Not upheld: failure to pay promotional reward / service failure complaint against Revolut Ltd

Decision detail

Summary

Mr S complained that Revolut failed to pay him a £40 'refer a friend' referral reward after he referred a friend who opened an account. Revolut initially claimed the qualifying criteria were not met, but the delay was actually caused by a technical issue on Revolut's systems. During the complaint investigation, the reward was eventually paid to Mr S. Mr S sought compensation for the stress and time spent pursuing the complaint. The ombudsman did not uphold the complaint, finding that while Revolut caused some inconvenience, the level of inconvenience was within the range of everyday frustration and did not warrant additional compensation, particularly since Mr S had been restored to his proper position by receiving the reward.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman applied the principle that when a business makes a mistake, the service seeks to put the customer back in the position they would have been in had the issue not occurred. Since Mr S received the £40 reward, he was restored to his proper position. While Revolut caused some inconvenience through the delay and technical error, the ombudsman found this inconvenience was within the range of everyday frustration and annoyance that people experience in daily life, and therefore did not warrant additional compensation.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website