, unless we successfully defend it in which case the consumer is charged the fee and donāt get their money back.
Sounds to me like Monzo actually do it right and look at both sides first before weighing up the evidenceā¦ and doing this very quickly and efficiently too might I add by the sound of it!
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I would say that someone who would do that would also log a complaint the bank arenāt doing a chargeback and take it to the ombudsman that costs the bank Ā£550 even if they win the case.
So to do a chargeback that gets disputed costs them Ā£15 and then they can tell the customer āwe triedā alot cheaper than an ombudsman complaint.
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Mastercard generally donāt get involved in chargebacks (other than transporting messages between the bank and the merchant).
When we raise a chargeback, we send a message via Mastercard to the merchant, this immediately moves the disputed amount straight to Monzo (plus a chargeback fee). In the message we explain why weāre raising the chargeback, and exactly which Mastercard rule we think the merchant broke.
At this point the merchant can dispute the chargeback by sending us another message, which also immediately moves the money back to the merchant (plus a fee). In this message the merchant will say why they donāt think they broke the Mastercard rule (and perhaps send evidence), or say that Monzo broke a Mastercard rule.
At this point Monzo can send another message where we ask to take the chargeback to arbitration. This also moves the money (plus a fee). At this point the merchant can send one more message effectively agreeing to arbitration, and this is when Mastercard steps in. The arbitration process can take months to complete.
At each step the fees each party (Monzo and the merchant) get increasingly larger, to discourage people from just messing around.
A chargeback is won when one party gives up and stops sending messages and escalating the chargeback.
It important to remember that Mastercard rules are not the same as the law. Which can make certain things a little tricky. Additionally the Payment Services Regulation 2017 (PSR) requires a bank to basically take a customers word, if they say a charge is fraudulent, and provide a refund by the end of the next working day. To avoid a refund we need to find evidence that a customer is behaving fraudulently (and it canāt just be āthis person looks a tad dodgyā).
This means that banks are highly incentivised to raise chargebacks, because theyāve probably already refunded the customer. Chargebacks are also a good way to get evidence from a merchant, which can then inform future refund decisions, or even account closures if a pattern of deceitfulness appears.
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This is a fantastic insight @thomas thank you.
I understand different rules apply per card issuer, bank and, ultimately, the law. However, this actually helps me in my line of work understand it better.
I donāt know if you know, but if a customer has signed a card authority form issued by the merchant which approves the use of their card for payments, would this be sufficient enough evidence to, in effect, shut down the argument in the merchantās favour (again, subject to the relevant rules being adhered to)?
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I canāt give you a solid answer here. It would depend on how you where charging the card (auths or just sending presentments), the issuer youāre disputing it with, and what the customer told their bank. If itās a claim of fraud, then I imagine that such a form would be very compelling evidence that your customer was behaving fraudulently.
But to maximise your chances of winning you really need to get hold of the Mastercard chargeback rules. Even then, if youāre working through an acquiring bank, you might have difficulty getting them to send the appropriate responses (or they could be very helpful if you found the right person).
At Monzo we went through a long trial-and-error process to learn how chargebacks work, and to figure out exactly how you apply the rules, and how others interpret them. This was a slow and some what costly process, but has made us much better at gauging the merit of different chargebacks.
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Fab, no thatās great thanks very much for this, itās a great insight into how these things really work when it comes to the disputes process - even if it isnāt a āone size fits allā type of answer so to speak 
Hello sorry to jump on here but I was wondering if someone could help please. I have just filed a disputed transaction after months of telling 5hem about it they have finally taken it upon themselves to dispute it. Has anyone filed a dispute and got their money back? How long did it take etc any info would be greatly appreciated (from someone that may have the same situation) Iāll also add there are a lot of transactions and ALOT of money
Thanks
@thomas out of interest, what is the net outcome (in terms of the fees) for both banks in the case of one sided āwinningā? If its the case that both banks still end up out of pocket, do/can banks figure how far a chargeback is likely to go and just fund the claim themselves, depending on the disputed amount?
The fees are detailed in the chargeback guide
Thereās dispute fees and then thereās MasterCard arbitration fees (if it gets to that which are on Page241)
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So weāre not talking Ā£20/Ā£30 here (which is what you commonly see passed on when thereās a chargeback via a third party such as Stripe or Braintree)!
Those fees are for the single message system. We use the dual message system in the UK (pretty much only the US use a single message system).
The fees youāre interested in are on page 188, handling fees. Which for a first chargeback are $25, and escalate from there.
These fees are charged by the issuer (Monzo) to the acquirer (e.g. Stripe). So the money doesnāt go to Mastercard. If the acquirer second presents (disputes the chargeback) they can charge us a fee plus the fee we charged them.
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Thatās somewhat expensive for businesses whoāve made a mistake or a slight error. Iāll definitely keep this in mind in the future.
Thatās why the issuer will ask you to give the merchant an opportunity to rectify the problem themselves without raising a chargeback. In my situation, I exchanged several fruitless messages with the merchant before contacting Monzo and threatened a chargeback in said messages.
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Wow, youāre very lucky. I ordered from a website that turned out to be fake & as the merchant had not taken the money yet I asked Monzo not to let them & explained the situation. They froze my account so I couldnāt use it for anything but allowed the merchant to take more money than had even been authorised in the first place. They help people who have buyers remorse but the donāt help victims of fraud. If they stopped the money going out I wouldnāt have the problem I have now which is chasing up money that was for a Christmas present- what good will it be in 8 weeks. Thanks Monzo
Have you put in a complaint?
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I have a question I got a MacBook from a seller I payed by PayPal by an invoice the seller said they would send me the Time I payed for a MacBook and update tracking for next day it was meant to be. They then stop getting back to me and now wonāt get back to me by email and the Mac never came. I contacted PayPal and opend a case but they are on the side of the seller I have proved what evidence I have all the emails from the seller saying he would send but has not. The seller never provided tracking at all.
They close the case And I never got my money back so now what are the option it was a lot of money the seller is not a business I donāt think. I have they name but thatās it. And of course proof of paying and all the emails the seller sent.
So you got the MacBook?