Upheld: service failure - card declined abroad due to system issue, inadequate customer support response complaint against Santander UK Plc

Decision detail

Summary

Mr and Mrs C complained that their Santander credit card was declined repeatedly during a holiday abroad in August 2025, caused by a system issue outside Santander's control. Mr C had no alternative payment methods and experienced distress and embarrassment when transactions were declined in public. Santander paid £75 as an apology but Mr C remained unhappy. The ombudsman upheld the complaint, finding that Santander's response was inadequate as it repeatedly advised Mr C to keep trying without proactively exploring alternative solutions, and ordered an additional £150 payment to reflect the distress and inconvenience suffered.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

While the root cause of the card decline was a system issue outside Santander's control, the ombudsman found that Santander did not respond fairly to the situation. Santander repeatedly advised Mr C to keep trying to use his card, which directly contributed to his distress and public embarrassment. The ombudsman concluded that Santander did not fully consider Mr C's described situation and was not as proactive as it might have been in exploring additional support options. Although Mr C had some mitigation (someone else made a payment for him, and he declined the mobile phone payment option), the initial £75 compensation was insufficient to reflect the distress and inconvenience suffered.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website