Not upheld: Card / payment disputes complaint against Nationwide Building Society

Decision detail

Summary

Mr S purchased a cable that he claimed was faulty and attempted to obtain a refund through NBS's chargeback process after the merchant allegedly blocked his access to its messaging portal and refused to provide a prepaid return label. NBS gathered evidence from Mr S, raised the chargeback claim, and when the merchant's defence initially focused on the wrong cable, NBS requested clarification on the second cable. After the merchant provided a more robust defence disputing the fault claim, NBS referred the matter to VISA, which declined the chargeback. Mr S later obtained a refund directly from the merchant and complained that NBS had relied on incorrect information and not given him a fair opportunity to provide further evidence. The ombudsman found NBS acted reasonably within the chargeback process, which is a voluntary scheme with rules set by VISA, and that NBS had provided fair opportunity for evidence submission at the outset.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that NBS acted reasonably by following the chargeback process, which is a voluntary scheme with strict rules set by VISA rather than a legal right. NBS gave Mr S a fair opportunity to provide evidence at the outset and properly pursued the claim by requesting clarification from the merchant when its initial response focused on the wrong cable. The ombudsman was not persuaded from the available evidence that the goods were definitively faulty, as it could not be determined which cable's readings were incorrect. While Mr S wanted further opportunity to respond to the merchant's defence, chargebacks are not a litigation process, and NBS appropriately referred the matter to VISA for final determination, which the ombudsman cannot overturn.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website