Not upheld: service failure, delays in processing refund, unnecessarily complicated refund process, unreasonable documentation requests complaint against Wise Payments Limited trading as Wise
Financial Ombudsman decision DRN-6329981 of 2026-05-12T00:00:00+00:00. service failure, delays in processing refund, unnecessarily complicated refund process, unreasonable documentation requests complaint against Wise Payments Limited trading as Wise. Outcome: Not upheld.
Decision detail
| Reference | DRN-6329981 |
|---|---|
| Decision date | 2026-05-12T00:00:00+00:00 |
| Firm | Wise Payments Limited trading as Wise |
| Product | payment transfer service |
| Claim type | service failure, delays in processing refund, unnecessarily complicated refund process, unreasonable documentation requests |
| Outcome | Not upheld |
| Remedy | Wise has already paid £1,100 (refund plus compensation for initial error) and an additional £200 compensation as recommended by the investigator. No further remedy ordered. |
Summary
Miss L complained about service failures when attempting to obtain a refund of a £958 payment made to Wise. After initially offering £1,100 settlement (including refund and compensation for routing error), Wise then delayed payment until March 2026 and made the process unnecessarily complicated by requesting sensitive personal documents and an impossible gift acknowledgement letter. An investigator recommended £200 additional compensation, which Wise paid. Miss L sought £2,000 compensation, but the ombudsman upheld Wise's settlement as fair and reasonable, finding no significant financial loss and noting that the FOS does not make punitive awards for business failures.
The Ombudsman's reasoning
The ombudsman found that while Wise made the refund process unnecessarily complicated and made errors in requesting impossible documentation, the settlement offer of £1,100 plus the additional £200 compensation recommended by the investigator fairly put Miss L back in the position she should have been in. The ombudsman noted that the FOS does not supervise, regulate, or discipline businesses or make punitive awards, and that no significant financial loss to Miss L resulted from the delays. The ombudsman concluded that the further £200 compensation was fair for the unnecessary distress and inconvenience caused by poor service and unclear instructions.
How this compares
| Group | Decisions | Uphold rate |
|---|---|---|
| Wise Payments Limited trading as Wise, all decisions | 13 | 8% |
Source
Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website