I had two failed Apple Pay transactions from Eurostar. They didn’t go through, and I have a screenshot from Eurostar showing it failed and showing the transaction number and failure code. But Monzo refused to reverse the transaction because it doesn’t show all of these things:
-merchant name
-date
-time
-amount
-decline message
I had to wait for these transactions to automatically reverse.
Why are we no longer allowed to reverse our own transactions at our own risk. I knew the transactions had been declined, but because Eurostar’s decline message didn’t meet Monzo’s specifications, they refused to help.
I think it depends on the type of transaction if they let you reverse it,
The feature would be open to abuse if they just let people reverse everything.
I would guess that the Eurostar is a high value one so they may be stricter , monzo will have to pay out if the customer reverses a transaction and then there isn’t enough money when the merchant comes to collect, and then Monzo have to chase up the customer.
Totally, that makes sense. Actually the transactions were £50. Being too strict is also unfair on the customer.
Maybe there can be a ratings system - let me reverse up to two £150 transactions a month, as long as I haven’t had any presentment reversals (where the retailer demands money after I reversed it) in the last 6 months, for example.
We generally need to be a bit careful with reversing transactions here, as it can lead into more trouble down the line. Let’s say for example, we reverse a transaction of £50, but then in a few weeks time, you forget about it but the merchant comes and collects it (as they believe they are owed it), then this could potentially put you into an unarranged overdraft. Which is certainly not what we want!
We ask for those details as it provides clarity that the merchant doesn’t intend to collect the payment, and instills confidence that should they decide to come at a later point and still collect it, then we’d already have the evidence needed to dispute it
So unfortunately there isn’t a use case where we follow a rule book here, but it’s something we can investigate to see if it would be appropriate to reverse an authorisation early
It’s not something we are required to do (reversing authorised payments) so it can be a tricky situation!
@cwtch thanks, yes I get the reasons, but having enough evidence to dispute a transaction is a very high bar. If you tell us that it’s at our own risk, and I know how to manage my overdraft, then it’s at my risk.
Also, I think a trust mechanism should come into play here. I’ve had dozens of transactions reversed over the years, and only one was subsequently presented by the retailer.
As @kolok says, it’s very rare that a retailer will provide all of the information you require on a “transaction failed” screen or email.
I completely understand your points, I’d be the same if I had an authorised payment that I knew was cancelled/declined
With regards to a ‘failed’ payment, most merchant will still tend to hold attempted payment information, which is what we are after. We are simply trying to get them to confirm that a payment was attempted, but wasn’t and won’t be collected (which I know can sometimes be a pain, depending on the merchant and how easy they are to get a hold of)
