Can anyone tell me how long it takes for someone to response to your query in the chat. I am trying to sort out chargebacks for a number of transactions totalling over £2000 and have been waiting over an hour for someone to pick up my query?
I’d be grateful if anyone could let me know how long it may take for someone to just start to look at the query. I understand it may take to be able to get things started
Depends on what route you took or the answers you gave to the bot at the beginning. From reading on here recently I’d say general enquiries (so non-urgent) are 2-3 hours and sometimes it shows an eta in chat too.
Ideally if you’re disputing a transaction you can do this yourself without talking to anyone. Tap into a transaction, scroll to the bottom and select ‘something wrong? get help’. Then follow the steps 
Thanks, I’ve raised a dispute against one of the transactions first and followed the steps. I had a message an hour and a half ago that they would find someone to deal with my query but its still sat waiting to be picked up. I guess I just have to be patient!
Ahh ok. In that case you’re now in a queue to speak to a specialist who will handle it all from there.
I understand you’re anxious to get a reply but just in case you wasn’t aware, you can close the chat and carry on with your day - you will receive a notification when someone replies.
Don’t hold your breath. Monzo is very disappointing with chargebacks. You won’t see your money for months. An hours wait for support isn’t going to seem like an issue by the time you eventually get your money back.
A family member had a very bad experience recently. They got their money back after 3 months. Very poor performance compared to any other bank.
Monzo, as any other regulated bank, has to follow the correct procedures. They can’t just give you the money back.
I’m not sure there’s anything other than financial prudence that prevents Monzo from just refunding you the money, while they recover the money via Chargeback?
They can, but choose not to. Most big name banks for a reasonably straightforward chargeback will give the money back at the start and absorb the loss if the chargeback is lost. That doesn’t necessarily make it right of course, but Monzo DO have the choice.
The part that bothers me about it is that when the chargeback happens the money is immediately returned to Monzo (same with any other bank) - instead of giving it back to the customer as any other bank does they keep it themselves earning themselves interest at the expense of the customer.
They keep it in case the retailer takes it back months down the line so they’re not left out of pocket.
I’m not even sure this is allowed but they do it.
A bit of care needs to be taken with statements like this. Unless we work for a bank, none of us are ‘going to be sure’ about regulations and stuff. The jump from ‘not knowing’ something to assuming it’s ‘not allowed’ is quite big…
I didn’t assume it’s allowed or now allowed, I made it explicitly clear I wasn’t sure by saying “I’m not sure”.
I didn’t say I’m not sure but I think this or that.
You can’t really say none of us are going to be sure because regulations are available for anyone to read and Monzo staff frequent the forum every day.
Are you sure? 
Remember the Chargeback process is governed by Visa/MasterCard rules not by regulation.
The process as laid out at https://chargeback.com/chargeback-process/ does suggest that financial institutions should be crediting customers much quicker than this thread suggests Monzo is doing.
I used to work for a bank and an insurance company so I’ve dealt with chargebacks on both sides. The process is different for credit and debit cards which is why it takes more time to get a debit card chargeback refunded. I don’t believe that Monzo are just sitting on the money. My frustration was with how long it was taking to get a response to my query I already know that the process to recover my money could take some time.
I did get a response from Monzo and the wheel are now in motion it’s just a waiting game now.
These networks provide the data connection to flow the funds via FedWire between cardholders and merchants.
At the least I am going to suspect that there are some differences between the US and UK with regards to this
The MasterCard Chargeback Guide states:
– When an issuer has billed a transaction to its cardholder’s account for payment and then chooses to exercise a chargeback right, the issuer must credit the cardholder’s account for the amount of the chargeback.
That to me reads that the funds should be credited as soon as the chargeback is initiated. 
Edit: Barclaycard Business state:
- Chargeback
If a claim reaches this stage, the money is automatically taken from your merchant account and returned to the customer or their bank.
Generally yes but it really depends on the situation. Lots of things play into it, but primarily its the value of the chargeback, how likely the charge back is to succeed, and how likely the customer is to disappear off if it doesn’t. A brand new account holder asking for a chargeback with very little evidence often won’t be credited until it comes through, whereas a salaried account pretty much always would be.
As far as I know it’s completely the banks discretion as to whether they credit the account in advance or wait until the chargeback is successful.
No, they’ll give you the money at the start (because they literally get the money back from the merchant’s bank at that point) and they’ll re-debit it if they lose.
For details on how Monzo handles chargebacks and why they don’t refund straight away, this thread is really interesting, and answers most questions:
Glad you found the regulation regarding this.
I had (dare I say…) assumed this was the case but the way Monzo are doing things is at serious detriment to the consumer.
wouldn’t that depend on what type of chargeback you are claiming, if its on the first or second presentation , from an ATM , or a services not as described chargeback , a single message system or a dual message system, before or after 16 July 2020 , to which clause / rule / timeframe actually applies of the 733 pages of rules ?
Not sure its quite as easy as Monzo is in the wrong because they dont immediately give you your money back when they could be entirely differing cases of chargebacks and the reasons for the chargeback
the actual clause @admdly found was arguably concerning retaining funds twice for the same transaction
** The issuer, acquirer, merchant, or cardholder must not retain funds, goods, and/or services twice for the same transaction. Issuers and acquirers are responsible to research and identify refunds prior to each chargeback processing cycle. Issues of this nature must be resolved properly during the chargeback and second presentment cycles and within the required timeframes. A compliance case filing is invalid. Examples include but are not limited to:*