Not upheld: Goods and services under S75 complaint against Santander UK Plc

Decision detail

Summary

Ms S paid £1,610.85 via debit card for hotel accommodation where a water park was under construction, with only 2 of 6 water slides operational during her stay. She was informed of the construction work before travel and offered a full refund with cancellation fee waiver but chose to proceed. After receiving only a £240 partial refund from the booking agent, Ms S requested Santander raise a chargeback for the full amount. Santander declined, citing that Ms S had used the hotel services for the full duration of the booking. The ombudsman upheld Santander's decision, finding little prospect of a successful chargeback given Ms S's knowledge of the work beforehand, her choice to proceed despite the option to cancel, and her use of the hotel amenities. The ombudsman found the £50 compensation for claim handling issues to be reasonable and did not uphold the complaint.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Mastercard rules, while silent on whether chargebacks can be raised for used services, would likely treat this similarly to other card schemes. Even with silent rules, whether services were used would be a valid consideration. Ms S availed herself of many hotel amenities that were provided as advertised, making a full refund unreasonable. Ms S was aware of construction work beforehand, offered a full refund with cancellation fee waiver, and chose to proceed anyway. A partial refund had already been received, further reducing prospects of a successful dispute. Therefore, Santander reasonably declined to raise a chargeback with little prospect of success. The £50 compensation for claim handling deficiencies was appropriate.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website