Not upheld: chargeback handling - goods not as described or defective complaint against Barclays Bank UK PLC

Decision detail

Summary

Mrs A purchased a car for £12,000 using her Barclays debit card and subsequently reported multiple faults. She requested Barclays pursue a chargeback, which Barclays raised but declined to pursue to arbitration after the merchant defended it. Mrs A complained that Barclays should have escalated the chargeback further. The ombudsman found that the chargeback conditions were not satisfied because there was insufficient independent evidence of defects and the car had not been returned, making Barclays' decision to not pursue arbitration reasonable and fair.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that for a successful chargeback on the grounds of goods not as described or defective, two conditions must be met: evidence that the car was defective or not as described, and evidence that the car was returned or that the merchant refused its return. The after-sales report did not provide persuasive evidence of overall defects, and there was no evidence the car had been returned or that the merchant refused its return. The merchant had instead offered to investigate and carry out repairs. Without independent evidence of defects and without the car being returned, the chargeback would not likely have succeeded at arbitration, making Barclays' decision to not pursue it further reasonable.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website