Not upheld: Card / payment disputes complaint against Revolut Ltd

Decision detail

Summary

Mr H purchased football tickets for £1,104 from an online marketplace but found them unusable as they were delivered in a format incompatible with his device's operating system. After the merchant refused a refund, Mr H asked Revolut to raise a chargeback. Revolut raised the chargeback under the reason code 'Goods or Services Were Either Not as Described or Defective' but decided not to pursue it further after the merchant defended the dispute by providing evidence the tickets were delivered and accessible. The ombudsman found Revolut acted fairly in selecting the appropriate reason code and in deciding not to continue the chargeback based on the merchant's defence and the card scheme provider's rules, even though the merchant did not directly address Mr H's specific concerns about operating system compatibility.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Revolut acted fairly in selecting the appropriate chargeback reason code that aligned with Mr H's concerns about misrepresentation. While the merchant's defence did not explicitly address the operating system compatibility issue, Revolut was entitled to consider the merchant's evidence showing tickets were delivered and accessible, and to assess the reasonable prospect of success at arbitration under the card scheme provider's rules. The ombudsman noted that chargeback is not a legal right but a mechanism governed by strict card scheme rules, and Revolut's decision to not pursue the chargeback further was reasonable given the merchant's defence and available evidence.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website