Partially upheld: Card / payment disputes complaint against MONAVATE LTD

Decision detail

Summary

Mr S complained that Monavate Ltd refused to refund funds remaining on a pre-loaded holiday card he had loaded with €600 in 2016 and €290 in 2018. After the card became inoperative, Mr S requested a refund but encountered difficulty obtaining responses from Monavate. In January 2025, Mr S observed transactions debiting €178.65 from his account and suspected unauthorized use. The ombudsman found that Monavate's systems had been non-operational since October 2024, making the January 2025 debits implausible, and accepted the firm's evidence that only €9.60 remained on the account. The ombudsman upheld the complaint regarding poor communication and ordered Monavate to refund the €9.60 balance and pay £100 compensation, but rejected the claim regarding the disputed January 2025 transactions.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that while Mr S experienced difficulty obtaining responses from Monavate, the firm's inability to access systems was a genuine constraint. The ombudsman rejected Mr S's claim of €178.65 in unauthorized debits in January 2025, reasoning that if card systems had been non-operational since October 2024, such transactions could not have occurred. The ombudsman acknowledged uncertainty about what the January 2025 transactions represented but found Mr S's explanation unconvincing given the lack of system operability. The ombudsman accepted Monavate's evidence of the €9.60 balance and determined compensation was warranted for the trouble caused by poor communication.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website