Not upheld: Card / payment disputes complaint against Wise Payments Limited (trading as Wise)

Decision detail

Summary

Mr S paid £1,418.50 via his Wise debit card to an online retailer for goods to be collected from a parcel shop, but the goods were not available for pickup. When the retailer refused a refund and closed his account, Mr S asked Wise to raise a chargeback. Wise requested further information and ultimately declined to proceed, citing insufficient evidence. The ombudsman found that while the claim potentially fell within Visa chargeback grounds, Mr S had not provided the detailed evidence required by the card scheme rules, particularly full communications with the retailer, and Wise was entitled to decline the chargeback without such evidence.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

While the claim appeared to fit within chargeback grounds (goods not received), Mr S had not provided sufficient detail and evidence to meet the conditions of the Visa chargeback scheme rules, particularly full communications with Retailer A explaining the refusal and account closure. Wise was entitled to request further information before using its single opportunity to submit a chargeback, and was not obliged to progress the claim without sufficient evidence to determine an error had occurred. The chargeback process is not suited to compel evidence in the way a court can, so success was uncertain.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website