I’ve been going around in circles for a month with my insurer and John Lewis Finance. I was due a refund on the remainder of my home insurance policy after selling my house in March. My insurer paid the £72.80 it owed to my John Lewis Mastercard, with which I had originally paid the premium. The problem is, the card no longer exists, as John Lewis Finance changed its lender and I did not wish to switch to the new provider. John Lewis says that, because the account is closed, it cannot see the refund and that it has probably sent the money back to the insurer. But the insurer says it has not received it. Each says there is nothing it can do and keep playing “ping pong” with my money.
RS, Wheaton Aston, Staffordshire
HH of Ledbury, Herefordshire is whirling in the same circle. She is due an £80 ticket refund after a concert was cancelled and, like you, paid on her now defunct John Lewis Mastercard. “The ticket seller says it will only refund to the card used to purchase them,” she writes. “HSBC, which issued the old card, says it won’t process the refund and it has to be refunded in a different way.”
There must be many others in the same predicament. Mastercard’s transaction processing rules require merchants to issue refunds to the card used for the payment, or a reissued card from the same lender. If the card issuer is able to access a defunct account, it should alert the customer and ask them to nominate an account into which the money can be paid. If it can’t, funds should be returned and the merchant must pay by transfer or cheque. You were both caught between singularly unhelpful organisations.
John Lewis Finance roused itself when I got in touch. It discovered HH had been misinformed. Her refund had been received but not processed. It will now be paid along with a £25 apology. RS’s refund was also lying dormant and is being processed along with £25. It says: “We are sorry to hear that RS and HH had difficulties processing a refund. We escalated this immediately to HSBC – which manages the historic partnership card accounts on our behalf – and refunds have been returned.”
Others in this situation need to raise a dispute direct with HSBC. It says it applies refunds as a credit if an account is still on the system and customers can arrange a transfer to an active account of their choice. However, accounts are typically closed after 120 days of zero balance, in which case the funds will be returned to the merchant.
If a bank fails to resolve a complaint, customers can complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
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