Partially upheld: duplicate payments due to technical issues and customer service failures complaint against TIDE PLATFORM LTD trading as TIDE

Decision detail

Summary

N, represented by its director Miss V, complained that TIDE misled it into making duplicate payments causing financial losses. In May 2025, a technical issue prevented a £1,000 payment from displaying on the app, prompting Miss V to make a duplicate payment to the company's landlord for rent arrears. In November 2025, a £2,000 payment was duplicated, though technical logs showed Miss V had set up a scheduled payment rather than making two separate attempts. The Ombudsman found no unrecoverable financial loss in the May incident as the company made regular payments to the payee and benefitted from reduced arrears, and found no technical issue in November. However, the complaint was upheld in part due to TIDE's failures in proactive communication and customer service, resulting in an award of £300 compensation.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The Ombudsman found that while a technical issue caused the May duplicate payment, N had not suffered an unrecoverable financial loss because it made regular payments to the landlord and could have offset the duplicate payment against future rent payments. The company also benefitted from the payment as it reduced rent arrears. For the November payments, technical logs clearly showed Miss V set up a scheduled payment, contradicting her account, and there was no technical issue on this occasion. However, the Ombudsman upheld the complaint in part due to TIDE's failures in customer service, including lack of proactive communication and inability to open chat sessions. Compensation of £300 was deemed appropriate for inconvenience caused by the technical issue and customer service failures.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website