Partially upheld: service failure, poor communication, and unclear information provision complaint against Wise Payments Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr Y complained that Wise Payments Limited failed to apply a refund payment to his account and provided unclear information. A refund of £6,974.03 from a technical school was received by Wise on 22 August 2025 but lacked sufficient details to credit to Mr Y. When Mr Y contacted Wise on 6 October 2025, the payment was located on 28 October 2025 but was sent back to the technical school on 5 November 2025 instead of being credited to Mr Y. The ombudsman found Wise provided confusing and conflicting information about the refund process but determined that the payment's insufficient details originated from how it was sent, making Wise not responsible for further delays. The complaint was partially upheld with £200 compensation awarded for poor communication.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that while Wise accepted it should have identified the payment sooner when Mr Y called on 6 October 2025, the fundamental issue originated with how the payment was sent to Wise - it lacked sufficient details to credit to Mr Y. Wise would reasonably only accept payment instructions from the sender (technical school). The ombudsman found it unlikely Wise would have succeeded in obtaining clarification from the sending bank given the difficulties Mr Y experienced with the technical school. However, the ombudsman upheld the complaint in part due to poor communication and conflicting information provided to Mr Y about whether the money was being returned to him or sent back to the sender. The ombudsman did not hold Wise responsible for the further delay in Mr Y receiving payment from the technical school or associated costs, as this was a matter between Mr Y and the technical school.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website