Not upheld: unauthorised transaction / chargeback dispute complaint against Starling Bank Ltd

Decision detail

Summary

D, a limited company represented by Ms S, complained that Starling Bank declined to reimburse a hospital transaction Ms S claimed she didn't authorise. Ms S had provided her card details to the hospital when attending with someone, initially denying she had been there but later accepting she had. Starling raised a chargeback which the merchant defended by demonstrating they had the card details. The ombudsman found Ms S had likely authorised the payment by providing the card details and that Starling reasonably declined to pursue a second chargeback under scheme rules. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that by providing card details to the hospital, Ms S should reasonably have been aware they could be used to make payments, thereby authorising the transaction. The ombudsman determined Starling reasonably raised the initial chargeback but was also reasonable in declining to pursue it further after the merchant's successful defence demonstrated the payment was likely authorised. Chargeback scheme rules typically do not permit second chargebacks for the same transaction, making Starling's decision compliant with those rules.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website