Not upheld: Card / payment disputes complaint against NATIONAL WESTMINSTER BANK PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANY

Decision detail

Summary

W, a company provided with merchant acquiring services by NatWest, accepted six CNP payments totalling almost £10,000 that were later disputed as fraudulent. W was held liable for the chargebacks and complained that NatWest had not fairly warned it about the risks of accepting CNP transactions and had not provided practical advice to prevent such losses. The ombudsman found that NatWest's contract terms clearly allocated chargeback liability to the merchant, that this is standard industry practice, and that NatWest provided adequate information through its agreement, welcome guide, and emails. The ombudsman did not uphold the complaint, concluding that the genuine wrongdoers were the fraudsters and that it would be unfair to set aside standard contractual terms.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that NatWest's contract terms clearly allocated chargeback liability to the merchant for CNP transactions, which is standard practice across merchant acquirers. While sympathising with W's difficult circumstances, the ombudsman concluded that NatWest provided adequate information through its agreement, welcome guide, and emails about the risks of accepting CNP payments. The ombudsman noted that the genuine wrongdoers were the fraudsters who used the cards without authorisation, not NatWest, and that it would be unfair to set aside standard contractual terms that are consistent with industry practice.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website