Not upheld: Service failures generally complaint against NewDay Ltd

Decision detail

Summary

Mr H complained to NewDay about issues encountered when his wife attempted cash withdrawals from an ATM while overseas. The withdrawals were declined by the ATM, but Mr H received emails confirming successful transactions and fraud alert texts, causing confusion and requiring him to borrow money. NewDay reversed all charges and attributed the failures to an ATM issue. The ombudsman found the primary cause was likely the ATM rather than NewDay's error, and that while the communications were confusing, NewDay followed their standard fraud verification processes. The ombudsman accepted NewDay's £10 goodwill offer as fair compensation for the inconvenience and out of pocket expenses, declining to order additional remedies.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that the primary cause of the failed withdrawals was likely an ATM issue rather than NewDay's error. While NewDay's processes caused confusion by sending successful transaction confirmations when transactions had been declined, the ombudsman found insufficient evidence that NewDay failed to follow their own processes correctly. The ombudsman noted that the fraud verification process of contacting the primary account holder is a standard security measure. Regarding the £7.39 International Roaming cost, the ombudsman could not be certain it was solely attributable to the transaction issues as the phone may have been used for other purposes that day. The £10 goodwill offer was deemed reasonable compensation for the inconvenience and out of pocket expenses of £2.37.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website