I made two purchases with Simply Be on Monday 20th January, using a virtual card, and then opting to Flex these transactions. The full amount was returned to my current account as usual.
Simply Be after the items have shipped, will finalise the initial amount at an amount of one item in the order, and take separate itemised amounts for each item, a couple of days after.
I can see this new amount showing in my transaction list, but the Flex amounts still show the original amount, with no refund to my current account or payment being made to the Flex transaction as is normal for Flex transactions that later are partially refunded.
Monzo state that the difference has been refunded but this is not reflected anywhere in my account.
As it stands, I’ve got the full amount of the orders debited from my current account via the virtual card, plus the full amount to pay via Flex for each.
So far I’ve been made to feel as though I am wrong and am the one at fault.
Not happy.
I attach an image showing the finalised transaction and the Flex transaction still showing full amount to pay. There are no partial refunds showing in my account to account for the difference.
You’ve been refunded the full amount on the first movement to flex, so you use that refund to pay off part of the new flex entries you’ve had by Simply Be, otherwise you’d be refunded twice for the same transaction.
You buy something - refunded from Flex
Merchant splits that initial transaction to multiple per item - new entries made to flex
The refund you had initially, just pay down the new flex entries to the amounts you feel are reflective of the new entries.
Spent ÂŁ83.79. Moved to Flex, ÂŁ83.79 returned to my current account, as expected. My current account balance is now exactly the same as it was prior to making the transaction.
Simply Be finalise the transaction at ÂŁ10.99.
Flex transaction still shows ÂŁ83.79 to pay.
I have to pay ÂŁ83.79 towards this transaction on Flex even though the finalised amount was ÂŁ10.99.
If I imagine that I had £83.79 in my current account before making this transaction, then £0, then £83.79 when Flex’ing, I’d now need to fund my Flex with an additional £72.80, leaving my current account with only £10.99 (the final amount taken by the merchant)
My bank account balance doesn’t change when using Flex, it is returned to my account as it is now on Flex.
-ÂŁ83.79 purchase
+£83.79 returned as Flex’ed
+ÂŁ83.79 on my Flex account
Merchant takes ÂŁ10.99
This difference of £72.80 should show as an overpayment to my Flex account, or as a refund in my current account if Monzo can’t tie the difference to the right transaction.
Looking at the statement, I can see positive balance changes in relation to these two transactions. Looking at the feed within the app these positive balance changes/refunds aren’t shown anywhere.
Seems a design oversight in the app to not be showing this positive balance change/refund at all within the feed or even the transaction itself.
The app used to show running day by day balance which would have also helped in this situation.
It is likely my end balance is reflecting correctly, but unless I keep a meticulous eye on my balance day to day, or go digging into the statement to find information that should be displayed in the app.
Let see if I can explain this in a better way for you using a table showing the running balances
Action
Debit Card
Flex
Total
Simply Be charged
-ÂŁ83.79
ÂŁ0.00
-ÂŁ83.79
OP Flexes it
ÂŁ0.00
-ÂŁ83.79
-ÂŁ83.79
Simply Be settles on ÂŁ10.99
+ÂŁ72.80
-ÂŁ83.79
-ÂŁ10.99
Simply Be charges for other items
-ÂŁ0.00
-ÂŁ83.79
-ÂŁ83.79
As you can see, because you recieved a refund from Monzo when you Flexed, you were actually up ÂŁ72.80 for a short time, and then it balanced out when Simply Be charged you for the other items.
This is the issue. This isn’t displayed anywhere within my feed. It is shown in my statement as mentioned in my previous post. If I don’t look at the statements, there is nothing to tell me that this £72.80 has come back, unless I keep a day to day meticulous memory of each end of day balance.
This is compounded by the fact that the final ÂŁ10.99 taken for this transaction was full and final for this transaction as all other items in the order were cancelled, and another order placed.
I shouldn’t have to drill into statements to find information that should be displayed to me in the app. But at least the money is there and correct.
£83.79, Flexed, £83.79 returned to current account. Finalised at £10.99. Full £83.79 still reflected in Flex. The £72.80 “refund” does not show in my feed but does in my statement.
£72.80, Flexed, £72.80 returned to current account. Finalised at £7.20. Full £72.80 still reflected in Flex. The £65.60 “refund” does not show in my feed but does in my statement.
Neither of these “refunds” appear in my app feed, either on the home screen or by showing all, so without looking at my statement, and knowing my balance meticulously day to day, it looks as though £72.80 and £65.60 have gone missing.
If these “refunds” were displayed on my feed then this would not have been an issue as I’d be able to see the reason for the change in balance. From the perspective of the app feed, money magically appeared but there is is no itemisation for it.
It’s probably not a refund but an updating of an original transaction amount to be lower.
So you wouldn’t see a refund line (and nor should you) but you’d see your balance increase & the amount on the original transaction decreased.
It’s unfortunately how some companies handle an initial full charge and then a reduced charge when everything is said and done! I’ve had it previously too.
Confusing, but Monzo aren’t trying to con you out of money here.
Michael, I totally understand that it is not a refund, because it isn’t. The merchant has taken a different amount to what was presented initially.
Seeing my balance increase when I wasn’t aware of what it was exactly the day before isn’t trivial. Monzo app used to show the end of day balances in the app but sadly not anymore.
The confusion spans from the fact that the transaction was Flexed afterwards, the Flex payment still showing the full amount, and there being no obvious hints that this difference in presentation Vs final amounts has been returned to my current account.
I can see it on my statement, as mentioned above, but there is no hint about it on my feed or anywhere else in the app. If the faux “refund” were shown in my feed like it is shown on my statement, then there would have not been this confusion.
Going forward I will pay for things that I intend to Flex using my Flex card, though I do like being able to use a virtual card.
